This is ridiculous. 

I have the traditional key meter which is topped up every months.  Ovo/SSE can see the top-ups and from when the scheme came into force. I was sent vouchers in the post addressed to the Occupier.  I received vouchers for Oct, Feb & Mar.  During November, December & January, on the website it clearly stated that the vouchers would be delayed due to the ongoing postal strike and be assured that they will come.  I used the ones I received and got a letter 2 days ago to claim the missing ones as Ovo/SSE noticed the gap.  When speaking to an agent in the South Africa call centre today called Ty, I am being told that the missing vouchers cannot be sent by post but also they cannot send via email (as per to the guidance in the media) or via SMS/text.  All because there is no named account despite vouchers already being sent and addressed to the Occupier - no debt as you know that usage is paid upfront. 

This call centre agent had the nerve to say that the top-ups to the account was to keep the electricity supplied to the property and the vouchers were addressed to the property.  But when challenged, he could not reply that if this was the case, the usage would be minimal and there would be a huge credit on the account based on the average top up of £100 per month excluding Support Scheme voucher.  Ovo/SSE already confirmed on the phone that not all the vouchers have been used so they have not been used by another household.  As above, they did nothing helpful to get the backdated vouchers out other than cutting you off when you demand to speak to their manager.  They will then claim in the media that a small percent of people missed out which was an acceptable performance statistic based the agreement with the government and the size of the national programme but not let it be known that their staff and/or process was the barrier.

Surely SSE/Ovo have an element of responsibility of checking their records or why would they write out to inform households of un-used vouchers.  Was this a tick-in-the box exercise to show that they are being compliant.  We should be able to complain to the Ombusdman/Government of not receiving our full entitled payments.  How many other people are in this situation with SSE/Ovo where you only received 50% payment of the scheme.

Unfortunately, vouchers issued to “The Occupier” wouldn’t work for you anyway because you wouldn’t be able to verify yourself as the customer. This is most likely to happen if you didn’t sign up properly when you moved in and just carried on using the existing key/card - you must always tell the active supplier when you move in or move out of a property no matter what meter/payment arrangements are in place.

I’m sorry, but in such cases you forfeit the ability to get EBSS Vouchers and by extension, the EBSS discount/support/funding is also forfeited. It’s also too late to re-issue them now anyway, you should have raised this sooner. It’s your responsibility to set the account up properly, not for OVO/SSE to chase you down and ask you to set it up. As it’s your responsibility to set it all up and maintain this stuff, OVO/SSE will not accept responsibility at all I’m afraid.

Hi,

Thanks for the quick reply.

Unfortunately I disagree with you as the vouchers were sent out in this name.  There was no ask/request/follow-up by SSE/Ovo to ask for the account to be updated.  Also, they wrote out noticing the gap in the vouchers so why do this if the vouchers will be forfeited.  As I said, I was relying on information published on the website - it said do not contact them as they are aware of the situation and the vouchers for February & March were received.

This just shows bad management by SSE/OVO.

It was also your responsibility to use them on time and ask for replacements sooner than two days before the deadline if they went missing.

I’m sorry, but based on what you’ve said I don’t think there’s anything you can do. There’s nowhere near enough time for new vouchers to get issued when all remaining funding is about to go back to the Government in 24 hours from now.

Coupons and vouchers almost always have a hard, fast and fixed expiry date. Once that date has passed without the voucher or coupon being used, that’s it, time’s up and it’s dead. Exceptions are very, very rarely granted and for EBSS Vouchers, exceptions are impossible because the Government won’t allow it.

Hi @Vinc,

We’re doing some fact-checking on this and will be back here with advice shortly. 

In the meantime if you have any concerns or issues in redeeming your vouchers, my advice would be to contact your energy supplier directly. If that’s OVO Pay As You Go, 

• The best way to get in touch with us is via chat here. Just click the green chat icon on the bottom right of your screen. We’re here to help anytime from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 2pm on Saturday.
• Or call us on 0330 175 9669 during the same times.

If you’re with Boost

• Find answers or chat with Boost at boostpower.co.uk/help
• Or call them on 0330 102 7517.

Just to circle back to this, @Vinc I’m told there is a form that can be filled in for vouchers to be sent via or applied to the meter as credit, but this needs to be completed by 18:00 today. So I’d recommend you contact your supplier to request this.