Charge Anytime and Ohme integration update: important information for our customers

Hi,

Just had a very concerning email from Ohme, saying that OVO is no longer willing to integrate with them with Charge Anytime? Basically says use the anytime app (I can’t my car isn’t compatible) or switch providers. This is unbelievable, Ovo installed my charger. Can I get some confirmation from Ovo that this is the case? I’ve just fixed my tariff for another year. I’m not expecting to pay any leaving fees by cancelling and going to another provider!

Hi ​@cookie9000 ,

Just to be certain… What EV do you have?

It’s arguably more a case that Ohme refused to play ball whilst every other charger vendor did. They’re the ones who decided to remain in a locked down ecosystem...

MG ZS

I see.

Please bear with me - I need to ask something on the forum backstage.

An update has been posted by the Forum Moderators. Please see the thread below:

I don’t want to use my vehicle to connect. It’s extremely unreliable. It’s no wonder EV adoption is so hard for people when this kind of farce exists,

disgusting

Ill be looking to move to octopus as soon as I can.

my car has the capability but the sheer cheek of ovo trying trying to do this is shocking.

I have no interest in using the chargetime app. 

So I have an incompatible car (not even on the beta list) and from July I will have an incompatible charger, even though it is one Ovo recommended to me when I was looking for one. 
It feels to me that Ovo is now incompatible as a supplier to me. 
Unless something changes soon, I will be looking at an alternative electricity supplier when my current contract expires. 

and immediately there is total failure

Ive followed all the instructions and it wont let me connect to the ovo charge anytime app

seriously ovo get a grip!

Great News ! I dont have a compatible car (based on this article, along with 25% of their customers !) so in order to continue with a perk of driving an EV I will need to switch suppliers. I’m fixed in and Customer Services are saying that I will need to pay the exit fees (£100) even though this is a substantial change to what i signed up for …..Shocking way to treat customers. 

i just followed the instructions and the charge anytime app says I cant connect my account

even though the car is 100% capable

absolute riot already

Might be worth having a chat with the team on that one! You can reach them directly via 0330 175 9678. They’ll sort you out.

Thought they might have offered an alternative low overnight rate for people with incompatible cars to stop them switching but doesn't look like it.

This is daylight robbery!! I have had an Ohme charger since May 2024 when I purchased a brand new volvo EXC30, the considerable cost of a home charger is already overpriced and now OVO expect me to pay standard electric costs as they are dictating charge anytime at 7p is no longer going to be available.  My car is only a year old so have no idea why it would not be compatible!!! I will definitely be switching energy suppliers which is a real shame, yet again as the customer I have to pay the price for being green, having already paid a substantial cost upfront for an EV and a home charger!!! not the customer care I would expect.

I purchased the home charger on OVO recommendation. If They insist on charging the exit fee try complaining to the ombudsman. It's a breach of contract morally if not legally. I will tell everyone I know to switch from OVO DIABOLICAL!!!

Seriously unhelpful. 
A system that has been working just great is now going to require getting a different car or moving to a new supplier. Can you guess which one, OVO….? 

Being an EV owner myself I have followed the progress (and hype) over cheap charging for the past four years and part of the issue was the assumption that there wouldn’t be major compatibility issues between chargers and energy supplier’s servers. This has turned out not to be the case. Every company producing chargers has their own standard and every energy supplier has their own management systems and it turned out that a huge amount of work has to be done to achieve compatibility between the two. So, for some energy suppliers, only a limited number of chargers (or cars) are compatible and, as it turns out, not necessarily for ever.

I was lucky in that nearly four years ago I went for the EO Mini Pro charger being promoted by OVO and by the time I started the onboarding process, OVO said they had dropped this charger. Along with the DNO not responding to the request for approval I cancelled the whole thing and just went for charging at my Fixed Price rate of 15p a unit. Those rates seem like ancient history now.

I’ve said this before that a charger (or more correctly - a charge point / EVSE) is a significant investment by the owner and it comes out at over £1,000 to change plus all the hassle that this entails so the owner is more likely to change suppler to support their charger than change the charger if it becomes incompatible. In the end, when my unit rate went up to over 25p I changed supplier and took advantage of a tariff that didn’t invove the car or the charger being compatible. For my total consumption I can beat the Charge Anytime discount offered by OVO** but I’ve had to compromise slightly on other aspects of power use (reduced use 4-7pm) but it has worked out OK for me. In the end, if a supplier is not meeting your needs then go out and look at the rest of the market and see what is better for you. Compatibility is not a forever situation and never will be.

Peter

** More expensive for EV charging (11,000 miles per year) but cheaper for house use (including a Heat Pump) - so they more than balance out. I’ve also taken into account 10% of charging would be at the full rate to get the car ready again on occasions.

So effectively I was conned into joining OVO and advised to purchase a product that support was being pulled for within 3 months of me joining them. I will then have the option of 12 months of full price charging, or be forced to pay the exit fee.

This is no less than extortion and unless I can get released from the tariff without penalty (if I can ever get through to Customer Services that is) I will certainly be reporting this to the Ombudsman.

An absolute disgrace and I will be shouting as loud as I can that nobody I know should ever use this company.

Oh, and if ​@Bradley_OVO  can kindly explain to me how it is part of ‘improvements’ that this shocking act of customer diservice is being marketed, I would love to hear it...

My EV is a 2-year old Kia Niro and have used the Ohme charger successfully all that time. So the vehicle is on the Beta list for charging from the vehicle but the Beta terms and conditions mention signing up to the Charge Anytime Beta. Cannot see how to do that and wonder if it is necessary?

 Formal complaint submitted, I want this is writing in order to refer to the Ombudsman. 

Hey - I just called OVO and they're letting me out without an exit fee. It's bad enough that they're doing this but they should at least be consistent!

Appalling way to treat customers.

I have purchased and installed this specific charger because OVO was recommending it, and now for no apparent reasons, you decided to withdraw support, with just 1 month notice?

How can we trust OVO to keep supporting the other chargers? 

I will move to another supplier if this goes ahead. With a FIAT, can’t do much else since it’s not supported by OVO (and even about this, any roadmap, or information about why some vehicles are support or not? Will some be withdrawn as you are withdrawing support for some chargers?)

Shocking, really.

​@The Louce 

To be honest I don’t think any energy supplier knows any more than what you do. This issue could well be that Ohme are making changes to their servers to make it easier for themselves and that is the problem. OVO don’t have any control over that change. The same applies to compatible cars. If the manufacturer changes the way their servers operate (or even if they are even working) or the way the car operates (note that some models in a range are compatible and some aren’t) then the car becomes incompatible although I think that is less likely to happen.

As a long time electronics and systems design engineer I recognised this potential incompatibility issue from the outset and went down the route of simplicity in not requiring compatibility. There are solutions for that route but they may not suit your lifestyle but it does no harm to check if it would work.

Peter

The communication I have had from Ohme indicate that OVO are the ones at fault here but either way it is the customers that suffer. I am so angry about this and the additional cost and worry it will cause me and 1000s others.

For many customers the reason an Ohme charger was purchased was to comply with the recommendation from OVO. Purchasing a charger is a big investment, why would a big energy company care about that!? 
 

I feel totally let down but with a non compatible vehicle I don’t have many choices. OVO need to show that they understand and at the very least release customers without charge! They should really be offering compensation, especially to customers who have recently purchased a charger.

This needs to be reported to the Ombudsman by all affected.