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Refused access to meters, and OVO unable to contact the building management

  • 14 December 2023
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Hello, 

I wondered if someone could help me out. Excluding University, this is the first time I have lived away from home and it’s been around 5 months, so please excuse my naivety around this topic.

When we moved into our building, we were unsure of how to access our meter, eventually we were told the readings were taken every month and placed on a communal notice bored - we do not have the code to access this ourselves. It is worth noting our full flat is powered by electricity, there is no gas. We have also been told we’re unable to have a smart meter by the estate agents.

This is partly our fault for not chasing this up, but for 3 months the meter readings were not posted, so OVO charged us an estimate. When a meter reading for November was finally put up, we uploaded this and our bill and past bills went up by a lot (November would make sense that it went up, as we began using the heating as it was getting too cold to not use it). We asked OVO why our past bills were effected and this is when they told us the past months were estimated off this meter reading as we hadn’t updated the other months (mistake by us as again, we weren’t sure the importance of this as we are still learning.) 

However, after posting a meter reading recently, it went up by an extortionate amount, working out in one week we’d spent around £12 a day - which is impossible as me and my flatmate are out 8 hours a day Monday-Friday at work. This is further impossible as during this time we were being extra careful with our electricity. This means we are quite a bit in debt in our OVO account.

Today, a contractor from OVO is going to come to check if our meter reading is faulty as the individual my flatmate spoke to on the phone agreed these figures didn't seem right. However, after talking to the management of the building they told me they are not allowed to give the code to the meters to tenants. The man on the phone suggested I asked OVO to get in contact with them so they could pass it on that way. I rang OVO, but was told this wasn’t possible as the contractors are third party. 

So basically, its a dead end. Does anyone have any suggestions? We’re really stuck here, and again I apologise if I've gotten anything wrong - I’ve only been out for the past few months and I’m still learning. 

 

Any help would be massively appreciated. :)

 

 

 

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Best answer by Blastoise186 14 December 2023, 15:41

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Blastoise186
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Hi @sophwillox ,

Just a quickie… Who pays the electric bill to OVO for your property?

It’s worth noting that the meters belong to the supplier - and the supplier MUST be granted access to them on-demand at any time. Landlords and estate agents cannot deny access to them.

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Hi, @Blastoise186 we pay it ourselves via direct debit, but are also able to add payments in whenever we want

BPLightlog
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Hi @sophwillox , this sounds a strange situation. Given that the meters relate to your usage and therefore responsibility, I would expect you to be able to access the meters - although obviously we don’t know the exact situation. 
From my own point of view, I would not allow any financial situation to sit outside my direct control but I don’t know how that helps you right now

Independent volunteer - Sitting in a Faraday cage, waiting for a signal
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Hi @BPLightlog , yeah we are confused ourselves. My boss is an ex estate agent and even he finds this strange. Unsure how to move forward regarding this but appreciate your reply. 

Blastoise186
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Gotcha! In that case, legally speaking your landlord/estate agent cannot block you from having Smart Meters. If you’re the one liable for the bill, you have full control over the supply - and this includes all the permissions needed to upgrade to Smart Meters.

Landlords/estate agents only have the power to block such things while they have control of the supply. As soon as someone moves in and sets their account up, control immediately passes to that new resident. It passes back to the landlord/estate agent only after that resident moves out.

The only exception is for cases where the Landlord pays the bill to the supplier and then the tenant pays the landlord via a sub-meter. However, the Landlord can only charge basically the exact same rate that they pay the upstream supplier anyway so there’s ultimately little to no benefit from doing this setup. It’s better off that the tenant just pays the bill directly to the supplier.

Please bear with me for a bit. We have a sort of joker card that we can play. I’m asking to see if we can play the joker, as it may help you out if we can.

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@Blastoise186 Ah amazing, thanks so much for your help its massively appreciated. :) 

Blastoise186
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No worries. I can’t promise anything, but we have pulled off joker cards before for similar circumstances and it’s worked wonders.

If we get permission to play that card, we’ll be able to tell you a bit more about it.

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@Blastoise186 thought it would be worth updating you, my flatmate has been on the phone to our property management and they said they can’t give us access due to a fire risk. He also said he will tell the man from OVO to not give us the code - is this lawful?

Blastoise186
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The fire risk reason is not one I’d consider valid myself (disclaimer: I’m a fire service volunteer) but ultimately, the code would have to be given to the engineer who shows up.

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@Blastoise186 How would you suggest I proceed with this? Thanks again 

Blastoise186
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We’re chatting about that now backstage. We’ll let you know ASAP

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@Blastoise186 Thanks so much 

 

BPLightlog
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Alongside the research going on backstage, these 2 links show that access is an obligation and there is a code of practice for this. 
Firstly from the IET (electrical regs) site 

https://engx.theiet.org/f/wiring-and-regulations/25140/electricity-meters-within-apartments

and secondly this snip from a legal discussion site 

Our comments here are only based on our opinions and experience of course but most of the volunteers have been around the industry for a while. 

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Jeffus
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The is from OFGEM the regulator regarding your right to a smart meter

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/getting-smart-meter

And OVO

https://www.ovoenergy.com/help/article/installing-a-smart-meter-in-a-rented-property

Firedog
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… snip from a legal discussion site 
  

Just to point out that MOCOPA morphed into CoMCoP a few months ago after being adopted by REC, and the current iteration has the same text at §14.1.12. 

Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA
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@Firedog @Blastoise186 @Jeffus thanks all so much for your help, what would you recommend i do as next steps? 

Blastoise186
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Try sending the entire thread to the property management company :)

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Nukecad
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I suspect that the company here has had a case of some tenant tampering with their meter, or even someone lighting a fire under the meters (vandalism happens, in some areas you’ll even see melted meter enclosures outside individual properties), and so is trying to prevent it happening again by locking them away.

But as already pointed out above they are not legally allowed to do that without at least giving the tenants, and suppliers, access on demand.

Today I have zero energy, I plan on going back to bed.
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@Nukecad thanks for this, think it’s time for a strongly worded email. 

 

The contractor due today never showed, it’s a nightmare stressing this much about money so close to christmas - we just want to know for sure what is happening with the meter

Blastoise186
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Well… It’s not much but there is one thing I can do to help with something else.

I think you’ll benefit from a visit by the fire service. They do home visits to help improve your fire safety and everything they offer is free. If you’re up for it, you can use https://www.safelincs.co.uk/hfsc to do the form and send it off - this tool might also offer some extra advice to help you out as well.

It’s similar to the paperwork I’d take you through as a fire service volunteer, just a bit more digital (and faster).

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Abby_OVO
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Hey @sophwillox 

 

Sorry to hear about this situation you’ve got going on, and it’s definitely not the first time we’ve seen landlords unaware of their tenants’ rights unfortunately.

 

Our volunteers have hit all of the nails on the head with the advice they’ve given, hopefully it’s been helpful to you.

 

Keep us updated with how you get on with everything, and we’ll do our best to advise where we can.

Location: Electric Avenue
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@Abby_OVO Hi Abby, thanks for your reply. Do you have any advice regarding what to do next? 

 

Is there is also something we could do regarding the contractor being a no show? 

Abby_OVO
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Hey @sophwillox 

 

If this was an engineer booked through us, I’d recommend getting in touch with the Support Team to rebook the appointment. You may also be entitled to a £30 missed appointment fee, if for example they failed to give you notice that they couldn’t attend.

 

You can find out more on this here: https://www.ovoenergy.com/help/article/guaranteed-standard-of-performance-gsop.

 

Let us know how things are going.

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Hi @Abby_OVO 

 

My flatmate is talking via the online chat and they’re claiming we never booked, which is a lie as we’d been on the phone since booking and they confirmed this. 

 

Is there something we can do? Really feels like we’re getting unfair treatment from all sides at this point. 

 

Thanks 

Jeffus
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Hi @Abby_OVO 

 

My flatmate is talking via the online chat and they’re claiming we never booked, which is a lie as we’d been on the phone since booking and they confirmed this. 

 

Is there something we can do? Really feels like we’re getting unfair treatment from all sides at this point. 

 

Thanks 

Did you get an email or text when you booked the appointment?

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