OVO energy back bill HELP

kerrie1256

Hi

I am with OVO energy and have been supplying monthly meter readings for years for both gas and electric.

I have paid £90pcm by direct debit - we thought all was fine, we were on a good deal etc.

I recently switched tariff and it must have triggered them to review the account. We have then received an email with loads of bills on. Basically they have admitted fault and said we have only ever paid for gas and the electricity has never been billed!!

They have written off the year before, but have said we need to pay for the past 12 months based on a back billing policy.

We are now £1100 in debt on our account

So we are now trapped with them and can't move supplier...
We have to increase our payments to nearly £200 to cover our actual usage, which is just so high and I would prefer to shop around but can't
On top of that we need to try to clear the debt with additional payments.

Another issue I have, is that if we had been able to see our bills were so high we would have had opportunity to review our usage or shop around - but we were never aware and thought we were managing our energy well.

So stressed out about it, we simply can't afford it. I've been off sick on SSP for 4 months and I'm about to start working for myself and returning to my job wasn't possible.

Does anyone know how I can resolve it with OVO or is there no way out of the bill?

I'd really appreciate any advice

Thanks

molerat

Did you never receive a bill at all ? They have made an error and are correcting it applying the OFGEM imposed back billing rules. As long as the meter reads are correct and the bills worked out correctly I can't see there is anything else they will or must do apart from possibly a small good will gesture, you have after all received free electric for a year, and I doubt the ombudsman would see it any different. You should ask to pay back the debt in the same period it accrued over - 2 years. Working out your own usage costs is not difficult, a simple spreadsheet will do it and you will then know exactly where you stand without reference to anyone else.

Skools_Out

kerrie1256 wrote: »

Hi

I am with OVO energy and have been supplying monthly meter readings for years for both gas and electric.

I have paid £90pcm by direct debit - we thought all was fine, we were on a good deal etc.

I recently switched tariff and it must have triggered them to review the account. We have then received an email with loads of bills on. Basically they have admitted fault and said we have only ever paid for gas and the electricity has never been billed!!

They have written off the year before, but have said we need to pay for the past 12 months based on a back billing policy.

We are now £1100 in debt on our account

So we are now trapped with them and can't move supplier...
We have to increase our payments to nearly £200 to cover our actual usage, which is just so high and I would prefer to shop around but can't
On top of that we need to try to clear the debt with additional payments.

Another issue I have, is that if we had been able to see our bills were so high we would have had opportunity to review our usage or shop around - but we were never aware and thought we were managing our energy well.

So stressed out about it, we simply can't afford it. I've been off sick on SSP for 4 months and I'm about to start working for myself and returning to my job wasn't possible.

Does anyone know how I can resolve it with OVO or is there no way out of the bill?

I'd really appreciate any advice

Thanks

Welcome to MSE

You need to get yourself the best lawyer you can afford and sue these scoundrels for as much as you can for the loss of enjoyment, stress an inconvenience they have caused you.

Damages could run into £100,000s if not £millions for a successful prosecution, especially if this is preventing you from earning youself a living to which you had previously become accustomed....

We are not permitted to offer medical advice to others on this forum, so I would urge you in the first instance to see your GP about treating the stress you so clearly are suffering from

HampshireH

Based on your tariff and the readings you have been supplying do you work the math out to be the same as them?

For gas it sounds high unless you have a large house & constant use of the boiler. Check your elecrtic tariff and also make sure that based on your readings the debt is correct.

Obviously if it all adds up then it is payable. But its worth doing your own checking and not relying on them just giving you a figure.

macman

Tell us your actual kWh annual usage on each fuel, quoting £££s tells us nothing. But £2,400pa for ongoing usage is very high if that does not include your arrears.
If you have gas CH and DHW then you cannot possibly be spending £1,100pa on electricity alone-which is why we need the usage figures. That is more than double the average spend.
I don't understand how you could fail to notice that you were only receiving gas bills-did you not check your bills against actual meter readings or submit readings?

dogshome

Figures seem very dodgy

Elec
£90 a month with the VAT and a Daily Charge of 20p deducted, leaves £955.00 per annum, which will buy 6366 KWh at 14p
This consumption is TWICE the national average

Gas
£1,100 for one years Gas with the VAT and a Daily Charge of 25p deducted, leaves £955 per annum which will buy 23,875 KWh at 4p
This is close to TWICE the national average

It seems that either the OP lives in a very large dwelling with a big family, or OVO's error isn't as simple as just forgetting to bill the gas.


Hopefully the OP still has the Switch Gas reading given to OVO and can check it against what the reading is now, or failing that, the reading on the Final bill from the previous supplier which will be the same, or very close to the one given to OVO

kerrie1256

thanks everyone I'll get that info sorted and post ASAP.
We used to log into the app / desktop and when we tried to look at the usage it just said "it can't be displayed at this time, we are trying to fix this"

We just (wrongly) assumed that paying by DD would be adjusted if needed and submitting our readings meant it would be up to date. Just busy people and trusted that things were in order

We live in a 3 bedroom flat, 2 adults 1 kid and all out of the house all day!

kerrie1256

I've just put worked out our supplied meter readings...

Gas
36,849 kWh
Our tariff was 3.66p per kWh plus 28.77p standing charge per day

Elec
Day 5686kwh @ 17.42p
Night 722kwh @11.3p

It all seems to add up
Need to seriously reflect on what we are using.
I just wish if we had been able to see usage we could've made changes quicker rather than letting it get so out of hand.

Thanks everyone


Electricity

macman

No, it doesn't add up at all. How is the property heated and hot watered? Assuming gas CH and DHW, you are using more than 3 times the average (12,500kWh) of gas for a house, let alone a flat!
Electricity: you appear to be on E7, which is rarely suitable for properties with mains gas CH and DHW. To make it pay, you typically need to be using at least 33% on night rate. You are using just 11%, which is presumably because you have neither night storage heaters or an immersion heater, which E7 is designed for. So you need to move to a single rate tariff, as the vast majority of your usage is on the very expensive day rate. This may or may not require a meter change, depending on supplier (but I think Ovo will support a dual-rate meter on a single rate tariff: they total the 2 registers). In addition, your total usage is nearly twice the average of about 3,300kWh, unless you are heating with electricity..
You could see your kWh usage, it was on the meters and on your statements.

kerrie1256

I worked out the gas using the units and used a converter - as it needed to be turned into kWh?

Yes we are gas CH and DHW, thats the only gas we use. I just can't fathom why it is so high though. We only take showers and in winter have heating on 5-8am and 5pm - 9pm. I would think that is pretty normal. The flat does have large rooms, like an old victorian style with sash windows but we draw the curtains. Maybe thats why.

Electricity - yes we are on E7 as the owner had it that way (we rent off him)... I will look at a single tariff instead as you are right it is not beneficial for us. We do have an electric fire in the living room, we got when it was really cold this winter and used it a bit in the evenings... plus with being in a flat in the Spring/Autumn we still use a dryer sometimes when clothes need drying but heating isn't on. I can kind of understand the electricity being higher but thought with us only having 2 adults it'd still be ok.

dogshome

Apologies
In Post 6 I got the fuel consumptions v costs figures the wrong way round.
Never the less, the figures for a flat with 3 occupants are off the scale



Where are the meters situated - In the flat or in a Service Room along with all the other meters ?


Is this a purpose built block of flats, or is it a conversion done on an existing building?


Have any of the meters been changed in recent years ?


CHECKs
Do the meter numbers on the bills, match those on the actual meters


Look at the type of Gas meter you have - It will be marked either ft3 or m3
If it is m3, on the bill divide the number KWh charged, by the meter units used - The answer should be appx 11.2 - If it is appx 31.5 you are being charged for the wrong type of meter, so report this to OVO immediately