Ombudsman complaint - and specialist advice/analysis?

myif

I'd really appreciate some advice on:

1) How to notify an energy company to stop sending demands for a disputed debt
2) Whether there is anyone who can help with preparing the case for the Energy Ombudsman.
3) What a company will have to send based on a SAR

I'll try to summarise details as best I can below but it's been really difficult to pick apart as Ovo have bombarded us with confusing information. Hopefully this gives the gist of it.

Backbilling
In January, Ovo sent my brother a bill for c.£7700 out of the blue as they had 'miscalculated' his energy usage.

Shortly afterwards, they started plaguing him with phone calls demanding payment within 3 weeks and threatening various consequences if he didn't.

It was unbelievably stressful (he was also going through a very hard time personally). 

We asked Ovo to demonstrate why there was this much overdue and they 'corrected' it to c.£5600, saying that they had backbilled beyond the previous 12 months initially.

They stated that his per annum, kWh electric consumption (they have never mentioned gas) was:

2018-20 - 5257 (avg)
2020-21 -  3928
2021-22 -   1579
2022-23 - 16705
2023-24 - 4479

Attempts at resolution
Unfortunately, my brother's ex threw out a lot of his paperwork as they were splitting up - so he doesn't have all his originals bills. 

There has been a lot of back and forth on this, with Ovo's communication being confusing, contradictory and incomplete.

A very abridged version: 

• we asked for all bills. They sent a few different emails, containing different attachments, with missing periods.
• we asked them again to send us all bills as well as asking them to answer specific questions (e.g. what could possibly cause that sort of increase in usage) 
• they stated that the billing team had put a hold on the account in 2023 and so they couldn't send us any bills for that period but that they would investigate our complaint.
• they sent 220 pages of bills across 11 different PDFs and ignored most of the questions
• they kept sending us emails stating that they were reviewing the case so we held fire on reviewing the bills until they sent an update.
• They finally 'completed' their review in late June and said there was nothing wrong with the billing or the usage, and that the reason there was an issue was that my brother hadn't provided monthly meter readings.
  

I wasn't able to get to analysing the 220 pages of bills for a few weeks. My brother then missed a call from them. They then sent a letter of deadlock.

The data

When I did wade through all the data, I plotted it onto various charts. 

The one below shows clearly how insane the change in usage is. 

It also made me realise that the only period missing from the original billing (in grey) was for the period including Jun 22 - the quarter that includes the meter reading.

They had, by this point, send us around 17 PDF files of bills so it's very odd that this one is missing.

The 'Readings' line is clearly bonkers. It looks like the stated readings for prior years have been depressed so that more usage can be pushed into 2023 (e.g. the available backbilling period)

Further charts show that both the gas/electricity unit cost has fluctuated with each recalculation.

It's all unbelievably confusing and complicated.



I didn't realise what the deadlock letter meant, so we responded asking for:

• the original bills for the quarters including June 2021 and June 2022
• the published prices for both electricity and gas for this period for the tariff my brother was on
• logs of all phone calls made to my brother this year
• logs from their email system demonstrating that they had sent meter read reminders (they had sent us a screenshot of an email as 'proof' that they had sent reminders)

We haven't heard back but we made it clear we were not happy with this.

They're now sending my brother demands to pay the bill and he's worried about bailiffs turning up.

So I'd really like to know:

• can I get all the information about his account via a SAR - and is there anything else I should ask for?
• how do we stop them demanding the money when it's still in dispute?
• is there someone who can help me build the case to the Ombudsman - or would this be of interest to any consumer groups? I'm slightly overwhelmed with the amount of information.

Thanks so much if you got this far.

elsien

Just to answer your brother’s concern about bailiffs, they would only come if it went to court and then he lost the case and then he didn’t pay.

The letters he is getting will be from debt collectors. They have no power other than making threats. They often pretend they have more powers than they do and will dress up letters to make it look as if they are court related. 

He does not need to be concerned unless a genuine small claims court letter turns up and he needs to think about hitting the deadlines for his defence.  

Are the old bills not showing up on his online account?

MattMattMattUK

myif said:

I'd really appreciate some advice on:

1) How to notify an energy company to stop sending demands for a disputed debt
2) Whether there is anyone who can help with preparing the case for the Energy Ombudsman.
3) What a company will have to send based on a SAR

A quick summary and I will go into detail on the other bits.
1) You can "notify" them any way you want, they are under no obligation to stop.
2) You can engage a solicitor if you wish, but the reality is anything you are presenting should be fairly easy for a consumer to pull together themselves, it would be purely facts based on the information they have. Interpretation and emotion will be ignored by the ombudsman.
3) Any information that relates directly to you, correspondence, billing etc. They are not obligated to turn over internal communications. https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/individual-rights/individual-rights/right-of-access/

MattMattMattUK

myif said:

I'll try to summarise details as best I can below but it's been really difficult to pick apart as Ovo have bombarded us with confusing information. Hopefully this gives the gist of it.

Backbilling
In January, Ovo sent my brother a bill for c.£7700 out of the blue as they had 'miscalculated' his energy usage.

Shortly afterwards, they started plaguing him with phone calls demanding payment within 3 weeks and threatening various consequences if he didn't.

It was unbelievably stressful (he was also going through a very hard time personally). 

We asked Ovo to demonstrate why there was this much overdue and they 'corrected' it to c.£5600, saying that they had backbilled beyond the previous 12 months initially.

They stated that his per annum, kWh electric consumption (they have never mentioned gas) was:

2018-20 - 5257 (avg)
2020-21 -  3928
2021-22 -   1579
2022-23 - 16705
2023-24 - 4479

Attempts at resolution
Unfortunately, my brother's ex threw out a lot of his paperwork as they were splitting up - so he doesn't have all his originals bills. 

There has been a lot of back and forth on this, with Ovo's communication being confusing, contradictory and incomplete.

A very abridged version: 

• we asked for all bills. They sent a few different emails, containing different attachments, with missing periods.
• we asked them again to send us all bills as well as asking them to answer specific questions (e.g. what could possibly cause that sort of increase in usage) 
• they stated that the billing team had put a hold on the account in 2023 and so they couldn't send us any bills for that period but that they would investigate our complaint.
• they sent 220 pages of bills across 11 different PDFs and ignored most of the questions
• they kept sending us emails stating that they were reviewing the case so we held fire on reviewing the bills until they sent an update.
• They finally 'completed' their review in late June and said there was nothing wrong with the billing or the usage, and that the reason there was an issue was that my brother hadn't provided monthly meter readings.
  

I wasn't able to get to analysing the 220 pages of bills for a few weeks. My brother then missed a call from them. They then sent a letter of deadlock.

The data

When I did wade through all the data, I plotted it onto various charts. 

The one below shows clearly how insane the change in usage is. 

It also made me realise that the only period missing from the original billing (in grey) was for the period including Jun 22 - the quarter that includes the meter reading.

They had, by this point, send us around 17 PDF files of bills so it's very odd that this one is missing.

The 'Readings' line is clearly bonkers. It looks like the stated readings for prior years have been depressed so that more usage can be pushed into 2023 (e.g. the available backbilling period)

Further charts show that both the gas/electricity unit cost has fluctuated with each recalculation.

It's all unbelievably confusing and complicated.

So firstly, you need to establish actual usage, based on actual reads, what actual meter reads, rather than estimated reads do you have for the period?

myif said:

I didn't realise what the deadlock letter meant, 

Ok, that might be part of the issue, the deadlock letters usually set out clearly what they mean and your ombudsman rights from that point. It also explains why they have likely not responded to your request below, because they have closed the matter. 

myif said:

so we responded asking for:

• the original bills for the quarters including June 2021 and June 2022
• the published prices for both electricity and gas for this period for the tariff my brother was on
• logs of all phone calls made to my brother this year
• logs from their email system demonstrating that they had sent meter read reminders (they had sent us a screenshot of an email as 'proof' that they had sent reminders)

The should send you the original bills, but have you checked that these are not either on an email as well, or available in your account? That being said the original bills are almost entirely irrelevant. The rate information should show on the bills, even the reissued ones, so you should already have that. They do not have to send you the log of all calls unless you submit the SAR, they may also not hold call logs going back that far and they are not required to hold them. They are not required to hold logs of emails sent and likely do not retain emails from that long ago, whether they sent reminders for meter reads or not would be irrelevant to your case anyway. 

myif said:

We haven't heard back but we made it clear we were not happy with this.

You will not hear back because they closed the case with the deadlock issue, you can be happy or unhappy, but "making it clear" will do nothing.

myif said:

They're now sending my brother demands to pay the bill and he's worried about bailiffs turning up.

Debt collection resumes after a deadlock letter, until the ombudsman rules. It depends what you mean by bailiffs, some womble in high vis or random uniform can turn up from a debt collection agency, which is a private company and has no powers. Anything else would require them to take your brother to court, which is a long process with an official process that has to be followed, you can safely ignore any random door knockers. 

myif said:

So I'd really like to know:

• can I get all the information about his account via a SAR - and is there anything else I should ask for?

You can get nothing via an SAR, only your brother can, an SAR can only be supplied to the subject within the data, their legal guardian, the police, a court etc. Get him to submit an SAR requesting everything and see what comes back.

myif said:

• how do we stop them demanding the money when it's still in dispute?

You cannot. They will continue to demand the money until either an ombudsman ruling or a court judgement. If you do not take them to the ombudsman then they will escalate to court action. 

myif said:

• is there someone who can help me build the case to the Ombudsman - or would this be of interest to any consumer groups? I'm slightly overwhelmed with the amount of information.

Not really in an official capacity, but it is not that difficult either so people on here will be able to guide you.

The first and perhaps most important question is what actual reads do you have/have they used vs estimated reads and does he have a smart meter?

The second is has he made any payments for energy over the period in question and what were they? Is he also continuing to pay for his current monthly usage (actual usage, not estimates)?

Thirdly, is there a reason why your brothers usage may have peaked over that period? Change in the number of people in the property, the peak was over winter, was he using electric heaters, could he have left an immersion heater on etc?