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Faz890
Rank 2
August 19, 2025

OVO NEARLY CAUSED A CATASTROPHIC HOUSE FIRE

  • August 19, 2025
  • 24 replies
  • 384 views

Hi,

This is my first post on this forum. I wanted to highlight as an OVO customer the critical safety error made by engineers. This nearly caused a house fire and led to the National Grid coming out and doing emergency work. 

I installed a smart EV charger a few months back in anticipation to getting a new EV. I bought the EV and then moved to OVO as a new customer. I had my conventional meter exchanged for a smart meter and OVO were aware this was being done to qualify for the Anytime Charge tariff. 

The smart meter was changed and the engineer noticed an EV charger was already installed. I was under the assumption that the electric wires (tails) were changing from 16mm to 25mm. This was to compensate extra load on the circuit. 

The engineer conducted a safety check and told me everything was fine. 

Moving forward a few months, I noticed a really strong smell of burning and hearing the sound of 'electrical buzzing' from my cupboard. A few days later, the same sound returned and I suffered complete electrical outage. 

National Grid turned out and informed me that surge protection fuse had burned out and this was replaced. My electrician also noticed that the tails weren't changed when the meter was replaced. 

Speaking to customer service, they offered me £10 for the confusion and we're charging me £170 to get the tails changed. They acknowledged that the tails could have been changed for free with the smart meter but because I hadn't asked for it, they didn't do it. Surely the engineer who conducted the safety check, could have picked up on this issue. 

As someone who is not technical, I always assumed the wires would have been changed. Offering me £10 for nearly burning my house down was an insult in itself. 

I raised this as a formal complaint and also wondering whether to submit a report to the Health and Safety Executive. 

Very poor service offered by OVO and I even gave them a chance to fix the issue which they refused. 

24 replies

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F
Rank 2
Faz890Author
Rank 2
August 21, 2025

Wiring regs say 16mm2 is the minimum size for an 80A cutout. It's only if you have a 100A fuse do you need 25mm2.

For using just the EV charger. If the load increases it needs 25mm wiring. There is evidence to suggest the wiring can't handle the load. 

Peter E
Super User
Peter ESuper User
Super User
August 21, 2025

There is nothing stopping you from upgrading the tails to 25mm2 if that gives you peace of mind but nothing in the wiring regs says it needs to be done because the size of the tails is related to the size of the cutout fuse not the loads you have on it.

 

If you have cause for concern then I strongly recommend that you ask a qualified electrician to inspect the installation for faults particularly in view of the fact that you have said that the cutout fuse blew and no root cause has been identified. The DNO are not responsible for any equipment after the fuse. OVO are not responsible for any equipment after the smart meter and 16mm2 tails are correctly sized for the 80A cutout fuse value you told me. The owner is responsible for anything after the smart meter.

 

I’m not intending to reply to any more posts here but if you want to come back on here with any findings then that would be useful for everybody.

 

Peter

 

Reducing my yearly fossil fuel usage with an EV (-900 litres petrol), A2AHP (-8,700 kWh gas) and Timed Immersion heater (-1,500 kWh gas)
    F
    Rank 2
    Faz890Author
    Rank 2
    August 21, 2025

    There is nothing stopping you from upgrading the tails to 25mm2 if that gives you peace of mind but nothing in the wiring regs says it needs to be done because the size of the tails is related to the size of the cutout fuse not the loads you have on it.

     

    If you have cause for concern then I strongly recommend that you ask a qualified electrician to inspect the installation for faults particularly in view of the fact that you have said that the cutout fuse blew and no root cause has been identified. The DNO are not responsible for any equipment after the fuse. OVO are not responsible for any equipment after the smart meter and 16mm2 tails are correctly sized for the 80A cutout fuse value you told me. The owner is responsible for anything after the smart meter.

     

    I’m not intending to reply to any more posts here but if you want to come back on here with any findings then that would be useful for everybody.

     

    Peter

     

    Peter,

     

    You clarifications have been confusing and add to the speculation. 

     

    The 16mm wires from the main fuse to the smart meter are the responsibility of the energy supplier. There are no faults with any other wires from the smart meter to the circuit board. 

     

    The wiring from the main fuse to the smart meter are heating up to the point where it's burning and the smell can be picked up throughout the house. This is the responsibility of the energy company and they should have changed these when they fitted the smart meter. There is no discussion here about anything else. 

     

    OVO have even acknowledged this and offered a measley £10 as compensation. I didn't even ask for compensation. OVO are on notice so should there be any further instances of heated wires or blown fuses, I may have to take legal action under the Health and Safety regulations. 

     

     

    Blastoise186
    Super User
    Blastoise186Super User
    Super User
    August 21, 2025

    Worth noting that meter tail upgrades aren’t included for free as part of a Smart Meter upgrade. That’s usually done as a separate job and is chargeable. AFAIK replacing faulty ones like-for-like is free though.

    Legal action isn’t the right move for this - try https://ovoenergy.com/feedback for the Ombudsman if you get into a deadlock. By the way, the Health and Safety Executive will probably spit this one out if you try to refer it to them - they deal with workplace safety only and domestic matters like this one are out-of-scope for the HSE.

    If memory serves… It’s also a matter that the Health and Safety at Work Act is more under criminal law than it is civil law anyway - you can’t do much with it yourself and you certainly can’t get compensation that way unless the HSE prosecutes. There’s no method for you to use that one as a customer on a domestic supply.

    As we’ve said, you should consider the Energy Ombudsman instead if you get badly stuck.

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