Hi @slooky ,
I’m not sure I have the answer to hand for that one. Bear with me while I dig up resources - this may take a while, so are you OK to hang in there for a bit?
If I can’t find the answer, I’ll raise this to someone who can.
thank you.
Just looking at the ovo site. I requested an online account so i could manage my account and the lady on the phone said I couldn’t have one because I don’t have a smart meter. I asked how was I supposed to submit readings and manage my account and she said I only had a choice of bills being sent via email or post!!!
I asked how was I supposed to give meter readings and she said I had to ring them in once a week. I’d had enough by then so I left the phone call quickly.
Looking at the OVO site it allowed me to register an online account very quickly and easily, it has all the usual payment facilities and meter readings etc.
I am at a loss as to why this lady misinformed me so much.
Hmm… Seems like that might need to be fed back… Please leave that with me - I’ll ask the Forum Moderators to ping the right people to get this put in the suggestion box.
As for your question, while I couldn’t figure this one out myself, I managed to ping an internal contact of mine and got an answer in seconds.
Closing a Temporary Landlord Account because a new tenant has moved in is treated the same as any Moving Home which means exit fees will be completely waived - just make sure to use the Moving Home process to do so and provide a Meter Reading for the date the tenant moved in! You should also be able to tell OVO the details of the new tenant IIRC.
With that being said, you might want to consider getting a Smart Meter installed while you’ve got control of the supply. No pressure of course, but it does make handling this stuff a lot easier because OVO can then just pull an automatic reading whenever tenants move in/move out so that everything can sync up more easily.
Hope this helps
Thank you. I will ring again tomorrow.
Regarding the smart meters I only have experience of people who have had bad experiences which resulted in thousand of pounds if debt and large repayment subsequently for the next 3 years because they trusted the new smart meter which was put in but the utility company wasn't using it!! And other tales. It's also worrying that utility company's are apparently charging for repairing smart meters when they go wrong. If this is the case everyone will probably be looking to the landlord to pay for the repair despite the fact the contract is between tenant and supplier
Those issues have either been solved or never existed in the first place.
Repairs to the Meter are always free. It’s only the IHD you might have to pay to replace - but only after the 12 month warranty runs out and a broken IHD won’t stop the Meter working anyway.
Just off a quick read it looks to me like a communication issue/error.
It looks to me as if the outgoing tenant had possibly signed up to a fixed tariff and left the property before that fix had ended, hence the talk of an exit fee for ending a fixed tariff early?
Of course that should not be the landlord's responsibility but the ex-tenants.
If the tenant has left then the landlord sets up a new account until a new tenant moves in and sets up their own account.
Edit- reading again; maybe your talking about switching to a different tariff fix rather than starting a new account for a letting void is what confused the first person that you talked to?
Hey @slooky
Sorry to hear about the trouble you’ve been having trying to get set up.
Looking at the OVO site it allowed me to register an online account very quickly and easily, it has all the usual payment facilities and meter readings etc.
Were you able to get fully set up online?
If your new home is supplied by OVO, you can call our Support Team on 0330 303 5063, we’re open Monday- Friday 9am to 5pm. Or, if you’d prefer to do it all online you can sign up here.
Once you put in your new address details the website will recognise we already supply your new home and give you a quote based on the usage figures we have for the property.
This topic might be helpful:
Let us know how you got on.
Hi thank you.
Definitely no communication issue she understood entirely and pointed out to me that as a landlord I wouldn't have the property in my name for 12 months (the fixed term) and so would pay exit fees. I repeatedly explained that it was just like moving home and not changing to another supplier. No problem with leaving tenant.
Setting up online was easy and full access.
Good news that repairs to smart meters is just scaremongering.
Thank you everyone
