I knew it was a bad idea to switch..mathematical wizard urgently needed!

OVO_Energy

Hi Caroelle,

We’re really sorry to hear about this L. When a customer switches suppliers,their opening reading goes through a validation process with the previousprovider and third party and sometimes the reading can come back incorrect. Abit of confusion may have been caused because the new meter details hadn’t beenupdated. If you could email [EMAIL="socialmedia@ovoenergy.com"]socialmedia@ovoenergy.com[/EMAIL] with your accountnumber we’ll get the team to look into it and get back to you with an update.

Thanks,OVO

System

In my experience, as one has switched a few times in the past, the key thing that the customer has to check is that the final and opening reads agree - as the difference between the old and the new tariffs is unlikely to be that significant in £ terms. So, in truth, it really doesn't matter that much whether the customer provides a meter reading or not. As I understand it, the gaining company is responsible for determining the opening reads which go through a validation process before being passed to the losing company. If the losing company disagrees with the validated meter readings then they object and the problem is bounced back to the validation authority until both parties are onside. Unfortunately, I know that this process is not without its hiccups. I had a final bill recently where the figures were, frankly, just made up even though I had provided both companies with the same meter readings taken on the same day. Eventually, they do get resolved but only after the losing company got another complaint to add to its growing list!!

That said, the other problem is when the customer hasn't really been keeping an eye on the estimated bills from his 'old' supplier and gets a big surprise when the final bill comes home to roost.

At least with Ovo, you will get a monthly e-mail reminder to read the meters. I would suggest that you look carefully at MyOvo where you will see your statement date. I provide Ovo with my meter readings a couple of days before this date so that my bills are pretty well accurate.