How can I owe if my meter is off for over a year?

Hi @RaiPagnin , don’t forget that you will have the daily standing charge levied , even if you’ve used no gas. 

Honestly, this is such a joke, the whole point to have it off is because I don’t have money to waste on this. I spoke to the previous contractor who gave me the wrong info then when doing the annual gas check. He mentioned that if I turned off the valve, it should shut it down everything and not charge anything. 

Is there any way to contest this charge? 

I can’t 100% promise you’ll be able to get it removed completely. Strictly speaking, you’re liable for the daily Standing Charges at the agreed rate for every day a meter remains installed at the property - regardless of whether you used any energy or not - and the only way to terminate them is to terminate the entire supply by having the meter removed. Merely turning the ECV next to the gas meter off does not count for this purpose. It merely stops you racking up charges under the Unit Rates because the meter isn’t spinning - so that part would be zero.

This isn’t OVO specific either - the same rule applies across the entire industry as it’s industry rules stuff. We strongly recommend you only request disconnection if you’re 1,000,000% certain you will NEVER need it again as reconnecting later can be painful and slow.

With that being said, I’d recommend you call OVO’s Collections Team on Monday via 0800 069 9831. They may be able to figure something out with you, but please be prepared to be told you may still have to pay something.

Engage Services are part of Marston Holdings.
https://marstonholdings.co.uk/engage/

Marston Holdings are High Court Enforcement Officers.
https://marstonholdingswebsite.azurewebsites.net/high-court-enforcement/

Does the letter/email that you got say that you already have a court judgement against you?

If it does say that then:
HCEO’s have the authority to enforce that judgement, including getting a warrant to enter property and collect debts or even seize goods.
They can also negotiate repayment plans if whoever is owed the money agrees, but you have to stick to any plan agreed or the HCEOs will be straight back.
(You’ve probably seen HCEO’s at work on TV programmes like “Call the Bailiffs” and “Can’t pay we’ll take it away”).

If you do already have a court order against you then you should get legal advice.

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Taking a step back from all that -

Whether there is a court judgement or not then you are best just finding a way of paying rather than racking up further legal costs.
You admit that the meter was still there and just turned off, so you were/are liable to pay the standing charges that built up and there is nothing for you to dispute about that.
(I strongly suspect that any legal advice you do get will tell you the same).