So sorry to hear about these very long response times when calling, @Dmcg01. If you’re calling the dedicated OVO PAYG number, please ensure you’re one of OVO’s customers and not a customer of Boost Power.

I would hate for you to be wasting your time contacting the wrong Support team. If you haven’t had emails or letters to the property from OVO PAYG, but you have prepayment meters, it’s likely you’re a Boost Power customer. Please contact them through web chat and they’ll get you set up with a new card and key.

For context on why it’s so busy, Mondays, and winter more generally are very busy, and if you add to that the unprecedented challenges facing customers with high prices and government interventions that are prompting contact, well let’s just say it’s a challenging time. I know that Boost, OVO, every supplier is working as best as they can to get to their customers and help them.  

I hope you managed to make some progress yesterday. 

Just purchased a house that has a PAYG meter installed. 

house is currently empty, not a single switch is been used or a light turned on. Topped up £15 for electric meter and within 24hrs the balance is now low OVO top up app shows  it’s somehow in debt of -£64.00 
 

I know I’m going to have to call them to fix this, but I’m dreading been on hold for 3hrs like the last time. Has anyone experienced this? I can’t afford £15 per day for electric, dread to think what it will be once I actually move in & use a plug socket. 

Hi @Dmcg01 and thanks for the post. I’m afraid this is very common with a prepayment meter - when a house isn’t occupied for days or weeks, an unpaid standing charge debt builds up. That gets taken from any subsequent top ups until the energy supplier is notified that it’s a new occupier and the previous debts should be removed. That’s what will happen when you contact your supplier. If that’s a supplier that’s part of OVO Group, here are the contact channels to use:

Boost Power

OVO PAYG

Hi, I have new tenants in my flat and the old tenants changed out the normal meter for a pay as you go meter. The new tenants (and me) do not have any details for it or an OVO account; the tenants are freezing as electricity is the only source of heating in the flat. How can we fix this as soon as possible?

Hey @danmack ,

The easiest fix for this is for the new tenants to call 0330 102 7517 to set up an account with Boost for PAYG services. Once set up, they can make a request to Boost to migrate the account to OVO Pay Monthly and have the meters switched out for smart meters.

Can you show us photos of the current meters if possible? This will help me recommend what to do next.

Thanks for that response!

We managed to get through to OVO (1 hour wait!, but very helpful once through) and got the code to top up without an account as a short term measure. 

The tenants are setting up the Boost account and will decide whether to keep PAYG or move to a credit account once they’ve get the electricity switch back on!

No worries. Switching to pay monthly is probably a good idea, but whatever direction they want to take is totally cool with me and I’ll respect whatever route you all decide to go down.

If you or your tenants have any questions though or would like some advice on how to do anything, feel free let us know on the forum. If it’s something we can answer here as forum volunteers, we definitely will.

Back on this again - I took the 19 digit code to three news agents and each of them say they code is invalid (I checked it with OVO 3 times so I’m sure it’s correct).

Is that normal?

Is there any way to fund the account and get the electricity switched on before my tenants freeze in their beds tonight?

It might be a TAG Code to get a key/card. Can you show me photos of the meters perhaps? Once I can identify what you’ve got, I can fine-tune my recommendations.

But I think it’ll need another call to Boost.

This is the meter