OVO (ex Economy Energy customer)

phillw

Sterlingtimes wrote: »

I have meter readings for 12 January 2019 which would effectively pay Economy Energy less and OVO more, i.e. in my case the method is contrived against the customer.

If you have readings for the 12th January and they are refusing to accept them, then I would raise a complaint and take it to the ombusdman.

I can't see how they could force you onto a different tariff with retrospective estimated readings.

Especially if you provided either of them with readings on the 12th.

0765peter wrote: »

Through no fault of mine the company was taken over by OVO and therefore should be honouring the contract and not charging me more. I never requested that I be taken over by OVO Energy.

Would you have preferred if someone had turned up and disconnected your supply when economy energy went bankrupt? If you sign up to a cheap energy tariff then you have to accept some risk that the company will go bankrupt.

Sterlingtimes

I provided gas and electricity readings to Economy Energy on 11 January 2019.

OVO requested readings for 30 January 2019.

However, OVO took over the supply from 12 January 2019.

OVO says that it used the 30 January 2019 reading to estimate the 11/12 January reading.

Hence OVO is disregarding the smart meter readings in preference of estimated readings.

OVO has apparently agreed on the imaginary readings with Economy Energy's receiver.

OVO says that the imaginary readings effectively trump the smart meter readings and that the difference in readings is not substantial enough to require a read dispute.

So this is really the end of the matter. Smart meter readings bad: imaginary readings good.

PS Note that the imaginary reading favours OVO.

Mr.Everready

I've had a reply to my email to OVO.


I'm being charged £30 leaving fee because I "agreed" to join their Better Energy plan and that has exit fees !


They also say that the opening reading they have, 5887, was agreed with EE. My final reading on 8th January was 6171, why would EE agreed a reading 300 less that what they're owed ?

Sterlingtimes

Mr.Everready wrote: »

I've had a reply to my email to OVO.
They also say that the opening reading they have, 5887, was agreed with EE. My final reading on 8th January was 6171, why would EE agreed a reading 300 less that what they're owed ?

OVO's line is that the imaginary readings are agreed between OVO and EE and are non-negotiable unless the difference permits a challenge.

My readings

Gas EE 7745 OVO 7663
Electric EE 17812 OVO 17719

The differences are not great but the imaginary readings are in OVO's favour.

Sterlingtimes

PS The industry encourages smart metering and then permits accountants to be creative.

Mr.Everready

In my case it's about £80 more than I'm due to pay !

Sterlingtimes

Mr.Everready wrote: »

In my case it's about £80 more than I'm due to pay !

This is the information provided by OVO. The customer has no reproach unless the difference between the real smart meter readings and the accountants' contrived readings are outside of the tolerance is set.

The tolerance for an electricity reading is 250 kWh or more.

For example if you submitted a reading of 01000 and the estimate used was 01300, there's a difference of 300 kWh and a reading dispute is possible.

For gas meters measured in cubic meters (m3), the tolerance is 109 units.

For example if you submitted a reading of 00010 m3 and the estimate used was 00100 m3, the difference is 90 units and therefore within tolerance.

djl1098

I was with EE for gas only which interestingly was not an OVO option so caused a bit of trouble in looking for cheaper suppliers as there was no tariff to compare from. Seems that they have created gas only accounts now and thankfully it is not fixed so I can leave with no penalty unlike somebody above.

Was my first OVO bill correct. LOL Of course not! By the same trick they are using a much lower reading for the period start date of 31 Jan which increases the units by a third. It is now in dispute as it exceeded the limit. The reading they used is claimed to be supplied by me. In my online account there are TWO readings for 31 Jan both claiming to be supplied by me and they have used the lower one. Unfortunately for them I read my meters every week so can provide them with all the gas readings for the 4 years I have lived in my house. A lot of people call that a silly thing to do but it takes minutes to do, helps when faced with this situation and makes comparisons for switching easy.

I was with GB Energy on a fixed deal for electricity when they went down and Co-op took over. They honoured the contract prices until the end date a few months later. I was surprised at that as their rates were higher. In comparison that changeover went as smooth as silk. Perhaps Co-op are just more honest than OVO.

djl1098

There are different levels of disputed difference depending on imperial or metric meter by the way.

Sterlingtimes

From Economy Energy's UPDATE 2 APRIL 2019, it could be months before we receive our bills. Clearly, no final bill means no refund. Presumably, Ovo will expect payment from 12 January irrespective of whether it is in a position to refund.

https://www.economyenergy.co.uk/

When will I receive a bill?

The process is going to take a number of months to complete but we hope to have some customers’ final bills ready to upload to My Account within the next few weeks.