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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

Newcomer
November 4, 2022

Ok well I've learnt something I didn't know today.

How does it process differently their end? Again, genuine question and trying to understand 

Blastoise186
Super User
Super User
November 4, 2022

Because if you’re just filtering transactions for Faster Payments Incoming (FPI) for example to get rid of noise from everything else, you may miss other incoming payments from different mechanisms despite only supporting FPI and DD.

And besides that, paying by Standing Order means you’d be on OVO’s Simpler Energy On-Demand tariff, so there’s absolutely no guarantee your SO would ever pay off every single bill in full and stop the Collections Team from chasing you unless you set it to be massively higher than your highest possible bill - and then you’d have to delete and recreate it at least once every three months to account for the next price cap period.

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M.isterW
Rank 6
Rank 6
November 4, 2022

There's a simple difference - with a standing order you (well, your bank) are sending money. With a direct debit the receiving company (in this case, OVO) are taking the money from your account.

 

Why does that matter? Imagine you're a company with thousands of customers. If each of them is individually sending you money each month it lands in the company bank account and is a massive task to match that up to the correct accounts. Some people will use the correct references but others won't. Some will send it on the wrong day. Some will send the wrong amounts. It's an admin headache.

 

With direct debits OVO simply sends a data file with all the information to BACS. It's fully automated and the only payments the company has to check are failed ones, which is done automatically.

 

But you're worried about OVO being able to take money from your account? There is a set of rules a company must adhere to if they use direct debits. They have to tell you how much they're taking and when they're taking it. You also have a right to claim the money back if you believe it has been taken incorrectly. If a company doesn't stick to these rules they could lose the ability to use direct debits and that would be a disaster for a company.

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Newcomer
November 4, 2022

Ok thanks for the insight. 

 

Newcomer
January 9, 2023

I have just received a spam email to my spam box which states its come from OVO. It basically says my account is in debt by over £300 I know this not to be true because I paid a Bill last week for January and when logging in to my true account the Balance is cleared. I am just wondering where I can forward this email to as I don’t want anyone falling for this scam. Its scary because they have got my OVO account number in the email. 

juliamc
Rank 20
Rank 20
January 9, 2023
Newcomer
January 9, 2023

Ok thank you for that. 

Blastoise186
Super User
Super User
January 9, 2023

I’d also recommend calling 0800 069 9831 to check the status. If you have definitely paid the debt off and/or you are currently NOT in debt to OVO, the Collections Team can sort things out for you.

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Newcomer
January 9, 2023

Thanks for that. OVO sent me an email not long after I had paid the balance to say that it had been paid off and the balance was cleared. 

Newcomer
January 9, 2023

OH my god. Do not get me started with balances. My gas meter readings on my bill are for someone else. The meter number is wrong. I am not paying for any electric AGAIN. Check EVERYTHING. Since JULY update last year nothing is right. I HAVE asked for a re build of my account from 11.7.21. Not sure it is going to happen soon!!