OVO meter nightmare

Itdoesntgetanyeasier

Hello, new here, hoping for a bit of clarity on some issues I've had with OVO.

Long story, I'll try to keep it brief.

October 24, we sign for tenancy of house, it has an old style prepayment meter, storage heaters and immersion for hot water. We contact OVO about the key etc, and assume it's on Economy 7 due to set up, they agree and we're told we'll need a smart meter for that to continue. We don't get sent any new key or told any different so we use the credit that's left on the meter. I understand now this was probably not a good idea, but we tried and no one advised differently.

Heating and hot water costing us a fortune, but we didn't know what to expect from all electric heating so assume it's normal.

Smart meter is installed February 25, we want to go on direct debit so we can spread the costs of the hideously expensive winter. Told we'll have to wait for six weeks of data. Whatever, we wait another six weeks, to be told that there is a debt on the account so we can't have a direct debit until this is investigated. No explanation as to how or why there is a debt on a prepayment meter, or what it's got to do with us as new tenants, or how long it's going to take. 

Many, many phone calls and web chats demanding details of debt and full billing. Nothing. Still not allowed DD. Can't move supplier, either.

I make a complaint. Told there is a hold on the account, and the debt is real. How can this be, I say. No explanation. Back and forward a number of times, and they never actually send me a bill for the mystery debt, finally someone says "how can you have a debt, it's prepayment?" Well, quite.

Miraculously, I was finally released from OVO purgatory in August when I got Octopus to take us on. 
Or so I thought.

The Economy 7 doesn't seem to have migrated over so I contact Octopus. Am told you can't have Economy 7, the meter isn't set up for it, needs to configured as such. Takes a few weeks, got all expenditure adjusted and goodwill payment.
However, this leads me to wondering about OVO, was the meter ever set up for Economy 7? Have I been paying the full rate for all those months?

I get round to looking at the massive PDF OVO sent me of all our usage and payments, and discover that we weren't set up for Economy 7 at all when we moved in, so October to February was all at peak rate. Theoretically, we were then on Economy 7 via the smart meter for the rest of our time with OVO until August, but Octopus's discovery makes me question this?

There's also still the matter of the mystery debt that I can see on the billing as being present throughout our time with OVO, it fluctuates wildly leading me to question whether we were paying for that as well as electricity. Over £400 was apparently written off as 'meter adjustment' at the end of the contract.

OVO are refusing to explain any of this to me, they claim the meter was set up properly, that the debt was removed, that we didn't ask for Economy 7 when we moved in (we did), they've done nothing wrong apparently. I will be going to ombudsman.

TL;DR:

If the meter wasn't suitable for Economy 7 when Octopus took over, was it when OVO installed it?

Is it possible there was a background debt from previous tenant? We weren't told not to use the key that was already here.

QrizB

Welcome to the forum. I'll answer the TL;DR questions first.

Itdoesntgetanyeasier said:

TL;DR:
If the meter wasn't suitable for Economy 7 when Octopus took over, was it when OVO installed it?

All smart meters are suitable for Economy 7.

It sounds as though OVO hadn't configured it correctly, and Octopus had to resend the configuration steeings. This would normally happen the same day; if it took Octopus a few weeks, it suggests there was more to fix with the industry database than simply sending some settings over-the-air to the meter.

Itdoesntgetanyeasier said:

Is it possible there was a background debt from previous tenant? We weren't told not to use the key that was already here.

The usual advice is to never use the key the previous occupant leaves you, for exactly that reason - you don't know what debt you're inheriting. Always get a new one.

Picking up on a couple of other points:

Itdoesntgetanyeasier said:

October 24, we sign for tenancy of house, it has an old style prepayment meter, storage heaters and immersion for hot water. We contact OVO about the key etc, and assume it's on Economy 7 due to set up, they agree and we're told we'll need a smart meter for that to continue.

It would have been possible to tell, from a careful viewing of the on-screen info on the prepayment meter, whether you were on Economy 7 and whether there ws any debt being recovered. Sadly that ship has sailed.

Itdoesntgetanyeasier said:

Smart meter is installed February 25 ...

Again, the smart meter display would have told you if you were on E7 and whether there was any debt on the account.
Did you receive an in-home display? That too would have had this info.

Itdoesntgetanyeasier said:

The Economy 7 doesn't seem to have migrated over so I contact Octopus. Am told you can't have Economy 7, the meter isn't set up for it, needs to configured as such. Takes a few weeks, got all expenditure adjusted and goodwill payment.

Does your smart meter (and IHD, if you have one) now give you all the E7 info? Tariff rates and times?