Lives blighted by Energy agency OVO’s invoice blunders

Pamela Welch was terrified when she acquired a £1,200 power invoice from her provider Ovo Energy. 

The 84-year-old, from Bracknell, Berkshire, was so fearful about operating up extra prices that she began to go to mattress at 7.30pm to keep away from utilizing any heating or home equipment within the night.

Pamela’s nephew Steve Beach, who helps her along with her payments, says that from the time she acquired that first scary invoice this March to July, Pamela’s money owed to Ovo escalated to greater than £4,000, though she used little or no fuel and electrical energy. 

Initially Pamela did not pay the invoice that she could not afford, as she knew she did not owe that sum. 

Although Steve tried to motive with Ovo on Pamela’s behalf, she was nonetheless despatched worrying debt assortment letters.

‘She’s actually starting to panic — a lot in order that, as she retains getting these letters, within the final couple of months she has despatched two cheques for £500 within the hope that it will cease them,’ says Steve.

When we contacted Ovo, it mentioned that Pamela had a dual-rate sensible meter put in in May 2021, which allowed her to pay one tariff for her daytime use and a second, cheaper tariff for off-peak utilization. But the meter had solely been recording one charge, which resulted within the incorrect payments.

It apologised for not addressing the issue sooner, and mentioned debt assortment exercise had been placed on maintain.

But as Pamela and Steve have taken Ovo to the ombudsman to dispute the fees, it says it is going to wait till that course of was concluded to take additional motion.

Pamela is amongst lots of of Ovo Energy clients who’ve written to Money Mail and our sister web site thisismoney.co.uk in latest months about billing errors.

In many circumstances, clients are receiving payments which can be lots of, and even hundreds, of kilos larger than they imagine they need to be.

They have additionally confronted severe disruption to their lives. Some have been left with no heating or electrical energy, or have fallen behind with work as a result of hours spent on the cellphone to Ovo making an attempt to resolve their billing issues.

Several inform of the toll it has taken on their psychological well being, and one buyer instructed us his woes had left him considering suicide.

What has gone awry?

The majority of readers who’ve contacted us had been among the many 3.5 million former clients of power provider SSE. 

They had been transferred from SSE, previously generally known as Southern Electric, when Ovo purchased that provider’s retail arm in 2020 and catapulted itself from a small provider into one of many massive six UK power corporations in a single day.

When clients had been switched from SSE to Ovo, their payments had been sometimes topic to an ‘adjustment’ — in different phrases, the distinction between what SSE mentioned they owed and what their new provider Ovo believes is due.

These changes change the general steadiness of the account and happen when Ovo Energy believes former SSE clients have underpaid or if it disputes their ultimate steadiness with SSE.

However, on copies of Ovo payments we have now seen, the rationale for an adjustment will not be defined. This could cause misery for patrons, as they don’t seem to be instructed why their invoice has elevated and so have no idea whether or not it’s more likely to occur once more. 

They even have little info with which to contest the invoice in the event that they suppose it’s incorrect.

Barbara Nicholson, a susceptible 86-year-old from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, acquired a £6,000 steadiness adjustment from Ovo.

Barbara’s son, Gary, says: ‘She acquired no correspondence about this to warn her of such a dramatic invoice, nor any rationalization.’

He says that his mom was greater than £1,000 in credit score when she switched from SSE. But she had a brand new meter fitted in June after she moved to Ovo, and was charged double that month, for the steadiness on each her outdated and new meter.

Gary says his mom’s fuel utilization has been ‘frequently overestimated’ since Ovo took over.

‘My mom lives on her personal. She doesn’t cook dinner however eats microwave meals. She solely makes use of the washer about twice per week, and she or he goes to mattress early, so all of the lights and TV are switched off,’ he says.

‘She can not climb the steps, so doesn’t use the upstairs degree of her residence and, as such, she can not use the tub or bathe. She simply has a wash, so is utilizing little or no power.

‘And but, her direct debit is way larger than my very own and I dwell with my spouse in a four-bedroom home.

‘My mom is distraught — she thinks her power goes to be disconnected, as she can not afford the excellent debt of £5,000 that Ovo has instructed she owes.

‘I think that many older folks have been scared and simply paid it, particularly if they don’t have any household round to understand it’s flawed.’

When the Energy Ombudsman acquired concerned, the £5,000 cost was faraway from her invoice — however this nonetheless left £1,000 of credit score unaccounted for.

We contacted Ovo, which mentioned the issue had been fastened and Barbara is now practically £1,800 in credit score.

I misplaced my provide thrice

Sarah Robinson, 38, a paediatric nurse, has been left with no heating, scorching water, mild or any technique of cooking for days following Ovo Energy bungles.

She switched from direct debit to a prepayment meter in January and acquired a ultimate invoice on her direct debit account for £952 — adopted by one other in June for £1,800.

She says her electrical energy provide has been lower off thrice this 12 months. The first time was after she tried to change again to a direct debit tariff when she discovered the pre-payment fees dearer.

‘The member of workers mentioned they’d swap me over remotely, however my electrical energy was then lower off,’ says Sarah. ‘I referred to as and so they mentioned they weren’t in a position to swap me to month-to-month funds, and that I used to be unable to high up my pay-as-you-go for seven days because of the tried swap.

‘I requested them what I ought to do, and so they mentioned there was nothing I may do.’

On two different events, she tried to high up her pay-as-you-go meter however there was a fault with Ovo’s system, leaving her unable to high up both by way of the app or by cellphone. The second time an engineer wanted to come back to her property to reconnect the availability, which she says took 5 days.

She provides: ‘I’m a nurse with little cash, and these issues with Ovo have been worrying me to the purpose of sleep deprivation and my psychological well being has been struggling.

‘I’ve spent hours on the cellphone being transferred from one division to a different, chatting with unhelpful and impolite members of the Ovo group.

‘I used to be left with no heating, scorching water, mild or any technique of cooking. I’ve needed to transfer out of my flat on three separate events.

‘I’ve spent lots of of kilos on lodging and changing spoilt fridge and freezer objects. Nobody at Ovo appeared to care. In truth, I even had one woman giggle at me down the cellphone.’

When we acquired in contact with Ovo about Sarah’s case, it reviewed the utilization on her sensible meter and amended her invoice. Her excellent steadiness fell to £882.71 after a goodwill cost was additionally utilized.

I’ve acquired one other particular person’s debt

Jane Smith, 72, had her account switched from SSE to Ovo earlier this 12 months. But since then, she has acquired payments registered to a stranger with a unique title and account quantity.

Jane, whose title we have now modified at her request, claims that Ovo refused to talk to her or change the title on the account because it claimed she did not have an Ovo account in her personal title. ‘Ovo has made my life a distress for seven months,’ she says. ‘I have not slept or eaten correctly and have misplaced contact with mates.

‘Ovo threatens me with debt collectors for cash I do not owe. I’ve by no means even had a parking ticket, far much less not paid a invoice I owe.’

When she did lastly get an account in her personal title, Jane believes the debt on the opposite particular person’s account was transferred over to hers — and she or he was instructed she can be referred to a debt assortment company. She took her case to the ombudsman at across the identical time that we contacted Ovo on her behalf.

Ovo ultimately admitted its mistake, closed the account that wasn’t hers and paid £250 as a goodwill gesture in late September. But that £250 got here off the invoice that Jane does not suppose she owes, so she argues that this isn’t correct compensation.

Jane thinks her invoice was larger than it ought to have been, however has determined to pay it off so she may swap her provider.

‘I’ve come to the purpose the place I’m going to need to pay anyone else’s invoice for far more cash than I can afford,’ she says. ‘I must borrow it and pay it again simply in order I can get away from them.’ Ovo mentioned it had carried out all cures required by the ombudsman.

I took Ovo to court docket…

Nicola Ratnett, from Mid Wales, was converted to Ovo in May 2022. But the freelance author, 61, says her work has been disrupted for months by ongoing issues along with her billing.

Nicola says she solely used round 1,800 kilowatts per 12 months with SSE, as she makes use of wooden burners and logs for many of her warmth — however she has been billed for two,500 kilowatts in a single month by Ovo.

In protest at what she says are incorrect fees, Nicola has not paid Ovo for any of her utilization.

She has supplied to pay simply the standing cost, as that is the one aspect of her invoice that she is assured is being calculated accurately, however was instructed she couldn’t do that. Nicola can also be in a dispute with Ovo over funds that she ought to get for producing power from photo voltaic panels.

Ovo says she will need to have a wise meter to obtain the funds, however Nicola doesn’t need one, mainly as a result of she lives in a rural space with poor web and cellphone sign, so worries that it will not work correctly. This means she is unable to export her extra energy.

SSE allowed clients to export power if they’d both a wise meter or a non-smart meter that was able to taking half-hourly readings, however Ovo’s rule is that solely a wise meter is suitable.

‘I’ve lived a really lucky life, I’ve by no means been in debt and I’ve by no means owed cash, so this has all been fairly a shock,’ says Nicola.

‘I have not paid Ovo something. I’ve instructed it again and again, ‘You ship me one thing that appears like a correct invoice and I’ll pay it’. This should not have an effect on my working life, however it does.’

She did a topic entry request with the Information Commissioner’s Office to search out out what info Ovo held on her. She found that Ovo had added a word on her account which mentioned: ‘Do not open complaints concerning meter or utilization’.

Nicola determined to open a case within the small claims court docket within the hope of getting reimbursement for the money and time she had spent making an attempt to resolve the state of affairs. She is self-employed and says her battles with the agency have led to her falling behind along with her work.

‘It was for the prices, the phone calls, postage, copying and my time. I charged £3 per day for day-after-day that the grievance has been operating,’ she says.

In July this 12 months, her case reached the highest of the listing and was heard by the court docket. Because Ovo didn’t reply inside the acknowledged timeframe, the decide determined that Nicola had gained by default and Ovo was compelled to pay her £2,877.20 together with prices.

However, she continues to be locked in a dispute with the agency about her photo voltaic panel funds. Ovo says it has knowledgeable Nicola on a number of events that she wanted a wise meter if she needed to obtain them, and she or he had refused to get one. It mentioned this was commonplace apply throughout the trade and was additionally acknowledged on its web site. Nicola has now taken her case to the Energy Ombudsman.

A spokesman for Ovo says: ‘Our groups have been working to place proper every of the client circumstances which have been raised with us.

‘We’re sincerely sorry to these clients who have not acquired the assist and repair they need to rightly count on.

‘We are dedicating extra advisers [to this] to make sure our clients obtain the assist they want.’

Ovo has already paid compensation to some clients after billing issues. In May, regulator Ofgem compelled Ovo to right 11,000 clients’ payments, and pay them a mean of £181 every in compensation, as they had been overcharged between October 2022 and March 2023.

However, the circumstances we acquired counsel that lots of of consumers have continued to be wrongly billed past that date.

Earlier this 12 months, Ofgem launched an investigation into Ovo to verify it was complying with its commonplace licence circumstances round ‘treating home clients pretty, obligations to clients on the Priority Services Register and guaranteeing clients’ prepayment meters are protected and fairly practicable in all circumstances’.