Trustpilot
3.8
/ 5
18,000 reviews
Customer reviews
Boost reviews
Independent Boost reviews drawn from Trustpilot, the Citizens Advice supplier-performance table and Selectra's editorial review — every signal you need to judge whether Boost is right for your home.
3.3
Average across platforms
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Independent ratings
How Boost scores across review platforms
Each platform measures a slightly different thing. Trustpilot reflects customer service. The Citizens Advice table is built from regulator-supplied complaint and switching data.
Citizens Advice
2.9
/ 5
Ranked #22 of UK suppliers
Pros & cons
What we hear from Boost customers
Strengths
- Pure prepay model: you only ever pay for energy you have already topped up, so the account cannot fall into arrears.
- Smart PAYG+ meter and Boost Energy app let customers top up instantly from a phone, text or web portal, with auto top-up by date or low-credit threshold.
- No exit fees and no fixed contract length on either prepayment tariff, so customers can switch supplier or move to a credit meter at any time.
- Backed by the OVO Energy parent group, which gives access to the OVO smart-meter installer network and the OVO Foundation hardship support.
- Accessible route into the energy market for households with poor credit history or no UK banking footprint, who would otherwise be refused a direct-debit account.
Weaknesses
- Prepayment unit rates are higher than the equivalent direct-debit tariff at the parent supplier, so the no-debt protection comes at a real annual cost.
- Top-up failures and meter "stuck on credit zero" issues are the dominant 1-star Trustpilot theme, often blamed on smart-meter sync rather than the app itself.
- Vend-code troubleshooting on traditional (key) PAYG meters can require a return visit to a PayPoint shop, frustrating for older or less mobile customers.
- Emergency-credit rules differ across Smart PAYG+, older smart PAYG and traditional PAYG meters, which causes confusion when customers think they are protected and are not.
Selectra verdict
Our independent take on Boost
Boost is best understood as a specialist prepayment supplier, not a price challenger. For households that have been refused a direct-debit account, or who actively prefer the no-debt discipline of paying in advance, the Smart PAYG+ tariff and app combination is one of the cleaner prepay experiences on the UK market.
The trade-off is straightforward: you pay a structural premium on every kWh compared with the same household on direct debit at the parent supplier. If your credit profile would qualify you for a credit meter, run a Selectra comparison on your real annual kWh before sticking with prepay just out of habit.
Selectra Reviews
Editorial
review
What customers are saying about Boost
Selectra Reviews does not yet collect customer feedback for Boost (it sits outside the GB retail market). The cards below are editorial summaries drawn from Trustpilot, Google Maps and local press by the Selectra UK energy team.
Source: reviews.selectra.com · refreshed every hour
App top-up works in seconds
Smart meter went in last spring, I top up through the Boost app a few times a month and the credit shows on the meter almost instantly. Auto top-up at £5 means I have never been cut off. For a prepay account this is exactly what I wanted.
— Leanne, Sunderland
Trustpilot
Selectra expert comment
When the SMETS2 smart meter is healthy and the Boost app is paired correctly, this is the supplier at its best. The instant vend over the wide-area network removes the old "wait for the shop to open" problem that defined traditional key-meter PAYG.
Fine for what it is
Easy to set up, easy to top up, but the unit rates are not cheap. I checked against the OVO direct-debit deal and I would save about £180 a year if I could move to a credit meter. Bank said no, so I am stuck on prepay for now.
— Damian, Walsall
Trustpilot
Selectra expert comment
Damian's number is right: the prepayment vs direct-debit gap on a typical 2,700 kWh / 11,500 kWh dual-fuel household is usually £150 to £220 a year. If your credit improves, ask Boost (or the parent OVO group) to swap you to a credit meter rather than switching supplier first.
Helpful when meter went off
My meter showed zero credit even though I had topped up £20 the same morning. Phoned the line, agent had me read the IHD code, pushed a remote fix through and credit appeared in 10 minutes. Glad it was sorted but I should not have had to call.
— Carla, Birkenhead
Trustpilot
Selectra expert comment
A textbook smart-meter sync failure: the top-up posts against the account but the meter has not received the signal. Most agents can push a manual vend code over the phone. Always keep the last 4 digits of the top-up reference handy, it speeds the call up considerably.
Off-supply for 36 hours after top-up failed
Topped up £30 on a Friday night, meter never registered it, app showed the payment cleared. By the time I got through on Monday I had been off-supply for nearly two days with a baby in the house. Got £75 goodwill but no real explanation of what went wrong.
— Tom, Stoke-on-Trent
Trustpilot
Selectra expert comment
This is the failure mode customers fear with smart prepay. Boost's rules say there is no disconnection on weekends, but that only holds if the meter recognises emergency credit, which is what fails here. If you are on the Priority Services Register, always quote it when escalating, the compensation under Ofgem's Guaranteed Standards is higher.
Vend code never worked
Old-style key meter, went to PayPoint, paid £25 in cash, came home and the code would not key in. Three trips back to the shop, three different codes, finally got it on the fourth. Boost agent on the phone was apologetic but said it was a meter issue not theirs.
— Marie, Doncaster
Trustpilot
Selectra expert comment
A reminder that traditional (key) PAYG still serves a lot of UK households and is structurally fragile. If the issue recurs, ask Boost for a free Smart PAYG+ upgrade, the parent OVO group has installer capacity in most regions and the swap is at the supplier's cost.
Emergency credit rules confused me
Thought I had £5 emergency credit available, the meter only let me access £3. Turns out my electricity credit was below £1 already so the rule kicked in differently. Took a 20-minute call to understand the small print.
— Owen, Plymouth
Trustpilot
Selectra expert comment
Boost's emergency-credit thresholds differ by meter type: Smart PAYG+ gives unlimited credit for 24 hours, older smart PAYG and traditional PAYG cap at £5 per fuel with activation conditions. Worth checking your meter type in the app, customers regularly confuse the two and assume more headroom than they have.
Selectra editorial takeaway
Reading the reviews together
The six reviews map cleanly onto two stories. When the Smart PAYG+ stack is working (healthy SMETS2 meter, paired app, auto top-up enabled), Boost is a quiet, dependable prepay supplier and the 5-star reviews reflect that. When the smart-meter sync breaks, or the customer is still on a traditional key meter, the failure modes can be severe: top-up failures, off-supply windows, vend codes that will not key in. The 1-star reviews are about being cut off, not about being overcharged, which is structurally different from a credit-meter supplier.
The Trustpilot 3.8 and Citizens Advice 2.88 figures sit roughly where you would expect for a prepay-only operator with an older meter estate gradually rolling over to smart. For households who actively need or want prepayment, Boost is a credible choice. For everyone else, it is almost always cheaper to qualify for a credit meter first.
Selectra explains
Boost's online presence: expert analysis
Author: Selectra UK energy team · Updated May 2026
Boost is one of the smaller online review footprints among UK suppliers, reflecting its specialist prepay positioning and the gradual consolidation of the brand under OVO Energy. The 3.8/5 Trustpilot headline is roughly average for prepay-only operators, with a clear split between customers on the modern Smart PAYG+ stack (broadly positive) and those still on legacy key meters (mixed at best).
Channel
Trustpilot
3.8/5
18,000+
Average for prepay-only operators. 5-star reviews are dominated by Smart PAYG+ app users, 1-star clusters are about top-up failures and off-supply windows on legacy meters.
Channel
Citizens Advice (Ofgem complaint data)
2.9/5
Quarterly regulator data
Bottom third of the league table on the most recent published quarter. "Easier to contact" is the weakest sub-score, "easier to switch" is the strongest, consistent with a no-exit-fee prepay model.
Channel
App Store / Play Store
4.0/5
10,000+ ratings
The Boost Energy app is the supplier's strongest asset: top-up, auto top-up, low-credit alerts and meter-balance tracking all in one place. Recurring complaints are about pairing failures with older smart-prepay meters.
Channel
Reddit and money-saving forums
/r/UKPersonalFinance and MoneySavingExpert threads treat Boost as a reasonable prepay option but consistently advise readers to move to a credit meter if they can qualify, on pure cost grounds.
Channel
X (Twitter) support
Customer-service handle responds during weekday office hours. Weekend coverage is thin, which is the worst possible window for a prepay supplier given that most top-up failures happen on Friday and Saturday nights.
Selectra expert verdict
Reading every channel together
The honest bottom line: Boost is a competent prepay specialist when the smart-meter stack works and a frustrating one when it does not. For households who need or actively choose prepayment, it is a defensible pick, especially once a Smart PAYG+ meter is in place. For everyone else, the £150 to £220 a year you save on a credit meter usually outweighs the convenience of staying on prepay. Run a Selectra comparison on your real kWh before committing either way.
Reviews don't pay the bill — the tariff does.
A great supplier still costs you money if you're on a bad tariff. Compare Boost against every other UK supplier on the price for your actual usage.
Common questions
Boost reviews — frequently asked questions
Boost is regulated by Ofgem and bound by the Standards of Conduct that protect domestic customers. Reliability is best judged against your own usage profile: read recent reviews, check the Citizens Advice star rating for Boost, and confirm the supplier's customer-service hours match when you actually need to call.
Trustpilot, Google Maps and app-store reviews reflect real experiences but are often skewed toward dissatisfied customers (people only post when something goes wrong). The most balanced single rating is Citizens Advice's quarterly supplier performance table, which scores all UK domestic suppliers on complaint handling, transfers, debt and communication — and is built from regulator-supplied data, not self-reported.
Confirm the unit rate (p/kWh) for both gas and electricity, the daily standing charge, the contract length, any exit fee (typical range: £25-£75 per fuel), and whether the deal requires a smart meter. Always cross-check the headline price against several other suppliers based on your actual postcode and annual kWh consumption from a recent bill.
If you're a current or former Boost customer, share your experience on Trustpilot UK (search the supplier name), Google Maps (write a review on the Boost business profile), or the Apple App Store and Google Play if you've used the mobile app. Selectra also collects independent reviews to help future customers compare suppliers objectively.