OVO trying to bill me for a property I don't live at - neverending battle and unsure where to go now

aled247

Hello everyone. I don't like asking for help but I am at my wits end with OVO energy and every time I think I have it resolved, it suddenly starts again.

Myself and my partner lived in a rental property from May 2022 until 14 December 2023 and OVO energy were our supplier.

The account was in my name alone, she was not listed on it anywhere and I still have the account number which for this we will call 1XXX.

When we moved out on 14/12/2023 we gave our final meter reading and vacated the property and my account (1XXX) with them was closed.

In 12/2024 my partner started to receive phone calls claiming to be from OVO energy and that she owed £17.50 for a previous address. We assumed these were scam calls as she was never listed on the account, these were then followed up in 01/2025 with emails from OVO with a new account number which we will call 2XXX stating she owed this £17.50 balance, being savvy she deleted them, again thinking phishing emails.

In 02/2025 she continued to get calls about it which she did not answer. I decided to call OVO on her behalf and gave account number 2XXX and OVO confirmed that it was genuine and was linked to the rental property we lived at together. I asked them for what period and they stated its for 1 month - 10/2024, I explained we had moved out of the address at the end of 2023 and has closed the account, they asked me to email a copy of the tenancy agreement and our new tenancy agreement as proof which I gladly provided and my partner and I heard no more.

Then on 17/03/2025 my partner received a threatening letter from OVO at our new address (that they must have gotten from our tenancy agreement we provided) with 2XXX on it explaining that she had an outstanding balance of £218.85 for supply dates of 14/12/2023 to 12/01/2025 and that they were going to pass the debt onto a 3rd party for recovery.

As you can imagine, I was extremely angry at this point and called OVO whereby I needed answers. I asked why was my partner being chased for this money when 
1. She was never listed on the account at any time so where do they have her name from.
2. We had moved out of the property on 14/12/23 and had provided proof once at move out and again via email with our tenancy agreements in 02/2025 at their request.
3. How can a giant company basically pull a name out of thin air and then put the onus of proof on that person that they do not owe the money, surely the proof is on the company to show why or how they owe it?

1. They could not answer where they got my partners name from despite multiple requests on this call and as I knew I was talking to an entry level call centre employee I tried my hardest not to throw all the blame on her as she was just the unlucky person who answered in my angry state and working in customer service myself, I know they want to help if polite.

2. She also confirmed that yes she could see they had received our tenancy agreement copies in 02/25 but as it was from an email address in my name and not my partners that it was not applied to the account 2XXX.

3. She could not provide this information, only that when I vacated the account in 14/12/23 that nobody took on energy at the property after me and therefore they have to track where or who would be responsible for it and ended up at my partners name through their methods? Again despite my persistence in asking if that makes sense.... she could not answer further.

I was asked once again by this person if I could provide the new tenancy agreement showing I/we had vacated the property in 14/12/23, I asked the person to put this in an email in writing to me and I would reply to the email with the tenancy agreement whilst I stayed on the line with her. She did this and I responded with the agreements and she confirmed yes received thank you this will now all be closed down and apologised.

Now today I myself (not my partner) have received an email from OVO with account number 1XXX that they have underestimated my energy usage and that since 14/12/2023 they've been billing me for less energy than I've actually used.
They are kindly telling me (being sarcastic) that they will not charge me for energy used more than 12 months ago but that as a result they are only billing me from 14/05/2024 to 14/05/2025 and that I owe them £197.63 for this period.

Where on earth do I go now with this?

I am tired of the time it takes via emails and calls to be dealing with this. 
Since vacating this property, my partner and I have lived happily paying our energy bills in our new property with EON for 18 months with no concerns. How can I tell OVO to leave us alone?!

Reed_Richards

So actually it's not EON trying to bull you as per the title, it's OVO?  You can edit the title if you wish.

Olinda99

The first step is to make a formal complaint - make sure they understand it is a formal complaint and not just a chat

they then have I believe eight weeks to reply and if they don't reply or if their response is not to your satisfaction you can take it to the ombudsman

Another alternative is to write to one of the agony aunts in the newspapers who can often sort things like this out if they decide to take it on

aled247

Reed_Richards said:

So actually it's not EON trying to bull you as per the title, it's OVO?  You can edit the title if you wish.

I've updated thanks for spotting 😀

aled247

Olinda99 said:

The first step is to make a formal complaint - make sure they understand it is a formal complaint and not just a chat

they then have I believe eight weeks to reply and if they don't reply or if their response is not to your satisfaction you can take it to the ombudsman

Another alternative is to write to one of the agony aunts in the newspapers who can often sort things like this out if they decide to take it on

I didn't even notice their complaints line previously. Thank you I'm going to raise this with them and see what comes back. I appreciate that.

Wyndham

I wonder if part of the problem is that you are acting on behalf of your partner. While she was not ever an OVO customer, it seems that OVO currently think that she was, and so under GDPR they cannot discuss 'her' account with you without explicit permission from her (and yes, I know that seems daft!)

You also said you were angry. I get that, but I wonder if that came through even though you were trying to be polite on the phone? It certainly comes through in your post.

From what you've described, I think there are two issues, one for you, one for your partner. She should ring them about hers, then if no joy I think you should either both be putting in separate complaints, or putting in a joint complaint.

silvercar

My guess would be that the tenants after you found her name from some mail that arrived and used it to set up an account with OVO.