Ovo switched the wrong gas meter over

JonBetts2004

Hi all,

I recently switched both electricity and gas from nPower to Ovo as I noticed that I would probably save a few hundred pounds a year, and apparently their customer service is a lot better.

Although the electricity switch went smoothly, I noticed not so long ago that I received a new bill for gas from nPower. Long story short, there are apparently two gas meters listed under my address on the "national database" and Ovo moved the wrong one across. My house is very old and we only have one electricity and one gas meter in the property, so I find this very strange.

Anyway, I was wondering if I can force Ovo to pay my old nPower bill, and then I would pay the Ovo bill as expected. They were obviously charging me for both electricity and gas at the same time nPower were charging me for gas, so the easiest way to do this would be for them to pay my outstanding bill as it was their fault that this happened. I have contacted them to complain about this, and they are basically blaming it on me for not checking the "MPRN" number on my welcome letter against my old nPower statements. I have never ever had to check any of these details before, and I cannot see how they are making me liable for an issue with the "national gas database" and the fact that they saw two meters listed at my address and this didn't set off alarm bells with them before making the switch. If they had contacted me at this stage, I could have them confirmed the correct meter!

Please let me know your thoughts on this. The reason this is an issue is because it means I will have been paying nPower for gas for two and a half months longer than I should have been - had I been moved across to Ovo when expected, I would have saved anywhere between £150-200. It's also an issue to me because they haven't admitted to it being their fault and are basically saying it is my fault instead, which frankly infuriates me.

Many thanks in advance.

System

I fear that you are going to find this difficult to pursue. I have been supplied by Ovo on two occasions in the past and, as far as I recall, the Welcome Pack that you receive includes details of the meter serial numbers which they ask new customers to check. It follows that I am not entirely sure that all the fault sits with Ovo. That said, if you can prove that the Welcome Letter shows the correct meter serial number and Ovo transfers have erroneously transferred the wrong meter then you may have a case for some compensation and for the difference between what you have paid NPower and what you would have paid Ovo for the amount of gas in dispute.

JonBetts2004

Thanks for the response Hengus. I have since checked the welcome letter, and indeed it is wrong on there too. Annoyingly, I had only recently taken over the bills from the last housemate who had just moved out, so I hadn't seen any of the old bills/statements that would have stated the old meter numbers. Obviously I didn't attempt to check this anyway, because I have never actually been aware of these things before, as I've never had any issues until now. I do find it frustrating that there can be two meters against my address on this apparent 'generic national database', and also worries me why Ovo would just pick one and hope that it is correct, without consulting me at all. Also, another thing they don't do on the welcome letter is state which supplier they are moving you from. In this case, I should have been moved from nPower, but apparently they moved a meter that was with 'Co-operative Energy'. If they had listed that in bold, this would have been much more of an obvious alarm bell for me than this random meter serial number. Is that really too much to ask?