How do you get into debt on a PAYG top up meter?

Hi @Amin Javanmard 

Sorry to hear about this, it sounds like there was already a debt on the meter before you moved in.

We don’t have access to accounts here at the Forum so you’ll need to contact the Pay as you Go team who’ll be able to help sort this for you.

You can can contact the team now here, they’ll go through everything with you to get that cleared and get topped up.

First of all I got a final bill from sse of £217.63 8/01/21 when we left the property 

i had been on direct debt then went to pre pay. 

I didn’t think this was right so I asked for all of my bills to be sent to me and raised a complaint which was recognised but nothing happened after this, I raised a further complaint it was allocated to someone then again nothing happened. Fast for as to 17/08/23 when ovo took over this account they are saying I owe £788.66 considering I got a final bill of £217.63 I asked ovo over phone conversations to send me all bills you hold on me so I can look into this and received nothing I’ve then called you and you’ve now got no record of my account. this has now been passed to a debt collector and they are saying I owe them £1870.66 this is outrageous.

Hi @Johnmo1 

Sorry to hear about this.

We don’t have access to accounts on the Forum, so you’ll need to discuss this with the Support Team in depth. You can contact the team here.

Hi all, totally confused at the moment I have been with sse for approx 10 years pre payment  I then agreed to have smart meters installed. So still on pay as you go! The Ovo took over my account last sept so still on pay as you go Wer I topped up my gas and electric online if I didn’t top my meters up then I didn’t have a supply simply right? So in April this year I changed from pre payment to pay monthly and 2 weeks later Ovo have sent me a bill for almost £1500 impossible.! I raised my concerns and put in a complaint only to be told that I have been using more energy than I been topping up? How is this even possible? I honestly don’t know who or were to turn to for advice’s 

Hi @Debzs,

I’m really sorry to hear this.

It sounds like your meter readings from when you migrated from SSE could be out of line and causing the debt. I’m afraid we don’t have access to your account here to be able to properly explain why this might be. It may be worth contacting the Pay As You Go team directly so they can look into this further for you.

These threads may also be helpful:

Please keep us updated.

Hi, I have a question regarding my electricity “final bill” from Ovo after moving out of property. The flat was supplied via prepayment pay as you go meter, a smart meter. I had an OVO app where I could always see the balance on my account and always kept it in credit. The last day of my tenancy I took a photo of the meter and it said it was in credit. I always kept it in credit. I never received any bills from OVO. Upon notifying OVO about wanting to close my account with them, I received a final bill where it says that for the past couple of months I had been in debit, and that I owe money. My question is, does the meter not reflect the true amount of the account? Why wasn’t I notified, why wasn’t my electricity cut off if, as they claim, the amount on my meter went into debt? (Which it hadn’t). It seems to me that they’re trying to squeeze a last payment from me. I have a photo of the final meter reading, where the amount of electricity usage is correct, and it says the meter is in credit. How can they claim I’m in debit then? Thank you for your answers.

Hi @Martynca ,

There may have been a “backscreen” debt on the meter. Try calling 0330 175 9669 and someone can check for you.

What doesn’t make sense to me is that the meter (or my Ovo top-up app) never showed DEBT on it, or that I was in negative amount. Is it possible that the meter is incorrect or does it always reflect true amount on the account?

It may have had a debt on it that you didn’t see on the front screen - and it definitely wouldn’t show in the app. If you talk to PAYG Support, they can dig deeper and figure this one out for you. If they determine you owe nothing, they can wipe the balance to zero.

 One more thing, if the meter did go into debit, how come my electricity supply didn’t get cut off?