Traditional PAYG meter with blank screen

Had a power cut early Friday a.m for 10mins, went to top up my meter with key and have blank screen, called ovo sending out an engineer 18th Sept to replace with smart meter, but worried my credit is going to run out and have no electricity, the lady couldn't say if I would run out of credit, which I will do by the 18th, how can I get a sooner apt to have replacement 

The meter has gone into ‘Unlimited Vend’ mode due to the power cut and will need an engineer to reset, or replace, it.

So it's currently working more like a credit meter instead of PAYG.

If you still have electricity  despite the meter screen being blank, then that will continue until the meter can be sorted out. You won't run out of credit on such a meter.

It's like a ‘fail safe’ mode to make sure that you don't get cut off.

(However if for any reason it does stop supplying electricity then use the emergency contact, posted in green at the top of every page here, to get an emergency engineer out quickly to get you back on supply).

Be aware that you will eventually be charged for the electricity that you use while the meter is ‘unlimited’ like that, so you may want to put the money you would normally use to top-up on one side.

A PAYG meter going into unlimited credit mode is something that can happen during power cuts and there are a number of threads about it on here, eg:

PS. You'll like a new smart meter in PAYG mode,  you can top them up from home without having to go to the shops. (Handy when it's raining).

Thank you so much, I didn't know posting on here would work lol! You don't realise how much I appreciate the response, still nervous that I'm going to loose electricity lol! But that's just me, again thank you for your help 😊

Tracy

No worries. We’ll be here if ya need us for anything.

We’re not allowed to access your account, but you’ll often get something of an answer pretty fast, so feel free to stop by anytime. :)

Hey ​@Mayfly 

I’m glad to see a couple of our community members have already stopped by with some great advice here.

If you’ve not done so yet this morning, please do get in touch with the Support Team so they can look to get the meter changed over.

Do let us know how you get on or if you have any issues.

I have an engineer coming out the 18th Sept, so a little while to wait yet, but still have power today, again a huge thank you to everyone who has responded, 

Tracy ( mayfly) 

Hello,

Hope you can help on a PAYG traditional meter query on an unoccupied home which I visit infrequently. To summarize a long (aren’t they all?) OVO story:

• Meter went blank screen in Sept. ‘24, electricity supply remained on.
• A new SMART meter (set for PAYG) was installed 319 days later in July ‘25. So far so good, just don’t ask why it took so long!
• OVO now advise that there is an £800 balance to pay on the account. I was expecting a balance but since the property was unoccupied, nowhere this amount. Looking more closely, the details presented by OVO show Energy Used = 3080 units during the 319 days the meter was awaiting replacement. So approx. 9.7 units per day. 
• The SMART meter has now been running for 46 days and during this time Energy used = 53 units, so approx. 1.2 units per day.
• OVO’s customer care checked with the back billing team and advised their calculations are based on confirmation of the old meter reading by the engineer at the time the meters were exchanged in July this year. OVO also said they used a meter reading at the time the old meter went down last year to arrive at the difference. 

Is there any way to verify the meter readings used are correct? I can see no reason why there would be 8x the electricity used pre-SMART meter on an empty house.

Any help appreciated.

Thank you.

Howdy ​@wb93 !

To me, I think your best bet is to raise a Meter Reading Dispute on the basis that the old meter was possibly overclocking. This can take a while but there’s ways to try and get the estimated final reading much closer to what it actually was.

Try https://ovoenergy.com/feedback for this - it’s usually the best way.

Hello ​@Blastoise186,

That was quick!

Thank you very much for your suggestion.

Regards

I also think that you need to  raise a Meter Reading Dispute, however I see different grounds than a possibly overclocking meter.
In my opinion it simply looks like an estimated usage figure, with no consideration that the property is unoccupied.

I’d be asking just how the engineer read the old meter when the meter screen was blank?

PS. The engineer will have  (should have) left a card near the new meter with the old meter reading, if he could see one, and the new meter reading written on it.
So you should be able to check if he had actually noted any reading for the old meter.

To me it looks that what they have actually done is estimated usage from the last reading that they have until the meter exchange date, using ‘Industry Standard’ figures for average usage.

eg. From this 2024 OVO chart 3080 kWh could be about right for 319 days average for a bungalow/seni, or a detached:
https://www.ovoenergy.com/guides/energy-guides/how-much-electricity-does-a-home-use

There’s whispers flying around that a Trad Prepay Meter in Free Vend Mode will still respond to being interrogated by a Portable Support Unit - it’s possible the engineer pulled a reading that way, but I can’t say for sure.

That’s fair enough, and the card that the engineer left could possibly confirm if that was the case and he did get a reading.

It’s just that to me the usage billed looks suspiciously close to what an estimated avearge would be.
Which is not what would be expected for an unoccupied property.

Thank you for the information Nukecad. Interesting. The figures do seem to be an uneducated guess at best.

I also don’t recall the engineer leaving any information at all. Let’s see what the complaints team come back with.

They usually leave a card like this one, near the meter and usually pinned/taped to the backboard:

Even if the engineer couldn’t get a reading from the old meter I would still expect that fact to be noted for the record on such a card?

Keep us posted with how you get on ​@wb93.

Yes, I’ll update on progress.

I’ll also check for any information left by the new meter.

For reference it was an Engage engineer who fitted the new meter on behalf of OVO. I just called Engage to ask about any final reading for the old meter but they said that they don’t keep any records on this .

Enage? That says a lot - they probably don’t have the Portable Support Units required to pull a meter reading from a Trad Prepay Meter that they swap out, so it makes me wonder how they got a reading at all...

A quick update for those interested.

There was indeed a note left by Engage as below. Seems the engineer did not / could not take a final reading. This was confirmed during a very helpful conversation with the OVO Resolution Specialist who said that the balance to pay had indeed used an estimated final reading. She also found some actual meter readings recorded before the meter failed and will request a recalculation based on these.

Let’s see what the final outcome is but at least there now seems to be recognition that the initial figures don’t reflect reality.

I guess the OVO logic to use estimates based on past usage when no actual readings are available is generally OK however, this only works if nothing much has changed. For circumstances where there is a significant change in use a different logic and process are needed and this seems to be missing. I’m also wondering how many other such cases are out there!

Anyway, thanks again to ​@Blastoise186 and ​@Nukecad for the pointers and advise.

Thanks for the update ​@wb93 

Hopefully a new billing will now be produced that is more realistic.

Remember that even when a property is empty and there is no use at all then the daily standing charges will still apply.

As it is you say that the new smart meter is clocking 1.2 kWh/day so if the property is still unoccupied as it was before it would seen reasonable to assume that was also the daily usage before the meter exchange.
Although if some old readings from before the meter failure have been found then the new estimates may be based on those readings.

I guess it’s a case of waiting for a new estimated billing and seeing if you then agree if it’s reasonable or not.

All now resolved and so quickly too!

The OVO Resolution Specialist triggered a re-calculation based on meter readings pre-blank screen and this gave a much more realistic usage figure and cost.

Full credit to the lady concerned as she not only totally understood the circumstances but also knew how to get the figures updated and keep the process moving.

Credit to Forum members also for the advice.

Thanks again.

Hey ​@wb93,

We appreciate you coming back with an update and are happy to hear that you have sorted things out. Don’t be a stranger in the forum if you have further questions.

😃

Brief area power cut and now electric meter old key style not working. Blank screen and attempted to put £40 but this won't work.

Did not realise an issue until trying to top up.

Called OVO who said engineer will visit end of month (gave specified date), but can not do anything before then. This is to install a smart electric meter.

They anticipate my electric currently on will run out tomorrow morning then I should call back when this happens so they can send engineer. Advised £40 top up did not register so take a photo of receipt and when new meter installed, let them know.

worried electric may cut off in middle of night and will need to wait hours to turn back on. Person on phone did not disclose balance left.

Was there any credit at all left on the meter before the power cut? If so, you should be covered until 09:00 tomorrow (Monday) morning by so-called Friendly credit, which prevents the supply being cut off when you can’t do anything about it.

[From When is 'friendly credit' or non disconnect mode | The OVO Forum]

 
It might not be easy to get through to Support on a Monday morning, when the weekend’s accumulated faults all have to be dealt with immediately, so be prepared to persevere. If your supply has cut out, make sure to say you’re off supply as early and as insistently as possible, repeatedly if necessary. 

Thank you so much for this. There was around £9 left Friday night and the attempt to top up was Saturday after 7pm so would assume there would be around £5 left then. Good to know should be safe until 9am, this was not explained. Many thanks

Good to know should be safe until 9am, this was not explained. Many thanks

You should be OK for much longer than that.

If the traditional meter has gone blank because of a Power Cut then it will have switched into ‘Free Vend’ mode, so it will not cut out at all.

It’s basically switched from PAYG to being a credit meter, ie. use the power now pay later.
It’s slightly more complicated, but the impostant thing is that it won’t run-out of credit.

Of course any electricty that you use will still have to be paid for later, as will the standing charges.
That will be sorted out once you have the new meter, but I’d keep putting some top-up money to one side until then.

Support also seem to have been a bit confused with what they told you - In ‘Free vend’ mode your supply will continue until the meter can be swapped out.

That’s one reason why the computer wasn’t letting them book an emergency engineer - your supply is still working, and they only send emergency engineers if/when there is no supply.

There are a number of previous threads about this “blank screen following a power cut” situation, here is one:

PS. With a traditional meter the perspn on the phone has no way of knowing how much credit was still on it when you had the power cut and it switched to free vend.
That will have to be retrieved from the meter after it has been swapped out (if it can be retrieved).
Again that’s something that can only get sorted out after you have a new meter.