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Rank 1
May 21, 2022
Solved

Why did OVO financial support team contact me despite my recent payment?

  • May 21, 2022
  • 64 replies
  • 5757 views

I’m interested to hear from SSE former customers and if it resonates Ovo Energy customers.

I transferred from SSE mid January 2022. My billing cycle was quarterly and bills came not long after the billing period. My bill was paid by a direct payment.

At transfer Ovo Energy placed me on a monthly cycle running 13th of the month to the 12th of the following.

Upon transfer my bill fell at transfer and I paid SSE. The money was transferred to Ovo, however my previous billing and usage with SSE was and still is not visible.

For the period 13th March to the 12th April, I viewed my bill electronically I have smart meters and paid on the 13/4/22 shown on my bank statement as the 14/4/22. I paid modestly over the due amount and was in credit at the start of the billing period. A week later I received a bill from a Ovo indicating a debt.

This debt was imaginary as their system appeared not to acknowledge my payment, even though my account did. For that period and into the next. I was harassed by txt and email.

I tried to contact via chat, that system was not available, I tried to call excessive wait times. Eventually frustrated with their harassing communications. I left a trust pilot review and received some rather pointless communications through that platform. That my experience will be taken up with the billing team.

As the next billing period approached the most recent I paid Ovo on the date my bill appeared in my account. There was no notification that my bill had been issued. Instead I receive a rather harassing text message from collections for a debt that had been over due for more than a month. This was and is not the case.

It is likely I will formally complain through Ovo’s complaints process. They have eight weeks to address my complaint. After that it is the Energy Ombudsman…..all in from a consumer perspective it appears fruitless and time consuming. As there is a clear issue with Ovo’s billing process and procedure.

The other option is to transfer to British Gas.

Thanks for reading and commenting if you do.

 

Oh! a screenshot of my account is attached, yes I’m in debit by a few pounds, I’m in a billing period. Sorry wouldn’t allow the screenshot.

 

 

Best answer by Tim_OVO

Updated on 1706/25 by Emmanuelle_OVO:
 

What can our payment support team offer if I can’t pay my energy bill?

 

Our payment support team has supported lots of people in similar situations, and are trained to do so. 

Some of the ways they can help are:

  • They can create a payment plan that’s suitable for your financial situation. A payment plan can spread the cost of what’s outstanding, you can find out more about them here.
  • They can discuss what other payment schemes you may be eligible for. They can make sure you’re getting the support that’s available to you, such as benefit entitlement checks. 
  • Our team is also trained to give advice on energy debt, and discuss what help is available. 
  • They can show you where you can find free, independent advice.

For more financial support, call the team on 0800 069 9831. We’re open Monday to Friday 9am-5pm, Saturday 9am-2pm.

 

What’s a payment plan & how does it work?

 

Using the information you give us, we’ll come up with a manageable payment plan. These payments can be made on a weekly, fortnightly, or monthly basis. 

 

Some of the payment will go towards the outstanding balance and some of the payment will go towards your current usage. 
 

 

Thanks for flagging, @Kenyon graham 

 

 

For the period 13th March to the 12th April, I viewed my bill electronically I have smart meters and paid on the 13/4/22 shown on my bank statement as the 14/4/22. I paid modestly over the due amount and was in credit at the start of the billing period. A week later I received a bill from a Ovo indicating a debt.

This debt was imaginary as their system appeared not to acknowledge my payment, even though my account did. For that period and into the next. I was harassed by txt and email.

 

It’s very odd to see that the payment seems to have affected your balance, as shown in your screenshot, but hasn’t stopped collections activity for account debt. It may be worth contacting our Collections team by web chat, and by phone. Start a webchat conversations or or call with our Collections team here. Also you can see our page on payment support here.

 

64 replies

Rank 2
September 12, 2022

Tim your bills don’t make sense, everytime I go online there is another figure and another bill and no history of the payments I have made!! I am moving soon and need to make sure everything is in order before I leave…. I don’t have time for this or to be on hold for an hour at a time!  OVO need to sort it out! 

Emmanuelle_OVO
Retired Moderator
Retired Moderator
September 13, 2022

Hi @louise74,

 

Sorry for the issues you’ve been having.

 

We have a live billing system so whenever a meter reading is submitted by you or received from a smart meter your account balance will update, which might be why the amount on your statements is different from your account balance. Here is a guide about this topic you might find helpful:

 

 

If you are on the Simpler Variable Plan on demand you can pay on receipt of the bill, but with any other plans you would be chased by collections if you don’t have a direct debit set up. 

 

How are you paying for your bill? If you are paying by cheque there might be a delay between when the collections emails are sent out and when we receive payment. If you have been paying by bank transfer we would need you to add your OVO account number and postcode as reference. 

 

All of your old bills are available in your OVO account. To find them, click on Billing history. You can view them, and download them too.

 

Hope this helps. 

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.
Rank 2
September 13, 2022

Hi

But it doesn’t make sense and I can’t validate all these numbers you are just expecting me to pay. I will be so glad when I move and don’t have OVO to deal with honestly I have never been so confused by anyone’s billing system than yours and from all the other reviews I am not alone.  

I am paying by faster payments using bank transfer so there should not be a huge delay.  Feels like you are once again just pushing DD and smart meters on everyone!

I will wait to pay my last bill until I am satisfied that everything is in order and all my payments are showing.

Thanks,

Louise

Emmanuelle_OVO
Retired Moderator
Retired Moderator
September 14, 2022

Hey @louise74,

 

I’m sorry for the issues you’ve been having.

 

When you pay by bank transfer are you using the following details: 

 

Bank BARCLAYS
Account Name OVO ENERGY LTD Receipts
Sort Code 20-00-00
Account Number 83683249
Reference OVO account number + member's postcode

 

If you haven’t added the OVO account number and your postcode as reference, they won’t know what account to assign your payment to. Don’t worry though, if you contact our Support Team they will ask you for some further details so they can locate the payments you’ve made. 

 

If you are on the simpler variable on demand plan you can pay on receipt of your bill. It might be helpful for you to request paper statements? That way you can see exactly what you owe on each statement without viewing the ‘live billing’ on the online account as I think this might be causing confusion.

 

We have a really great guide that breaks down how our billing works including example statements, please click here to find out more. 

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

 

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.
Newcomer
September 24, 2022

So an update on my missing £140.

Contacted my bank and they said they would be able to claim the money back.

Letter from bank arrived this morning stating that my bank had tried to reclaim my money but this was now impossible as the OVO account has been closed, so basically OVO have stolen £140 of my money.

There has been no  attempt from OVO the contact me regarding the issue, nothing at all

At a time when energy prices are soaring and the cost of living increasing I find this absolutely sickening to be treated like this.

DISGUSTING COMPANY!!

Emmanuelle_OVO
Retired Moderator
Retired Moderator
September 26, 2022

Hi @Whytey,

 

I’m sorry for the issues you’ve had.

 

I’d advise contacting Support who will be best placed to deal with this. 

 

If the money was transferred to:

 

Bank BARCLAYS
Account Name OVO ENERGY LTD Receipts
Sort Code 20-00-00
Account Number 83683249
Reference OVO account number + member's postcode

 

 

Our team will be able to find this, it will have gone into a pool of un-assigned payments but as you’ve sent in bank statements they should be able to find it using the last few digits of your bank account number, the amount and payment date. 

 

When you speak to an advisor advise them they need to raise a ‘Payment allocation’ case. This will then be picked up by the right team. 

 

Hope this helps. 

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.
Newcomer
October 25, 2022

I made a payment £80 over the phone to Ovo on 28th sept, and was told it didnt go through, attempted another twice ,still no luck apparently, but on checking my online banking later that day it appears that all 3 payments have been taken out of my bank account amounting to £240, but ovo will not credit my ovo account until they "find it" . Even though I have submitted proof from the bank that this is the case , and now my ovo account credit is reducing rapidly and I can not afford to pay more in , the govt payment helps but only slightly . Anyone else had this prob.

 

Emmanuelle_OVO
Retired Moderator
Retired Moderator
October 25, 2022

Hey @Dinky,

 

Sorry for the issues you’ve had.

 

Did you pay by bank transfer? If so, and you didn’t put the OVO account number and your postcode as reference it will need to be manually located by our team. Rest assured, once the payments have been found, they will be added to your account and the payments made it error will be refunded. 

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.
Newcomer
October 25, 2022

Not paid by transfer it was paid over the phone to a real person all my details were given when she answered the phone but has now been 4 wks , you have the proof straight from my bank ,and my credit is getting lowerI also want the whole £240 to go into my credit now.

Emmanuelle_OVO
Retired Moderator
Retired Moderator
October 25, 2022

Hey @Dinky,

 

Thank you for confirming those details. That is unusual that’s it’s showing in your bank but not on OVO’s side. I’d advise contacting Support again to see if the payments have cleared on our side, this should have been sorted by now if you’ve sent across a bank statement. 

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.