Pensioner describes 'nightmare' remote smart meter change

A pensioner has described how she faced being without power after her energy company remotely put her onto a prepayment account via her smart meter.

Audrey Risdon, 81, from New Milton in Hampshire, slipped into arrears with OVO Energy while she spent four weeks in hospital recovering from a fall.

This prompted the company to make the change, leaving Ms Risdon anxious that her power supply was being shut off.

OVO said it had now called Ms Risdon to "sincerely apologise".

Ms Risdon, who suffers with mobility issues, said it was a "nightmare" when she returned home to find OVO had switched her to a prepayment account.

"It was absolutely terrible," she said, describing how her daughter-in-law told her that her gas and electricity were set to be disconnected.

Ms Risdon's mobility problems after her fall meant that she had to spend about £10 on a taxi every time she needed to go to the shops to top up her energy.

She was also unable to walk down the steep ramp to the side of her property where the she would have been able to see how much gas and electric she had left to use.

"I tried to ring [OVO] so many times," she said.

"A couple of days ago I didn't even have anything to eat because I didn't know how near I was [to running out of credit]... and whether it would last that evening."

Ms Risdon's experience came as regulator Ofgem said 17 energy suppliers were failing vulnerable customers.

She said the situation was not resolved until Citizens Advice took on her case.

Alison Talbot, chief officer of Citizens Advice New Forest, said: "The energy companies shouldn't do this without the customer knowing and having a conversation with them.

"The rise in smart meters means they can make this switch without even consulting the customer."

OVO has now paid Ms Risdon £327 in compensation.

An spokesperson said "We've called Ms Risdon to apologise sincerely for the experience she's had.

"We've advised Ms Risdon that her meter will change to credit mode this week, and we've offered support."

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