Battery Boost: You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave?

After many months of fighting with ovo , I took my case to the ombusman read what they say ……..

Decision

Issue 1

Issue type: BILLING - Failure to issue refund/credit
Issue analysis:

I have found OVO has failed to send you bills since February 2024 due to a know system issue whereby a billing hold is in place so it has been unable to issue a refund.

Outcome: Upheld

Issue 2

Issue type: CUSTOMER SERVICE - Quality of customer service
Issue analysis:

I have found you have experienced very poor customer service when despite knowing about this billing issue, OVO has taken no actions to progress the resolution, failed to register your complaint in April 2025 and has failed to keep you updated.

Outcome: Upheld

Conclusion

Dear Mr Wetherall,Thank you for bringing your dispute to the Energy Ombudsman, in which you’ve complained OVO has failed to issue a refund of credit on your account and has declined to allow you to change your payment method to variable Direct Debit.In looking at your dispute I’ve found:•	OVO supplies electricity to your home •	The property had 2 Meter Point Administration Numbers (MPANs) due to the heating system on site but on 9/1/25 the heating MPAN was de-energised and the associated meter removed and the remaining meter was exchanged*  for a 2 rate smart meter. The details are as follows:•	MPAN *edited by moderatorwith Meter Serial Number (MSN) *edited by moderator*: Heating supply and the meter registered use for heating only. Industry confirms the meter was removed and the supply de-energised on 9/1/25•	MPAN *edited by moderator* with MSN *edited by moderator*: All other energy and the meter was replaced on 9/1/25 with smart meter *edited by moderator*. The industry reflects the correct updates•	OVO has the following meter read history:•	7523978: 9/3/24 33861; 27/5/24 33912; 21/8/24 34075; 19/12/24 34915; 9/1/25 34998.1•	7427993: 9/3/24 23967; 27/5/24 24066; 21/8/24 24296; 19/12/24 24497; 9/1/25 24659•	*edited by moderator*: installed on 9/1/25 with peak / off peak reads of 0 / 0 and smart reads received of 1/4/25 17.4 / 122.17; 14/5/25 42.681 / 208.988; 14/6/25 47.278 / 209.468•	OVO has applied charges to your account monthly and collected payments by Direct Debit. The balance on your account on 17/6/25 was £1,291.71 credit but I am unable to confirm if the charges and balance are accurately based on actual reads as no bills have been produced•	You raised a complaint with OVO in April 2025 when the company told you it could not refund the credit balance form your account but OVO failed to register the complaint•	You raised a further complaint in May 2025 and OVO has acknowledged this but has provided no evidence to show it has progressed the issue to resolution or has kept you informed of progressThere is no dispute that OVO has failed to provide you with a refund of the credit showing on your account. I acknowledge that an energy provider cannot issue a refund of account credit until an up to date bill has been produced to ensure that any credit balance is accurate.I also acknowledge that system issues can occur and understand that these often require widespread IT fixes which can take time to implement. However, an energy provider’s systems issues should not prevent a customer from receiving a refund of account credit or being able to switch suppliers as providers always have the option to issue an accurate manual bill.I require OVO to provide you with an up to date bill using all read history I have been fighting with OVO for months to get back a large credit on my account the OMBUSMAN has upheld my complaint … see what they say     ….I consider you have experienced very poor customer service when OVO failed to identify your account was affected by its system issue, failed to register your first complaint, failed to progress the issue and failed to maintain a reasonable level of communication with you. These service shortfalls have resulted in you not receiving an accurate bill, delayed you being able to switch your supply to another provider, delayed you receiving any refund of credit due to you, and caused you to make unnecessary repeat contact with OVO and to make monthly payments that are not based on your ongoing consumption costs.OVO acknowledges you have experienced poor customer service and proposes to pay £150 goodwill. I agree this is a fair award and as I am unable to instruct a provider to cover any loss of interest on monies retained, consider this high level of award recognises the full impact on you of service shortfalls experienced and require OVO to credit your energy account *edited by moderator* with £150 as a goodwill award and to provide you with a written apology.If you would like to find out more about my decision or have any questions, the easiest way to contact me is with a direct message on your case through the message tab. You can also contact me on 0203 8104095 (please leave a voicemail if I do not answer). If the supplier cannot carry out the remedy exactly as we have stated but can reach the same outcome another way, we are happy to accept this without the need to lodge a decision challenge. Similarly, if an action has already been completed or is no longer necessary because of another action, the remedy can be marked as complete without the need for a challenge to remove it.

Outcome: Upheld

​@robinwings firstly, please remove ALL personal information from your comment. You have posted enough of it to enable someone to access your account and this is strongly inadvisable.

Secondly, it doesn’t look like your comment has any relation to this specific thread. Are you sure you wanted to post it here?

I agree that it doesn't address my immediate problem and we're some way from Complaint/Ombudsman territory, however it does establish a level of compensation. 

By the way, I still don't have full control over my £7000 All in One Battery! Settings are still being overwritten by OVO/Kaluza.

Can you offer any advice?

Hey ​@mikes01666, 

From your post, it's unclear why you believe the settings are being overwritten. Could you provide more information about what you're experiencing? The more details you can offer, the easier it will be for others to assist you.

If you need support, you can call the Solar support team on 0330 102 7416 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm) or email solar@ovo.com. You can also find out more about Battery Boost by visiting www.ovoenergy.com/battery-boost.

Attached is a screenshot of the logs.

Every time I try to set a slot (You),  battery.boost.agent (delegate) overwrites it.

The timed slot only survives about 5 minutes.

I have contacted Nick at the Solar OVO team but it appears it's difficult for even them to talk to someone at Kaluza. I certainly can't. 

This morning it's still the same! I cannot use the battery to charge overnight, so it's costing me! 

Still no resolution.

Timed charge will not stick. Overwritten by battery.boost.agent (delegate) within five minutes.

Spent an hour on the phone with Givenergy trying to resolve.  Their conclusion was that OVO/Kaluza must release their authority to send commands to my battery/inverter.

Have requested a complaint be raised by Nick in the Solar team.

I believe Ofgem has recommended £40 compensation for an incomplete or faulty switch of provider. Not sure if this is per day or week.

Meanwhile I cannot take advantage of cheap overnight rate to charge the battery. 

I don’t think the £40 GSoP applies in this case - it’s not strictly related to the switching of the supply, but more of a separate product that you can use with it. It’s also only a one-off per incident anyway - you don’t get it again unless there’s another incident.

I'd argue that it's an incomplete switch of provider as one provider is not 'letting go'.  We'll let Ofgem decide. 

Battery Boost != energy supply however. The strict interpretation for GSoP Payments is they apply to the supply itself only and not any other products or services.

Hey ​@mikes01666 & ​@Blastoise186, 

We have information about guaranteed standards of performance compensation available on our website. This covers what is and isn't included.

I hope this helps! 

A little early for compensation.

However, solving the problem would be great!

Problem still there.

Was promised that a complaint would be raised but heard nothing. Can I raise a complaint about not raising a complaint? 

Besides this there are data protection issues to consider.

Have been advised to notify the Energy Ombudsman and the Information Commissioner.

The hardware is also under guarantee so maybe could invoke that?

Is there no-one from OVO willing to take responsibility or is the company line to keep quiet?

Could one of the mods refer this up the complaint tree?

Hey ​@mikes01666, 

As this is a public forum, we are unable to assist with complaints. Please contact the Solar team directly for updates regarding your complaint.

We have an 8-week period to resolve complaints. If your complaint remains unresolved after this time, you can escalate the matter to the Ombudsman, who will provide third-party dispute resolution.

Further details on our complaints process are available here.

We’re sorry we can’t offer more to help!

I've requested a complaint be raised but have had no subsequent contact from the Solar team. 

Could you contact them? 

Only 6 1/2 weeks to go then? Until then I have a very expensive hobbled system. 

... and people wonder why utility companies are not taken seriously...

Hey ​@mikes01666,

As Forum moderators, our role is to maintain the Forum and create content. We are a small team and do not have access to accounts or involvement in the complaints process. I previously provided the Solar team's contact information; following up with them for an update would be your best option for progress.

As mysteriously as this problem arrived, it appears to have been resolved. I believe Kaluza have released access to the battery. 

My advice to anyone leaving OVO with Battery Boost enabled is to cancel the add on (and receive confirmation) well in advance of switching.

Anyway, off to Octopus