OVO sending debt charge on closed prepayment key fob meter account

acchaokay

I was renting a small 1 RK apartment for 12 months during my time at university. I recently moved out after finishing my course and closed my OVO energy account for the flat on the 19th of September, 2024.

The flat had an old-school prepayment meter that I had to top up at in-store Paypoints. The meter remained in credit for the entire time I held the lease for the flat, aside from July this year when I was away for six weeks, and it went into debt due to the standing charge; this debt was cleared immediately upon my return.

I received a statement from OVO claiming my account was £501.45 in debit on the 20th of September 2024, and they sent me a new statement on the 23rd of September 2024 claiming I am now in £579.22 in debt. This is after I closed my account and raised a complaint with the team at OVO on the 20th of September. The customer support agent claimed that they had lodged my debt dispute complaint.

I had no access to any information online regarding my energy usage/bills as it was a prepayment key fob meter, nor did I receive any monthly statements/communications from Ovo regarding the same. The only sign of my electricity usage was the apartment's energy meter display.

I would greatly appreciate any guidance if anyone else had experience dealing with this.

Edit (19th November 2024):- This has finally been resolved. There was significant back and forth with OVO to try to resolve this, but they were not budging. I had to reach out to the Energy Ombudsman as it had been 8 weeks since my complaint. I made the complaint on the 18th of November, and someone from the Ombudsman reached out on the 19th of November. An OVO representative called me today and clarified that they estimated my usage incorrectly, that my account was actually £20 in credit, and that the debt had been wiped. They will be providing me with an additional £50 compensation.

tim_p

Did you use the key fob from the flat or did you get a new one in your name when moving in?

acchaokay

tim_p said:

Did you use the key fob from the flat or did you get a new one in your name when moving in?

Thank you for the reply! I was using the key provided by the landlord in the flat

acchaokay

acchaokay said:

tim_p said:

Did you use the key fob from the flat or did you get a new one in your name when moving in?

Thank you for the reply! I was using the key provided by the landlord in the flat

I must also add that I was told that it would be fine to use the same key while I was setting up the account with OVO when I spoke with them over the phone. Hence, I did not worry about it at the time

Gerry1

acchaokay said:

tim_p said:

Did you use the key fob from the flat or did you get a new one in your name when moving in?

Thank you for the reply! I was using the key provided by the landlord in the flat

BIG mistake, unfortunately !  You probably inherited the usage and standing charges from the void period before your rental started, and perhaps also some debt owed by the previous tenant.

NEVER use an existing key or card, and never rely on a landlord or letting agent to read the meters.

acchaokay

Gerry1 said:

acchaokay said:

tim_p said:

Did you use the key fob from the flat or did you get a new one in your name when moving in?

Thank you for the reply! I was using the key provided by the landlord in the flat

BIG mistake, unfortunately !  You probably inherited the usage and standing charges from the void period before your rental started, and perhaps also some debt owed by the previous tenant.

NEVER use an existing key or card, and never rely on a landlord or letting agent to read the meters.

Thanks for the reply; I feel cheated by OVO as I asked them if anything further/changes were required and categorically told them that I was using the key provided in the apartment. Would you have any idea of how I should proceed moving forward? I have already had a dispute lodged with them

Gerry1

It would have been helpful if Ovo had sent you a new key; it wasn't good advice to use a key that might have debt on it.  If that was the case it would have been the landlord's and or previous tenant's fault.  However, it's a well known problem and good energy suppliers should have trained their staff about it.

I'd ask Ovo to chase the landlord for the amount that exceeds your metered usage and standing charges, and take it to the ombudsman if necessary after eight weeks.  Ovo have recently been heavily fined for poor customer service which may encourage them to help.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/press-release/ovo-pay-ps237-million-customer-complaint-failures

However, beware that if it all goes pear-shaped it could trash your credit rating; a CCJ could make it difficult to get a mortgage.

Ultimately you may have to be prepared to take the hit as the lesser of the evils.

Have a word with Citizens Advice if there's no progress.

FreeBear

Gerry1 said: However, beware that if it all goes pear-shaped it could trash your credit rating; a CCJ could make it difficult to get a mortgage.

A CCJ will only happen if the OP loses in court (if it ever gets that far). Even then, if the debt is paid within a month of the judgement, it can be removed from the register and won't affect credit ratings.

acchaokay

Gerry1 said:

However, beware that if it all goes pear-shaped it could trash your credit rating; a CCJ could make it difficult to get a mortgage.

Ultimately you may have to be prepared to take the hit as the lesser of the evils.

Have a word with Citizens Advice if there's no progress.

Thanks for the reply. I sincerely hope that it does not have to go that far and that they resolve it as soon as possible. I saw on this forum that another person faced the same issue as I did, and they got it removed from their account after 3 weeks of waiting and multiple calls with OVO.

Ectophile

That amount of debt makes no sense on a prepayment card.  It's considerably more than 12 months' standing charges, and a prepayment account will only allow you to run up a small amount of debt before it turns off the power.

OVO must know that.

acchaokay

Ectophile said:

That amount of debt makes no sense on a prepayment card.  It's considerably more than 12 months' standing charges, and a prepayment account will only allow you to run up a small amount of debt before it turns off the power.

OVO must know that.

Thank you for the reply. I know this is how it is supposed to work, but the OVO support team is dense, for lack of a better word. It took me 2 hours of calls and 5 redirects to have this complaint lodged in the first place. It was pathetic.