A mother and her three children were evacuated from their home after an electricity fuse box caught fire.
Kirsty Bailey, a mother-of-three, who lives in Kingussie, says it was fortunate the incident happened at 6.30pm.
She was checked by paramedics for smoke inhalation and the family has been put up in a hotel by landlord Highland Council.
Kirsty Bailey said she complained to SSE and OVO for around three years about faults with her pre-payment meter but according to OVO a report concluded this was not linked to the fire.
Ms Bailed is among around 150 homes in the Highlands and Islands which have Total Heating Total Control (THTC) meters, a notoriously complex tariff that was inherited from Scottish Hydro-Electric.
A Radio Teleswitching signal (RTS) controls when storage heaters receive ‘charge’ and when the hot water tank is topped up with hot water.
The specific times for the off-peak rate depend on the weather forecast and THTC works by storing up heat during this time.
It was a government decision that the RTS and associated tariffs such as THTC would come to an end, with all heritage meters replaced with smart meters.
OVO has been criticised for failing to update customers, many of whom are elderly, about the timings of this but has said it is likely to be next year.
Some of the meters are between 20 to 25-years-old, exceeding their shelf life according to experts and customers have reported faults including electricity surges and pre-payment meter credit being "swallowed up" leading to supplies being cut off.
A report by Local Energy Scotland found that THTC was considerably more expensive than other tariffs and customers say OVO makes it "extremely difficult" to switch to smart meters.
The Herald was shown images of the burnt-out fuse box.
Ms Bailey claims both SSE and OVO failed to send out engineers after she raised concerns that the meter was malfunctioning.
She said: "After about four months of complaint after complaint, I went to the Ombudsman, who carried out an investigation. SSE was advised to run tests on the meter and take it out, which they didn't do.
"Then I went over to OVO and stated my case with them. They sent out the wrong engineer, who wouldn't touch it. He put it through as an emergency but they never showed."
She says the last call she made was to report a fault that was resulting in the meter rapidly deducting money and cutting off her electricity supply.
She claims the engineer told her he couldn't fix it "because the system was outdated".
She said: "When the house fire started, all my electrics were flickering, then it went off.”
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Katie Miller is a trained energy advisor and has been acting as an advocate for THTC customers.
She said many had reported similar faults with the meter as the family in Kingussie.
Kate Forbes, SNP MSP for Skye, Badenoch and Lochaber said uncertainty over the timings of the upgrade had created a lot of anxiety for customers.
She said: "I have written to companies like OVO several times on behalf of my constituents, and to date, I am no further forward on what they intend to do."
A spokeswoman for OVO said: "The fire report from the Fire Brigade confirms that the meter at the property is undamaged and is therefore categorically not the cause of the fire.
"According to the fire report, the fire started in and was contained to the fuse board cupboard and the fuse board itself was significantly damaged, leading the Fire Brigade to believe the fire started from an electrical system."
The company said smart meters will be installed this year in homes within the Smart Metering Wide Area Network (SMWAN) signal and it is working on a solution for other households. It said no customers would be liable for the cost.
A Highland Council spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that a council-owned house was damaged by fire.
"Council officers are assisting the household with alternative accommodation until the extent of damage can be assessed and repairs completed.”
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