Ive just moved into a new home, I have a gas meter but no smart meter. I need to set up paying for my gas, but can't figure out how. I can only find how to pay for both gas and electric, not just gas, as my electric is with someone else.

How do I do this? I've never been with OVO or SSE before 

Howdy @Cosmikdebris ,

To set things up, you need to contact Boost in that case. It’s either via Live Chat at https://www.boostpower.co.uk/help or by calling 0330 102 7517. They can also discuss moving you to OVO Pay Monthly as well, which is something I’d recommend doing.

You may also find it easier to move both supplies to be with the same supplier. I’ll let you decide which one to move should you wish to do so.

Bought a house and are due to move in in 3 days time (myself, partner & my 5 year old daughter).
currently the house is on a PAYG meter, which doesn’t have a key/card left and has no gas or electric supply- emergency credit isn’t available to be added and the meters both say they’re -£64.00 in debt. Despite asking the current owner to call and fix this she insists it’s “de-energised” and there’s nothing more she can do- which I find bizarre. Id just like to know that when it comes to moving in, we can at least switch on a light so we can see (after all it is Dec, and it gets dark at 4pm now). 
our current supplier is BULB who are great, we get through to them immediately, always have had great customer service with them, but unfortunately they say it will take 5 days to switch our supply over, from the date we move in. 
 

Has anyone else had trouble contacting OVO, I can’t do anything online as I don’t have an account number, so myself & partner have had to  call at least 15 times trying to speak with someone, been left on hold for 3 hours at a time, and when we did manage to speak with some one, their script was thrown off course when we gave them a house name rather than a number, so she just put us back on hold for hours instead of listening. 
 

im frustrated at the thought of moving into a cold, dark house in December, with my 5 year old- and OVO are absolutely the worst company to reach.  I just want the debt clearing, and knowledge of how to top up this meter so we can have some electric the day we move in. 

If it’s payg and supplied by OVO try the Boost help https://www.boostpower.co.uk/help/

webchat available till 2pm on a Saturday 

.

Thank you, but i’ve tried the web chat. It doesn’t understand the contexts, so transfers me “to a human” then within a second a msg appears telling me to call them as they’re unavailable to take new messages.

it’s just as bad

Oh dear, sorry. Looks like Monday then when phones reopen but it’ll be rammed I expect. Unless anyone else can suggest something ?

Hi @Dmcg01 and thanks for flagging this one. 

As Julia mentions it sounds like you’re a Boost Power customer. OVO do have a very small number of smart metered prepayment accounts but I’ll frame my advice on the assumption that you’re with Boost Power, OVO’s prepayment sister company. 

They have a guide which outlines what needs to happen when you move in. 

“Please contact us through web chat and we’ll get you set up with a new card and key. We will also give you a payment code to top up with until your new payment card reaches you.

It’s not a good idea to use the same payment card or key as the last person, because there may be a standing charge (daily payment) charge on the account, especially if no-one’s been living in the property for a while.”

In short, any debt will be cleared and a means of topping up will be provided. You would need to speak to Boost Power’s customer support team directly though. If it turns out you are one of the few OVO PAYG customers, they have a dedicated number here:  0330 175 9669

Thanks for the reply, it’s the only contact I’ve had from your company in 10 days. 
the number you have provided is one I’m currently on hold with trying to get through, for the 10th day- I’ve currently been on the call for 2hours 47 minutes with the automated message saying it will take 5 minutes to connect me- this has been replaying for the last hour. 
is there anyway someone can call me to sort this issue? The option to request a call back hasn’t been given to me. 

So sorry to hear about these very long response times when calling, @Dmcg01. If you’re calling the dedicated OVO PAYG number, please ensure you’re one of OVO’s customers and not a customer of Boost Power.

I would hate for you to be wasting your time contacting the wrong Support team. If you haven’t had emails or letters to the property from OVO PAYG, but you have prepayment meters, it’s likely you’re a Boost Power customer. Please contact them through web chat and they’ll get you set up with a new card and key.

For context on why it’s so busy, Mondays, and winter more generally are very busy, and if you add to that the unprecedented challenges facing customers with high prices and government interventions that are prompting contact, well let’s just say it’s a challenging time. I know that Boost, OVO, every supplier is working as best as they can to get to their customers and help them.  

I hope you managed to make some progress yesterday. 

Just purchased a house that has a PAYG meter installed. 

house is currently empty, not a single switch is been used or a light turned on. Topped up £15 for electric meter and within 24hrs the balance is now low OVO top up app shows  it’s somehow in debt of -£64.00 
 

I know I’m going to have to call them to fix this, but I’m dreading been on hold for 3hrs like the last time. Has anyone experienced this? I can’t afford £15 per day for electric, dread to think what it will be once I actually move in & use a plug socket. 

Hi @Dmcg01 and thanks for the post. I’m afraid this is very common with a prepayment meter - when a house isn’t occupied for days or weeks, an unpaid standing charge debt builds up. That gets taken from any subsequent top ups until the energy supplier is notified that it’s a new occupier and the previous debts should be removed. That’s what will happen when you contact your supplier. If that’s a supplier that’s part of OVO Group, here are the contact channels to use:

Boost Power

OVO PAYG

Hi, I have new tenants in my flat and the old tenants changed out the normal meter for a pay as you go meter. The new tenants (and me) do not have any details for it or an OVO account; the tenants are freezing as electricity is the only source of heating in the flat. How can we fix this as soon as possible?

Hey @danmack ,

The easiest fix for this is for the new tenants to call 0330 102 7517 to set up an account with Boost for PAYG services. Once set up, they can make a request to Boost to migrate the account to OVO Pay Monthly and have the meters switched out for smart meters.

Can you show us photos of the current meters if possible? This will help me recommend what to do next.

Thanks for that response!

We managed to get through to OVO (1 hour wait!, but very helpful once through) and got the code to top up without an account as a short term measure. 

The tenants are setting up the Boost account and will decide whether to keep PAYG or move to a credit account once they’ve get the electricity switch back on!

No worries. Switching to pay monthly is probably a good idea, but whatever direction they want to take is totally cool with me and I’ll respect whatever route you all decide to go down.

If you or your tenants have any questions though or would like some advice on how to do anything, feel free let us know on the forum. If it’s something we can answer here as forum volunteers, we definitely will.

Back on this again - I took the 19 digit code to three news agents and each of them say they code is invalid (I checked it with OVO 3 times so I’m sure it’s correct).

Is that normal?

Is there any way to fund the account and get the electricity switched on before my tenants freeze in their beds tonight?

It might be a TAG Code to get a key/card. Can you show me photos of the meters perhaps? Once I can identify what you’ve got, I can fine-tune my recommendations.

But I think it’ll need another call to Boost.

This is the meter

Ohhhhh ok. You’ve already got a smart meter then. Boost should be able to just top-it up remotely for you, no code needed.

That makes me think the code is actually a UTRN (Unique Transaction Reference Number) you can punch into the meter itself to get the supply back on. If you go into it and access the Prepayment Menu, you’ll have that option somewhere. Give me an hour or two and I’ll grab a guide for you.

Ah ha! Here we go. Give this puppy a try. It’s exactly as I suspected. That code is a UTRN.

https://www.smartme.co.uk/documents/Aclara-SMETS2-Single-Phase-Electric.pdf

You’ll want Page 60 onwards or Page 70 onwards. It’s the section about UTRN - Manual Entry you’re after.

An hour or two !!! That was 6 mins !!!

Genius takes time you know! It wasn’t easy finding that info in a 109 page long user manual. XD

Thanks so much for this, much appreciated - I’m confused by the 20 vs 19 digit numbers - OVO only give us a 19 digit number; if there a trick to the last digit?