OVO - Any Good?

Simon_G_2

Hi, I've just bought my first house, and just trying to find my feet with Gas and Electricity suppliers, tariffs etc. I've been recommended OVO by a neighbour of my parents, but just wondered if anyone had any experience of feedback to offer?

Just trying to find the best deal, and before the price hike in August...

Thanks for any help.

Cheers,
Simon

Plushchris

I've been with them about a year now, was on variable tariff for 6 months then moved home and went with the fixed option in January

So far so good, my only (small) gripe with them is the opening hours of the call centre (I think its 9-5:30) but thats not much of an issue as they respond pretty quick to emails.

Bills are presented well and emailed to you in a PDF file (they do charge an extra £20 a year for paper bills which is a bit steep but you can print them off from the PDF) and I like the fact that they dont muck about with stupidly awkward discounts or split unit rates, makes working your costs out a lot easier.

malc_b

They seem ok to me. The bills seem to be have a hiccup at the moment with all reading being "readings" and not estimated, customer supplied, etc.. But they answer emails pretty quick and always seem helpful. You get 3% on the amount you are in credit AFAIR.

Simon_G_2

Thanks for the replies - how would you say OVO compared to other energy companies in terms of price?

Plushchris

Only you can judge that by using a comparison site

The first time I switched they were the cheapest variable rate tariff available to me. When I moved and went onto the fixed I think there was another fixed price deal slightly cheaper but I liked Ovo so stuck with them.

There is nothing cheaper for me to switch to at the moment, everything is more expensive

At the moment for me they appear ok in terms of price, not the cheapest (they were 4th down the list for my usage if I were to switch to them now) but by no means the most expensive..

JoeMoomin

They were second to EDF on my comparison of fixed suppliers and not by much. However, I'm reading better customer service reports etc from OVO so that swayed me.

Zither

Yes, OVO is my 2nd best recommendation on USwitch too. EDF is £50 per year cheaper but I've read bad thing after bad thing about EDF.

Are there any deals about at the mo for switching to OVO?

Thanks

jd87

When we switched there was a problem and they didn't charge us for any gas for like the first 6 months. I had to do quite a bit of chasing around, but they did seem reasonably helpful.

To be honest though everyone is always going to have a different customer service experience with any company. For gas an electric you should just go with whoever is cheapest.

rising_from_the_ashes

I'm in the process of moving and it seems to be going well.

I know a couple of people who switched to them a while ago and no-one's had any problems.

The price came out 3rd or 4th for me - bearing in mind this was before any of the "biggies" announced their price increases so should come off better now, however, there's no way I'd go with some other ones that came out higher up as have heard many horror stories.

Did the comparison you did take account of the price increases that have been announced - or was it on current prices?

charlie792

OVO came out 2nd cheapest overall when I was looking to switch last year, but went with OVO instead of the cheapest as the other company had a 2 year tie in which I didn't want.

OVO have been good and dealt with email enquiries quickly however my only issue is that they do insist on a fairly high Direct Debit to be set up, despite my account being well into credit and only getting into a total of £30 of 'debt' over winter they won't reduce my monthly payments (currently paying £60 per month and only use £20)

Stompa

Zither wrote: »

Are there any deals about at the mo for switching to OVO?

Yes, £40 cashback via SimplySwitch. You need to use the referral link here:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/you-switch-gas-electricity#cashback

(I did this myself last week).