OVO Billing- Advice Needed

Anzipoo

I bought a property on 19th December (and as it's a project, we're still in the process of moving in fully) On the date I got the keys, I rang OVO energy to set up an account and advised them that the Gas Meter wasn't working- they went through all of the steps with us to rectify it at the time but instead got an Engineer booked to come out on 8th January to look at it for us. As the meter was not working I could not provide a meter reading.

On 8th January, the engineer replaced both the Gas and Electric Meters. When I've gone on my app today to check usage- it has gone from saying we've used £116 in this period to over £5000. I've spoken to OVO who were NOT helpful and asked if I had the meter reading upon entering the property (obviously I do not as it was not working) and have said they will escalate this but I am extremely worried I won't be able to evidence that those estimated readings were clearly wrong as it is saying we've used over 4000kwh of energy on some dates pre the new meters!!! 
This is obviously wrong but I am concerned how I can show this/fight this going forward if this doesn't get escalated?
Any help or advice is appreciated. I just so badly want to leave OVO now but don't dare until this has been resolved. 

Robin9

I suspect the meter change has not been updated on the database.  Does the app give serial numbers; if so are these the same as the ones installed ?

wbowindy

I sympathise with your predicament, my experience with ovo was a nightmarish one sadly, they put in new meters then told me that the meter readings from the old meter were billed incorrectly and charged me £400, this was later accepted as human error after many months of phone calls and emails. I had difficulty getting them to investigate and had to insist that they do investigate, they did and came up with the conclusion that the bill was correct, but they said they "could investigate further if I want", obviously I did want! They investigated further and admitted that it was human error! The only reason I did not have to pay them the £400 is because I insisted that they investigate further. During this time they kept sending me revised bills, all of which were wrong, in comparison to the original bills sent, and when I changed to British Gas, the Gas meter Ovo had installed had to be replaced because the switch over did not transfer properly and somehow the Ovo Gas Meter electricity supply was cut off so the meter was not working properly to be able to send British Gas the gas Meter readings remotely.

This is the email I sent to MSE last year asking if they could investigate this company:

Dear MSE,I left OVO Energy and changed to British Gas via the MSE website, so far this has gone well, the reason I am contacting you is that OVO Energy appear to be having a problem with their billing and other issues. I am hoping you will consider investigating this company (OVO) as they are using systems that cannot calculate bills properly, they are reluctant to give out information easily and they are using AI to aid them.I have looked at their parent company documents on Companies House and they are using a system called Kaluza which is an advanced software platform. They are rolling out this platform worldwide. It is impossible to speak with anybody other than what this system puts people through to (which is anywhere in the world) it is impossible to speak directly with the people responsible for sending me my refund cheque of £135.43 credit as that department do not speak with customers on the phone. It is also impossible to get a phone number for head office which is meant to be in Bristol. There are other issues with billing which meant I was charged £400 in error earlier this year and sorting that problem out with OVO was incredibly difficult, you have to fight very hard with them to properly investigate and accept that an error has occurred.I have deep concerns about this company and the Kaluza advanced software platform system they are using, it appears to be distancing customers from the people that they need to speak with, to rectify problems, and sending people around the world needlessly to be continually given a scripted speech from yet another person who is not the person required to properly rectify the problem.I am attaching the companies house document, if you are able to please take a look at it and be aware of what this company is doing worldwide.Kind regards (Removed by Forum Team)

wbowindy

NB the above comment from me, whilst rambling is intended to give you some insight as to Ovo billing and the fact you will need to insist they escalate and investigate properly, Ovo is a very difficult company to deal with in my experience, but persevere and hopefully you will get a good result. All the best, (Removed by Forum Team)