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New home supplied by Boost but wish to change to Direct Debit, is this an option?

  • 6 November 2018
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45 replies

Blastoise186
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I’d check the status of the OVO account first. If OVO is attempting to migrate the supply, it might be worth letting them try to do so. If they can’t, your money should just get refunded.

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Hi There,

We’ve just moved to a new property, the gas and electric is supplied by Boost, we want to switch it to Ovo Direct Debit, which they’ve told us we’ll have to wait a month. We have a-lot of trouble trying to add money to the Boost top-up, they sent some numbers and I’ve so far stuck £260 on it, which hasn’t shown up, but the money has come out of my account. We have a 15 month old baby, and the house has no functioning boiler and we are heavily reliant on electric for the electric heaters, we’re worried it will run out and we’ll have no heat when its -5 degrees outside. Why can’t we just switch to Ovo Direct Debit straight away?!

Thanks.

 

BPLightlog
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There’s a thread about switching here 

Although if you’ve already begun talking to Boost about this I’m not sure there’s a quicker method 

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Blastoise186
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There’s no faster method I’m afraid. It has to be done by having Boost start the process. It then requires some internal stuff to happen and there is no way to speed those up.

It also only really works quickly if you have smart meters. You can still transfer to OVO without them, but the meters will have to be replaced along the way and the replacement meters will be upgraded to smart meters.

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hi my current property has standard elec meter i pay quarterly cash with OVO, i am signing tenancy on another property which has boost pre payment meter i want the pre payment meter changed to an OVO standard meter before i move in which will be about 2 to 3 weeks time,, boost say i have to open an account with them first before it is changed which means i will be charged the daily standard charge from the moment i open an account, which seems unfair as i do not want an account with them and will not actually use electric until moving day and i do not want any account with boost, it seems boost have me over a barrel but boost and OVO are the same company and i cant see why i just cant order a new meter to be installed without signing up to boost, anyone else has this issue?

BPLightlog
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Normally on a new account @surfnutt , the standard practise is to register with the present supplier and then switch if required. 
Boost and OVO operate separately as suppliers so that appears to be the reason. 
There’s a tutorial here 

 

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Thanks for replying it seems i have to sign up to a pre payment account that i do not want or need before they will change the meter, it sounds crazy but otherwise computer says no! what a world we live in.

Emmanuelle_OVO
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Hey @surfnutt,

 

Welcome to the OVO Online Community, 

 

No supplier would be able to book a meter exchange with a customer, or if the meter is already smart change the mode of the meter and tariff, with a customer whose not registered as liable for the property.

 

You’d need to be an account holder to make any changes on an energy account, which is why you have to set up an account with the supplier of your new property for the date you become liable, first. 

 

The same would apply if you wanted to switch away, because there would be charges in the interim, owed to the previous supplier. When you move into a property, whether you’d like to stay with the current supplier or not, you need to set up an account with them.

 

Hope this makes a bit more sense. 

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Heres the thing i will be the tenant but will not have moved in therefore will not be using electricity because the boost pre payment meter does not have a key and it is out of power i have no way of using any electricity in the flat, i do not want to sign up with boost for a couple of weeks with all the headaches that comes with that, i want ovo which are both part of the same parent group  to change the meter over or boost to change it, they would do this if i signed up to boost but will not unless i open an account with boost, it really is a stupid system. a case of computer says no, and the fact that if i have to open an account with boost they will charge me from day 1 the daily standard charge for supplying electric to the flat despite me not having any way of using electric as there is no key availabe, i will forced to sign up to boost paying for a service i cannot use or want in order to change it to a service i do want and can use, do you now understand how stupid that really is?

Emmanuelle_OVO
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Hey @surfnutt,

 

A supplier can’t change a meter to pay monthly for someone who isn’t named on an account as they wouldn’t be deemed liable for the property, I’m afraid that isn’t possible. Without signing up, we have no details for the booking, and no account number to connect the meter/MPAN to when the booking is sent to the engineers.

 

You should set up an account from the point you legally become liable for a property, even if that comes before the date you move in. Once you’ve done so, you can get the ball moving, with moving to a pay monthly meter. If there has been no usage, this will reflect in the meter readings taken from the meter from either yourself, or when the meter is exchanged. If you didn’t sign up when you originally became liable, you can do this with the Support Team, who may need a copy of a tenancy agreement to ensure your account is set up correctly.

 

If you were not planning to change the meter to be able to pay monthly, you would have set up an account and received a new top up key already. For anyone else moving into a property with prepayment meters, make sure you set up your account, even if there already is a key, as the old one won’t be connected to yourself or your account.

 

This topic might be helpful:

 

 

Hope that helps. 

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Hi all

It’s a long story but I was finally after weeks of trying able to get someone is boost to discuss myself switching from boost to OVO.

Icing on the cake is they now say it will take them 21 days to press the relevant buttons to enable this to happen.

I have no more hair to pull out ….but surely it can’t take that long.

Anyone been through this nightmare.

Many thanks

Tiggy

Emmanuelle_OVO
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Hey @Tiggy777,

 

Have you already got a smart meter installed? 

 

I know that a smart meter needs to be installed, the functionality of the meter would then need to be changed to pay monthly and we would update the national database and our internal billing systems. You’d need to choose a contract with OVO energy and we’d start billing you as pay monthly. 

 

I’m sorry the process hasn’t been a smooth one. 

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Hi all. I’m after a bit of advice as I think I’m being bamboozled by OVO Energy team…

 

I’ve moved in to a rental property on 12th Jan 2024 which was previously supplied by Scottish Power (electricity) and OVO Energy (gas). The electricity meter is a SMETS1 one and the gas one is a SMETS2. The SMETS2 gas meter was put in on 9th Dec 2023 by OVO just to get my landlord on supply, replacing the old traditional prepayment meter as the landlord didn’t have the top up key or something. However it was done even though the two meters aren’t compatible with one another and don’t communicate. As a result, I was set up with Pay As You Go account by OVO even though I’d rather be on a monthly bill basis where I give them monthly readings and they bill me. The meter shows the readings when I press a button so I have no idea why they are forcing me on to a Pay As You Go tariff. Moreover now they are trying to change the SMETS2 meter back to a traditional one so I can be a PAYGO customer and top up my balance. I cannot change supplier - even though I’d want to - because right now my PAYGO account is supposedly in debt as it is stuck in some credit mode (as if it was a bill monthly account). Had a gas engineer out last week who said she can’t make the SMETS2 meter talk to SMETS1 one because the ports are blocked or something on the SMETS1.

 

am I being bamboozled by OVO? Is letting them switch me back to a traditional prepayment meter a good move? I just want to settle the “debt” and be able to control the credit amount and then move away and consolidate both electricity and gas supply under a single supplier. Any help would be great thanks.

 

 

Emmanuelle_OVO
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Hey @d0notdisturb,

 

Sorry to hear of the issues you're having,

 

Is it not possible for them to exchange your electricity meter for a SMETS2 meter to match the gas? If not, what reasoning have they given?

 

If the meters aren’t communicating with OVO that may be why they can’t remotely upgrade you to pay monthly. 

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The electricity is still being supplied by Scottish Power and so their property so I’m guessing OVO have no right to upgrade it to a SMETS2 meter.

 

Additionally, the “ports” on the electricity meter are blocked so can’t put some sort of a “clamp” (?) to make the gas meter talk to electricity one.

Blastoise186
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The easiest fix is to have the electric meter swapped for S2 first - that may allow OVO to get the gas working on the same comms hub.

Otherwise, it’ll have to be a hot shoe method. Worth mentioning that this whole process might be a bit easier if you’re willing to move one of the supplies over so that both are with the same supplier. Up to you though

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This is what the SMETS1 electricity meter (provided by Scottish Power) looks like.


The Gas Engineer that I had over last week said that she can’t put some sort of a clamp in because the ports are blocked?

 

Just spoke to Scottish Power as well and they refused to upgrade their SMETS1 meter because it is sending data correctly to their systems.

 

Because I’m technically a PAYGO customer with OVO and the meter / account is stuck in “credit” (?) mode and have outstanding balance that I can’t pay (OVO aren’t allowing me to pay off this in any way) as a result I can’t switch my gas over to another supplier.


If I was to switch electricity to OVO from SP, what are the chances OVO would upgrade the SMETS1 electricity meter to a SMETS2? Would that then resolve all of my issues? Is it guaranteed that upgrading the SMETS1 to a 2 would resolve the issue?

D
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For completeness’ sake - here’s a picture of the SMETS2 gas meter (supplied by OVO energy):

 

 

Blastoise186
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Probably, but please bear with me. I need to ask backstage.

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Emmanuelle_OVO
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Just spoke to Scottish Power as well and they refused to upgrade their SMETS1 meter because it is sending data correctly to their systems.

 

Because I’m technically a PAYGO customer with OVO and the meter / account is stuck in “credit” (?) mode and have outstanding balance that I can’t pay (OVO aren’t allowing me to pay off this in any way) as a result I can’t switch my gas over to another supplier.


If I was to switch electricity to OVO from SP, what are the chances OVO would upgrade the SMETS1 electricity meter to a SMETS2? Would that then resolve all of my issues? Is it guaranteed that upgrading the SMETS1 to a 2 would resolve the issue?

 

I think if Scottish Power won’t replace the meter as it’s in communications, the best option might be to switch to OVO. If the meters aren’t communicating with each other OVO will replace the SMETS1 meter @d0notdisturb. When you have communicating meters, the support team will be able to remotely change the meter to pay monthly. 

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.

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