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Hello,

 

I bought a house in November but haven’t fully moved in until recently. I need to put the gas & electric meters in my name because although I can top up the electricity meter with the precious owner’s card, it will not let me do this with the gas meter. I gas meter is now in debit so will need to pay that. It is extremely difficult to get through to anyone on the phone and there seems to be no options to deal with this online. I am fed up of being without gas. I need advice please on the quickest and easiest way to go about this, and how long should the switch over take? Thanks. 

Hi @nualaellen you will need to set up a new account (rather than change name). Perhaps this guide might help 

The main contact details are here 

Customer Support  -  tel:03303035063

Webchat  -https://help.ovoenergy.com/#contact_us_container


I have already tried that. There is literally no way to do it online. Everywhere I go they ask for current details to sign up as if I’m already a customer. Since writing that post I have learned that I may need Boost rather than OVO: tried their web chat and they kept ending the chat. 


Hey @nualaellen 

 

Have you been able to speak with anyone at Boost to get your account set up yet?

 

It will need to be the Boost team who deals with this, you can contact them via 0330 102 7517, hello@boostpower.co.uk or facebook.com/boostpoweruk/ Mon-Fri: 08:00-18:00 & Sat: 09:00-17:00.


I am absolutely disgusted and at the end of my tether with Ovo/Boost. I still have no gas and I am sick of getting cold showers. It is making me ill. I cannot count the amount of times I have tried to make an account with Boost via we chat or speak to them via the phone. They either hang up on me, close the chat, or keep asking for my account number via chat. I DO NOT HAVE AN ACCOUNT WHICH IS WHY I NEED AN ACCOUNT- why this is so hard to understand I will never know. I have also tried ringing Ovo but they redirect me to boost and the cycle begins again. The Gas meter is falling more and more into debt each day (how this is happening when I can’t even use the gas is beyond me). I want to move to a different company but then apparently SSE/Ovo/Boost or whatever name they want to go by this week will put a stop on tha and will not allow me to switch. I have even tried ringing the emergency helpline due to having no gas but it goes in a cycle of telling me to press a number, then saying “sorry I didn’t understand that”, then going through all the options again. I guess I have to live without gas forever? Because it seems like this is what is happening and what is now expected of me by this company. With all the stress I have in my life currently, this is absolutely the LAST thing I need. Any help on how to switch companies would be great. Thanks 


I’m so sorry to hear that you’re not able to make progress with this, @nualaellen. As you might imagine it’s very tricky for us to advise what to do other than what should usually happen, and it’s tricky to know why the person on the phone isn’t able to help you. 

 

What should happen is that you contact Boost to confirm when you took over responsibility for the property. That’s not your move in date but when you got the keys. Any debt on the meters from before this date should be removed, an account is set up in your name and keys and cards are sent. Boost should then help you get a smart meter to make it much easier to help you in the future. Calling Boost is the right step from you to get this all done: 0330 102 7517. 

 

Due to your experiences so far, you very much have grounds to raise a complaint with Boost. A resolution should factor in any shortfalls in service you have had. This should and will be put right. 

 

I would recommend you call Boost today. At the same time, we’ll send you a private message from our Forum_Support channel to get your full address to help us find the account. We’ll do our best to reach a Boost colleague, but this is a separate brand with a separate Support team so it may be tricky. That’s why I also suggest you call Boost directly. 

 

Hope this helps,

Tim


Hello, 

sorry if this is in the wrong section i am new to this.

I just moved into a rental property and energy is supplied by OVO through prepayment smart meters, im new to setting everything up and have been trying to set a new account up for about a week straight but i keep being told my address doesnt come up on OVOs system, and i seem to be going around in circles. 

Alongside this, the previous tenant has about £40 debt on the gas meter. currently, im getting gas and electric but the smart meter is saying things such as ‘gas disablement off’’ ‘’top up soon’’ ‘’ no credit’’, the standing charge is racking up and im worried ill be paying off someone elses bill when i top up. Estate agents have also emailed to let OVO know that i have taken over the property now, and requested the debt to be wiped off for me, ive also requested this of course but not heard anything yet, customer service try their best to be helpful but there isnt much they can do for me after they see that my address doesnt show on their system which i know isnt their fault but leaves me in a bit of an awkward situation. 

If anyone has any advice or suggestions for me that would be great, would it be best to switch to another supplier or would that just be more stressful? ive just left a bills included property so all this is new to me, sorry!

 

thank you all 

 


Hi @fedupofthislol, very frustrating for you. However, I’m sure you won’t get stung with someone else’s bill, especially with smart meters. But any billing meter smart or not should keep an accurate record of consumption through it.  You’ve got clear audit trails of when you moved in, and as soon as the purely administrative process of organising and recognising your address is completed, your account can get up and running accurately. It’s unlikely, I think, that another supplier would take you on just yet until everything gets sorted, especially if there’s any question of money owing (even though it isn’t you who owes the money).

 

Your daily standing charge will accrue, I’m afraid, every day, no getting away from that for any of us at the moment, and that doesn’t depend on how much or how little you consume, unfortunately,

 

In the meantime, make sure for your own peace of mind you’ve taken a photo of the various displays on each of the meters.   If you have an in-home display (IHD), make sure it’s plugged in and working, and also make a note of any meter information that the various screens on the IHD can tell you: key info being meter serial numbers, MPAN or MPRN numbers.  You can probably confirm that key info by looking at the gas meter and the electric meter labels and/or any cards or info sheet left by previous engineers.

 

Then, armed with your info about the meters and the key numbers which relate precisely to your electric supply, your gas supply, your electric meter and your gas meter, I’m sure a phone call to OVO will start the ball rolling for you…let us know how you get on…

 

So, don’t  worry too much! 

 


Hey @fedupofthislol,

 

Sorry for the issues you’re having, 

 

Could it be that the supply is with Boost? OVO’s sister company. Use this online tool to find out your gas supplier. As waltyboy has pointed out, you have enough evidence to show when you moved into the property so they should be able to clear the previous tenants debt.

 

This topic may be helpful:

 

 

If not, and it’s definitely with OVO PAYG these are the best contact details:

 

  •  via chat here. Just click the green chat icon on the bottom right of your screen. We’re here to help anytime from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 2pm on Saturday.
  • Or call us on 0330 175 9669 during the same times.

If you still aren’t having any luck with customer support, please pop back and I’ll get Forum_Support to look into it. 

 

Hope this helps. 


hi all thank you for your replies, its helped massively.

i managed to get it all sorted this morning and everythings all working great, ovo customer service was fantastic and guided me through everything!!

thank you so much again

 


That’s great news @fedupofthislol, and thank you so much for letting us know.

 

And all the best in your new place..


Brilliant news @fedupofthislol! Pop back anytime 🙂


Moved into a rental on 16th May and was given the Boost electric and gas barcodes/12 digit numbers by landlord, who said we could top up either at the shop down the road or on the app. He topped up £20 each for us the same day.

Downloaded the app last night and the balance hasn't updated since 13th May, and is showing is -£1.87. HOWEVER the app also shows in History that top ups were made on 16th May and I also added £20 each yesterday (20th) via the app, which is also showing in History, but not reflected in the balance.

I checked again this morning and the balance is still showing as -£1.87 with the date showing 'as as 13th May.'

Any ideas? Will try and use Boost chat this morning but wondering if anyone in the forum has come across this before.


+ I've been having a look at the Ovo website and unsure if I need to to something after I've topped up to activate the electric/gas - the landlord didn't mention this, he just told us about topping up.


Hi @NewTenant

 

I’m sorry to hear this this.

 

Boost Power are part of the OVO Group but they have a separate Support team and systems. Please contact their Support team directly so that they can look into this further for you. They can be contacted on 0330 102 7517, hello@boostpower.co.uk or facebook.com/boostpoweruk/ Mon-Fri: 08:00-18:00 & Sat: 09:00-14:00. 

 

There’s also some helpful FAQs here.

 

Please let us know if you manage to get this sorted.

 

 


I spoke to an advisor on web chat earlier and they weren't too helpful on this issue, told me I needed to create an account via a telephone number. Is there a common reason for this error?


Hi @NewTenant,

 

I’m sorry to hear this.

 

You’d need to set up an account in your name when you move into a property even if it is Pay As You Go, without doing this it would be difficult for the Support team to help you.


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