Ovo Energy Reviews: Give your feedback

SuartJohnstone

I saw their advert on TV towards the end of last year and was impressed with he idea of being able to top up via an app rather than going to the shop (PAYG), at no point before or during the switch was I informed that there was no immediate plans to install a smart meter and indeed they had no idea when it would happen. As this was main reason I switched from EDF I was a bit miffed. There was no real updates about the switch and the new key only came through about a week after my service was switched..not ideal.
Today I get the following email..

You're currently on our Smart PAYG (all online) variable rate plan so, as you know, your rates can vary from time to time. We're making a few changes on 9 March 2016 that you need to be aware of. Changes to your electricity prices Whilst the cost of wholesale electricity has been dropping recently, the cost of transporting it to your home and other industry charges are going up. As a result, we're increasing the unit price of electricity by 28%. At the same time, we're reducing your electricity standing charge by 32%.How this will affect you We've put together a personal projection below for what we expect you to use every year, based on the readings you've given us for your energy (and estimates where you haven't). Electricity Current variable price After the 9 March 2016 price change The difference in what you'll pay Supply number (MPAN)
Current £1008.67
New per year £1215.07
Increase per year £206.39
Electricity unit rate (per kWh) from 12.80p up to 16.38p
So, at a time when energy prices are coming DOWN, OVO think its ok to increase my charges by 28%!
I have now instigated another switch to another provider.
I am disgusted

System

SuartJohnstone wrote: »

So, at a time when energy prices are coming DOWN, OVO think its ok to increase my charges by 28%!
I have now instigated another switch to another provider.
I am disgusted

One has to ask whether this is a 'clever' way of getting out of this particular sector of the energy market?

Anthorn

My current switch to OVO appears to be going well but a little too well. They informed my current supplier that I wanted to switch on the day I applied whereupon my current supplier sent me an email giving me a week to object. Yet my "Welcome Pack" detailing the plan, their T&Cs and confirmation of the Direct Debit arrangement is a long time coming. I fully expect the "Welcome Pack" to arrive after the switch has been completed and after my statutory right to cancel has expired. Overall, very good for anyone who wants a speedy switch but not good for those like myself who want the switch to be properly signed, sealed and delivered!

System

Anthorn wrote: »

My current switch to OVO appears to be going well but a little too well. They informed my current supplier that I wanted to switch on the day I applied whereupon my current supplier sent me an email giving me a week to object. Yet my "Welcome Pack" detailing the plan, their T&Cs and confirmation of the Direct Debit arrangement is a long time coming. I fully expect the "Welcome Pack" to arrive after the switch has been completed and after my statutory right to cancel has expired. Overall, very good for anyone who wants a speedy switch but not good for those like myself who want the switch to be properly signed, sealed and delivered!

Hi. Let's try and get this into some form of order. Your new contract starts on the day that you apply to switch. This is followed by a 14 day cooling off period. If you decide to cancel within the cooling off period then you will remain with your present supplier.

Most suppliers will send out 'you can't be serious about switching messages'. I confess that I have never seen a 7 day deadline before and it is not covered in the supplier's licence.

The new supplier is responsible for managing all aspects of the switch, and whilst some aspects of Ovo's customer service are pretty ordinary, I have always received a Welcome Pack by post within a few days of applying to switch - and well within the cooling off period. Ovo will also send you an email 5 days before the switch date asking for a meter reading. My advice is to give them one on the day of the switch. This avoids the problem of you getting a closing reading which is industry-estimated.

Sorry - I should have added that the current voluntary target is for your new supplier to switch you on the 17th day after application - cooling off period plus 3 days. The supply licence obligation is 35 days - cooling off period plus 21 days.

jrb74

have prepayment meters for both gas and electric - decided to change over both as they told me i would make an annual saving of £75.
checked my email today to find a couple of new ones from ovo to say i was now a customer and that their rates were changing. using the new figures i will now be £60 more per annum that i would have been if i hadnt switched

footyguy

jrb74 wrote: »

have prepayment meters for both gas and electric - decided to change over both as they told me i would make an annual saving of £75.
checked my email today to find a couple of new ones from ovo to say i was now a customer and that their rates were changing. using the new figures i will now be £60 more per annum that i would have been if i hadnt switched

Sounds like you are on a variable rate tariff which is often expensive.
But at a time of generally falling prices I don't understand why they would be increasing the prices on their tariffs? :huh:

Or have you just come to an end of a fixed deal?

Either way, now you have credit meters installed, get hitting the comparison sites and find the best deal for you
There will definitely be a cheaper deal for you out there now you are on credit meters compared to if you still had PPMs.

PCH_2

Be warned, if you were a previous customer and you return to OVO things can go wrong. My switch back to OVO was far from a success.

I had been with them up until about March 2014 when I moved to Cooperative Energy. Coop were all right but had become slow at issuing bills. I decided to move back to OVO as they had previously been very good. I wasn't going to save any money by switching, so it was going to be all down to a better customer service. That wasn't to be though.

I initiated the switch on 01/10/2016 and all seemed well at first. But when the switch was completed there were two problems. First, my gas hadn't gone across, and secondly OVO charged me for all the electricity I had used between March 2014 & October 2015 when I wasn't their customer. As I was a returning customer OVO systems messed up.

Bugs in their system meant that "When we [OVO] apply to take over an energy supply, technical files are sent to the industry with the transfer information to allow the switch to go ahead. As we had already supplied the gas at your property, this file was not generated as it should have been. Our systems still recognised the supply as with Ovo, even though your gas supply had already left us." This meant that my gas remained with Cooperative Energy and by now I was on an expensive standard tariff. OVO promised to make up the difference once my switch was complete 5 weeks late.

Regarding the electricity, they had done a similar thing only they had generated the transfer files so the switch went ahead but the first bill assumed I had never been away and in effect charged me arrears for all the electricity I had used while with Cooperative Energy. This was sorted out relatively painlessly via email.

Come the new transfer date for my gas, I had an email asking me to supply meter readings on-line. However the on-line system would only take my electricity reading, not my gas; likewise their automated telephone meter reading service. I gave up trying to speak to someone on the phone as the queue was too long so I submitted by email instead - they accepted this while saying that initial readings couldn't be given on-line - but then why ask for them on-line? And they had accepted my previous 20/10/2015 initial readings on-line!

At this point the only thing outstanding was supposed cashback for switching, and the refund of my excess Cooperative Energy charges. I have an email from Cheap Energy Club saying "cashback has just been paid - though it'll take a couple of days to reach you". I never saw this money, and I also never got sufficient documentation to chase it up.

Then, my next regular statement (December) didn't turn up. On 07/01/2016 I sent an email asking for the Coop Energy refund, to see what had happened to the cashback, and to get a statement. I got the automated response to this email but the promised response within 48 hours never happened. I sent a new email on 12/01/2016 but again had no response apart from the automated one. After 48 hours I phoned them. This phone call lasted 33 minutes - they couldn't find my emails and asked me to send yet again. They couldn't explain why I hadn't received my December statement & manually generated a combined gas & electricity one. I was promised the refund for the excess gas charges once my emails got to them and, I thought, a promise of compensation for all the hassles. The email I sent (while still on the phone to them) generated an automated response, but no other action.

On 22/02/2016 I got my regular January statement - for electricity only, no gas, and no refund of the Coop charges.

I sent yet another email on 25/01/2016. This time I got a reply the next day. This generated a gas only statement which at last included the refund of the excess gas charges because of the delayed switch. Regarding compensation, they said that the gas excess charge refund is what they meant by compensation, nothing for all the time on the phone to them or writing emails. Another email to them pointing out that I had had to send 7 emails (3 of which were totally unanswered) and many phone calls, the last lasting 33 minutes, and asking for recompense for that. This was refused.

So, after three and a half months with OVO I've only received one combined gas & electricity bill, and that was manually generated. I've wasted hours on the phone & writing emails. Oh, and did I say that I've found their new website not a patch on their previous one - I find the new one difficult to navigate; half the information is only in 'pop-ups' and there's no easy way of downloading or copying my payments record to put into a spreadsheet.

I'm off to SSE - I hope that works, At least this time I'll be saving about £170.

PCH_2

On the Cheap Energy Club pages, energy companies have their poll ratings displayed. Where do I find these polls so I can add my vote?

footyguy

PCH wrote: »

...

I'm off to SSE - I hope that works, At least this time I'll be saving about £170.

I'd be very interested to hear what your usage details (& region, tariffs, etc) are that makes you think you will be saving £170 per year from SSE compared to the Ovo deal you signed up for last October

... assuming the deal you opted for last October was the cheapest at the time based on the same usage data.

victor2

Not the first reported problem from a returning customer. As an ex-customer, it makes me wonder if I should contemplate going back, even if they have an attractive tariff.