Ovo Energy Reviews: Give your feedback

Tradeyman

Hi, Chose OVO from MSE Cheap Energy Club, they were not the cheapest, but apparently 2nd cheapest. Chose them due to helpful info on the forums re customer service. I have a real problem with companies loading direct debits too high in winter, to me the reason you supply your previous years usage is to obtain the likely quantity of fuel u will use which should be averaged over a year.


When Welcome Pack arrived, direct debit was £7.00 per month higher than quoted !! - This makes my comparison irrelevant, as had that £7.00 been included OVO would have been further down the list, so it is not a fair comparison. If OVO load direct debit prices by 10% in the winter, that 10% should be included in the comparison, so one is truly comparing like for like. I was within cooling off period so cancelled, as I felt cheated. I believe OVO pay interest on credit balances, but I want a good, fair utility company not a savings account. Some people cannot afford to pay more up front in the winter. As a positive, when I rang to cancel, the agent was helpful and I think may have heard this type of problem before.

JJ_Egan

Its the tariff that counts and its fairly easy to work out a years usage and total cost .
DD should not be the reason to move as its often a guess / based upon a mythical average .

System

In fairness to Ovo, their ts and cs do state:

5.7.4. during the winter months, we may increase the amount of your Direct Debit to an amount that we reasonably anticipate will cover your bill.

The problem being that a late season transfer to Ovo means that you have no credit balance to cushion the higher winter usage; IE, your monthly usage will incur a bill higher than the DD amount that you will have paid.

FWiW, like most people, I am starting the winter season £00s in credit. I expect the balance to reduce from next month onwards.

brewerdave

Not just OVO -other utility Cos. front load for Winter,and have been doing so for several years...had a big argument with SP several years ago when I moved to them in October on a 1 year fix. My argument was that the zero balance point should be at the anniversary date the following October -they wanted "zero balance" in April!! Took several phone calls to get the DD set at 1/12 of the expected annual usage rather than their much higher figure.

brewerdave

Went onto MyOVO this morning to see whether the £12 green rebate had been added - seems it has -but it isn't detailed and the credit balance on My Transactions doesn't agree with the sum of payments and statements -on mine the difference is £13.33 NOT £12 ! Can't get my mind around that??

JJ_Egan

Balances to the penny for me .

System

brewerdave wrote: »

Went onto MyOVO this morning to see whether the £12 green rebate had been added - seems it has -but it isn't detailed and the credit balance on My Transactions doesn't agree with the sum of payments and statements -on mine the difference is £13.33 NOT £12 ! Can't get my mind around that??

The 'My Transactions' page has been something of a mess for quite a while and often the information in the App differs from the webpage: Ovo are aware of this. I am not sure why they bother: all they need to provide are clear statements which they do. I had a statement from them yesterday and it shows the £12 rebate.

brewerdave

After a bit of advanced maths today,I've worked out where the difference arises between shown credit balance and the sum of (payments minus outgoings) on the Transactions view - its equal to the 3% credit interest plus 5% VAT plus £12!!!
Thought they had sorted out the issues with this transactions view in the Summer when they had all sorts of differences - but obviously not!!
Agree with Hengus tho' -as long as the monthly statements are correct............

richardlower

Coming up to the end of fixed contract with Daligas (for gas) and I-Supply (for electric) both of which have been quite ok other than their websites are not as good as Ovo's, although I have no real problem with either of them.
I was with Ovo previously and found them to be excellent as at that time they were still small and keen to please I suppose.
I have been considering going back to Ovo because of their good service, but having looked here at the feedback it looks like things have changed as they have grown bigger and I am now a bit reluctant to go back to them.
Am I right to be wary? or are they generally still as good as they used to be?
Maybe I will stay where I am, but it depends on their new tarifs when my renewal is due. At the moment they are almost the cheapest around.

victor2

I've been with Ovo since last May and have had no problems. The switch went as expected and I manage everything online. Haven't had any need to contact them at all, so can't comment on their customer service.
Did change from entering monthly readings when they asked for them, to statements "on demand". I now enter readings at my convenience once a month and a day or so later, a statement is produced using those figures. Even though I previously entered readings as requested, they would subsequently produce a statement four or five days later with the extra day or so covered by an estimated reading. This was reasonably accurate, but struck me as pointless. They must have realised that as their website then offered the ability to switch to statements on demand, so I did with no trouble.