FAQs on applying for a Refund from your OVO account

That refund will probably be sent back to OVO. You’ll need to talk to Support for this: https://help.ovoenergy.com .

Tried that 10 minutes n hold - spoke to someone who then put me on hold for a further 1 minutes before the call was disconnected. 

Try Live Chat, it’s faster: https://help.ovoenergy.com .

Hey @mgrant,

Sorry for the issues you’re having, 

Is the refund from a previous account that has been closed? If this is the case, the refund will bounce and then a cheque refund will be issued. 

We may have a direct debit set up on your new account but we can only issue refunds to bank accounts that have been opened on an account (your old and new OVO accounts are separate). So unless you set up a direct debit for £1 with your new bank details on the old account, the amount will be refunded via cheque. 

Hey @Bunion,

Really sorry for the issues you’ve had,

The following need to be met for a refund to take place if you are initiating the refund yourself online, you need to make sure you have been billed to an up to date meter reading so that the balance is correct:

Self serve refunds

Customers can request refunds up to £500 via the OVO Energy App. They must match the following criteria to request a refund online:

• Have an active Direct Debit with at least one payment received from that bank account
• Request a refund of over £5
• Request a refund up to £500
• Leave a remaining balance of at least one month's Direct Debit
• If they don't meet the criteria an error message will be displayed

In regards to your other issue, I think it might relate to the following:

We’ve seen a few examples of repeated failed Direct Debit payments being incorrectly credited onto customers’ accounts - this has only been impacting the 5th and final failed DD attempt.

This means these customers’ accounts may not accurately reflect their actual account balance, and we’ll be removing any incorrectly applied credits.

We don’t have access to your account on the Forum so I can only make assumptions based on the information provided.

I hope this gets sorted for you soon. 

The issue is that the confirmation email said the refund would be paid to the account from which the direct debit is taken. So why did OVO try to send it to an inactive account rather than the one I use to pay from each month?  
 

I look forward to receiving my refund somehow, sometime soon. 

Has anyone else happened to try the online Refund page of My Ovo?

Yesterday all was well and I was thinking of applying for the surplus today only to find that I can no longer apply as:

“It looks like you haven’t sent us any meter readings in the last 28 days, so your balance isn’t up to date.”

Funny, the previous page has all my smart meter readings and my latest bill to date so I am hoping this is only a temporary glitch.

Hey @Chris D. ,

Support can override if needed. Have a chat and they can set up a refund for you: https://help.ovoenergy.com .

Have you tried contacting support recently?

I was simply hoping it was a glitch, one of many Ovo seem to be having lately, but if no one seems to be having the same problem I will form a queue on the phone!

I have actually. Live Chat gets me through in a matter of seconds

Hey @mgrant,

Sorry for the issues you’re having, 

We wouldn’t send a refund to a different OVO account, a refund would be issued to the direct debit details that were on the account. So in this case, we’re refunding your old account, the direct debit details are no longer valid so your refund will bounce and we will issue a cheque instead. 

If the refund is from two years ago and you’ve had an email about this, I’d advise contacting the Support Team back to either set up a direct debit for £1 on the old account, so that refund can be issued to your new bank account details, and then the direct debit will be cancelled. Or give your new address so we know where to send the cheque to. 

It is not possible for us to pay an amount owed on one OVO account into another OVO account and then refund it. 

Hope this helps. 

Hey @Chris D.,

Really sorry to hear this, 

I’ve not heard any other reports of this issue, so I think it may be account specific. If you’re able to report back to this topic when you find out what the issue is, it may help other Community Members. 

If I hear any updates on this internally I’ll let you know. 

This shows a complete lack of understanding. You tried to send the refund to a bank account that OVO has not used for over two years. You tried to send it to an account which the direct debits do not come from. This is an extant refund. I don’t know how I can make this any clearer. OVO do not seem to be following their own processes nor accepting that this issue is likely to cause stress to the customer. 

Hey @mgrant,

I’m sorry, we don’t have access to your account here on the Forum. I assumed that the refund was from your old closed account. I didn’t realize the refund was in relation to your new account. In which case it is very unusual that they’ve attempted to refund it to an old, closed bank account when you have a current, active direct debit.

Please contact our Support Team they should be able to re-issue the refund or issue a cheque, whatever is preferable to you. 

I am in credit and used to be able to regularly request a refund from the app or online.

Now the app says “There’s a problem, please call...” and I have searched high and low for the option on the website.

Am I going mad or has OVO added some hoops to requesting a refund? 

Works for me on Dewott: Android 14/Samsung One UI 6.1.1 & App v19.3.2 w/ CodePush v481.

Either way, https://account.ovoenergy.com/payments/refunds should do it.

After I posted this, I found the blinkin’ ;-) page, still won’t allow a refund online though. 

Got my refund using Web Chat. 

Hey @Sealink,

I'm glad you managed to find it, and the team on Web Chat could arrange this for you. There are a couple of occasions where you might need to speak with a member of the team to arrange a refund. If you have a larger credit balance on the account (over £500), then a meter reading would usually be requested so we can ensure your balance is up to date, and a refund wouldn't leave the account in debt. ​

You can find more information on refunds here:

https://www.ovoenergy.com/help/article/refunds

I hope this helps! 

Just seeing if my 84 year old mother is the only pensioner experiencing these issue 

i have sent meter readings and sent pictures of meters but OVO still take he Direct Debit and she is over £4000 in credit - the online account will not allow me to reduce DD below £260 even though the account is £3,800 in credit by their statement (more if you add meter reads to correct) 

if this was my account they would never get away with it, im just seeing if they just are doing this to pensioners who would be less able to argue the case and the are doing it on purpose 

anyone with elderly family experiencing same issues 

I very much doubt this is deliberately aimed at pensioners - or any specific age group for that matter.

Sounds like you’re trying to take a massive refund of over £500 at once, which has to be reviewed manually as it can’t be automated. Doesn’t matter how old you are, it’s the same rules for everyone. Likewise, the DD cannot be adjusted if OVO doesn’t have enough meter readings to play with - they need that data to be able to figure out what the DD can be reduced to.

If regular meter readings are not submitted, this exact issue can arise easily. If not already fitted, Smart Meters running in Daily or Half-Hourly Mode would be highly advisable to resolve this.

If you call OVO directly on 0330 303 5063, they can reduce the DD that way - but you then need to make sure meter readings go in every month (or get a Smart Meter to do it) to help keep things from spiking again.

yes i have tried calling them several time i was on hold for over an hour and last conversation the man just could not help no way a pensioner could deal with this situation and i dont understand how OVO systems will not allow you to reduce a Direct Debit online when the account is historically so much in credit 

i suppose i find it difficult that the staff just dont seem to have any empathy for such an old lady you would think they would prioritise this type of situation i have been trying now for over 10 days on her behalf 

i think i will report it to the FCA as they are ultimately responsible for the Direct Debit scheme as for a smart meter im not sure ? its a block of apartments with old people perhaps they do not use enough energy to warrant it   - non of the apartments have smart meters 

If the block is electric-only, then upgrading to Smart Meters is generally a piece of cake.  If it’s dual-fuel that’s more complicated but not impossible - AltHAN will probably do the trick but may need the AltHAN Meter Room solution if space is tight. Everyone is eligible for Smart Meters regardless of how much or how little they use.

FCA is the wrong regulator for this - if you go that way there’s basically a 100% chance they’ll throw it back at you. I suggest you review https://ovoenergy.com/feedback instead. It is recommended not to rely purely on Google Search and AI Chatbots alone for this stuff - unlike a human it doesn’t know the intricate details and can only act as a sidekick at best.

And this kinda shows why…

You have to ask very specific questions to get closer to the correct answer.

I can’t see any mention of the Priority Services Register (PSR) here. This scheme is designed precisely to help in this sort of situation. Any call from a customer on the PSR is dealt with by staff specially trained to assist the more vulnerable customers.

If you are helping your mother, have you asked to be named on her account, so you can act for her in many circumstances? You will both have to be present when you arrange this with the support staff, so they can hear her oral consent to the arrangement.

There are limits to what support staff can do with regard to refunds, and even tighter ones to what can be completed online. You may have been running in to these limits.     

Hey ​@Mark Ansell,

Thanks to ​@Blastoise186 & ​@Firedog for stopping by and offering some advice. 

You can find more information about refunds in our articles below:

As Firedog noted, each area has limits on the refund amounts it can process. Therefore, additional checks or work may be necessary if you want a larger balance refunded

Hopefully this helps!