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I've been charged £13,000 for 29 days electricity and gas! Is this due to an out of line reading?

M
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My 3 bedroom house was empty for 29 days in October 2023 as there was a change of tenant.  The house is 3 bedroom semi detached.  My estate agent supplied details to OVO for meter readings.  

Electricity use for the period was approximately £50

Gas use for the period was approx £12,800 - that is a bill of around £480/day

OVO were alerted to this by my estate agent in December.

Since then i have spoken on phone and on chat with customer care, sent emails in, sent complaint emails in and had no response.

I have had one debt agency contact me and when i spoke to them about the debt they said “we are sending this back to OVO, its clearly a massive mistake, that bill is ridiculous.’ 

My estate agent said after speaking with OVO that they would stop with the debt collection and investigate.  Then yesterday, 26th March, i was contacted by ANOTHER debt agency chasing me for a £13,000 unpaid bill - for 29 days of gas and electricity.

Why am i getting absolutely nowhere speaking with OVO on the phone and via email?  I am being harassed by debt collectors for a bill that is clearly a screw up - and no-one at OVO seems to want to do anything about it.

I am now looking at Ombudsmen complaint and arranging legal representation because no-one will tell me who i should speak to.  Clearly the £13,000 bill needs erasing and an estimated bill put its in place for the period (29 days).

Can anyone help point me in the right direction?

 

 

 

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Best answer by Abby_OVO 1 April 2024, 17:13

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18 replies

Blastoise186
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Hi @MHarley ,

Please bear with me. I’ve flagged this on the forum backstage to figure out how we can best advise on this one.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
C
Rank

Go to the energy ombudsman.  OVO customer service are useless.

Blastoise186
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Userlevel 7
Badge +1

You haven’t seen my Joker Card yet. :)

Let’s just say my Joker Card is played only when I absolutely must use it. However, with great responsibility comes great power - I can call in expert assistance from a special team who really know what they’re doing. 

That’s what I’ve done in this case. Please wait until the morning for an update.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
M
Rank

Many thanks Blastoise 186.

I would love to get some direction and an end to the anxiety 👍

Blastoise186
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Userlevel 7
Badge +1

Still working on it - I’m waiting for someone to pick up my Joker Card.

However, try 0800 069 9831 in the meantime - that team might be able to fix this. If they don’t please come back here and update this thread.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
M
Rank

Thanks Blastoise,  I have tried that number before but I will try again.  Not living in the country I forgot it was Easter so there won't be anyone around until Tuesday.... Let me know if you get any further information and I'll report back on my conversation with them early next week.

Michael

Abby_OVO
Rank
Userlevel 6

Updated by Emmanuelle_OVO:

If you have a sudden large bill, this is likely due to an out of line meter reading, the first thing to do would be to check the meter reading history. If you’re still living in the property please contact the support team with an up to date meter reading.

Out of line meter readings could be submitted incorrectly by an out-going, in-going tenant or owner or letting agency. But can usually be corrected quite easily by the billing team. 

These similar topics may be helpful: 


 

 

Hey @MHarley 

 

Sorry to hear about the trouble you’ve been having.

 

Looks like Blastoise186 has left some helpful advice in contacting the Support Team, the team are available to you today if you’ve got time, but you can always take care of things tomorrow.

 

You can contact the team now via social media, send us a message on Facebook or Twitter from 9am - 5pm.

 

 

Let us know how you’re getting on with this, the Support Team will be able to help get this sorted with you.

Location: Electric Avenue
M
Rank

Thank you Abby_OVO,

 

I contacted the team on facebook and they siad they couldnt do much so i should call collections.  I tried them but couldn’t get through.  I realised today is the day after the 2day bank holiday (i live in Middle East where Easter isnt a thing) so i’ll give it a day or two for the call volume to return to normal and then report back here with what they say.

Regards

 

Michael

Abby_OVO
Rank
Userlevel 6

Hi @MHarley 

 

Apologies for the difficulty getting that sorted yesterday, I know the teams were working at much smaller capacities, but they’re all back to normal now.

 

You can call the collections team on 0800 069 9831. We’re open Monday to Friday 8am-6pm, Saturday 9am-2pm. You can also get through to the collections team via webchat.

 

 

Keep us updated with how you get on.

Location: Electric Avenue
M
Rank

Thank you Abby_OVO,

I'm currently position 1 waiting for the webchat team.

I've realised I need to take snip/photos of what is said online so I'll have some record of what they say.

 

Regards

 

Michael

M
Rank

Dear Abby_OVO,

Tha KS for your continued interest in this.

I talked with a collections team agent on the webchat.  They told me to call the phone line.

I called and spoke with a collections team agent said that they could see there was a complaint email sent to me yesterday saying 'we'll be in touch in 2-3 days'. 

They said they couldn't do anything until the complaint was resolved.  I've already complained via email on 29th February and nothing was done about it then, so I'm still in exactly the same position six weeks later.  

To conclude, the collection team didn't do anything for me.  No confirmation that the debt collection has been permanently stopped, no 'this is what's going to happen' or no reassurances it's being dealt with - just 'you need to let complaints deal with it' but I've already tried that route and it's a dead end.

I feel like I am back at square one.

Regards

Michael

M
Rank

Still working on it - I’m waiting for someone to pick up my Joker Card.

However, try 0800 069 9831 in the meantime - that team might be able to fix this. If they don’t please come back here and update this thread.

Good day Blastoise 186,

No luck with the number you provided.  That was the collections team.  

They said a complaint was raised yesterday and I was sent an email asking to wait 2-3 days so they wouldn't do anything.

I pointed out that six weeks ago I complained via email and have had zero response.  In fact I had so little response so what good is waiting a few more days going to do?  They said, again, that they couldn't do anything about it and that my next course of action was to wait to be contacted.

So I'm back to being nowhere further along except being told to trust the OVO system but it doesn't work.  

If you have any  'big guns' I need them!

Regards

Michael

 

 

 

Blastoise186
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +1

Ok, let me try the next trick. You won’t see anything obvious right now - but that’s just because this one’s a bit more invisible.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
M
Rank

Thank you Blastoise186

Abby_OVO
Rank
Userlevel 6

Hey @MHarley 

 

I’m sorry to hear you’re still having trouble here.

 

I’m going to have our Forum_Support reach out to you to help with this matter. Look out for a private message here soon: https://forum.ovoenergy.com/inbox/overview.

Location: Electric Avenue
M
Rank

Hey @MHarley 

 

I’m sorry to hear you’re still having trouble here.

 

I’m going to have our Forum_Support reach out to you to help with this matter. Look out for a private message here soon: https://forum.ovoenergy.com/inbox/overview.

Thank you Abby_OVO.

Blastoise186
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +1

And that is my Joker Card. :)

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
M
Rank

And that is my Joker Card. :)

Thank you Blastoise186.  

They have been in touch.  I've sent account details off etc so let's see what happens.

Michael

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