How can I contact the OVO Feed-in tariff (FIT) team?

I have just received the latest statement regarding solar generation. The reading shown on the statement is not what my records show. The statement reading is much higher than my records show, which means the statement value is approx 67% less than I would expect.

I have just been moved from SSE to OVO and there has been total chaos in the transfer, with conflicting information from SSE & OVO, neither team prepared to solve problems, etc.

Has anyone else experienced this type of issue?

Hey @Chris Brummell,

I’m sorry that you’ve had issues with your transfer.

If you would like to speak to our FiT Team on the phone you can by calling 0330 303 5063 and selecting ‘4’ when the IVR instructs you to do so. They should be able to look into this for you.

Hope this helps. 

Hi Emmanuelle

Thanks for the info, but that phone option (4) doesn’t exist and the other options do not relate to FIT or renewables.

This is exactly the kind of issue I have been having for months.

No one has responded to the email (sent to fits@ovoenergy.com).

Could you please provide details of the Complaint Procedure.

@Chris Brummell 

Here is information on the procedure

https://forum.ovoenergy.com/

You can also post a 1 star review on Trustpilot which has helped for some customers

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.ovoenergy.com

You can always include a link to this thread if you think it will help

https://forum.ovoenergy.com/my-account-140/incorrect-fit-submission-reported-13796

Hi Chris, 

Your note exactly replicates my experience getting paid (eventually) after numerous pieces of advice that didn’t work and hours and hours on the phone, plus a formal complaint. 

I switched to Octopus at the end of November and am still waiting for payment for Oct and Nov, anticipating that I will have to go through the whole procedure again. 

Octopus paid me for December on January 3rd. I’d strongly recommend switching. It’s a minor hassle compared with dealing with OVO.

Ruth

Hi Ruth

Thanks for the feedback. I get the impression that all providers are equally poor. They work on a percentage basis - if you are in the 1% they are happy to lose, tough.

The latest is: OVO state my email is not associated to an account (despite OVO sending the statement to my email 🤔), so emails won’t be processed. If I try to call, I need an account number which OVO hasen’t provided (the statement just shows FIT ID), so there is no way to work through the complaint process.

In other news, electricity usage in January was £511 (incl standing charge) which averages £16.48 / day. Our meter has NEVER shown over £16, so standing charge must be over £2 / day now. Really?

It is shockingly bad and Customer Service is appalling.

However, I have now emailed the CEO of OVO and apparently they have assigned an “advanced resolution specialist” to look into it.

We’ll see what happens.

These are the last annual stats from Ofgem on FIT payments

OVO £3,956,904.20

SSE £182,875,999.56

This shows very starkly what has happened in terms of FIT customers transferring. These are totals so some care is needed when comparing like with like. 

SSE was one of the biggest FIT processors, OVO one of the smallest.

In some ways i am not surprised the OVO team and processes were overwhelmed for a time, and it still appears there are issues looking at the posts.

Octopus have nearly the whole market for the replacement SEG scheme in the latest SEG stats. They probably simply have more staff and better processes right now for taking on new SEG and FIT customers. 

Sure, OVO are struggling. I’m sure they find it hard to attract and retain good people.

But, they have made life harder for themselves (and therefore requiring greater resources), by not getting systems sorted out.

E.g. put account number on statement, ensure email is correctly matched to account, provide rapid escalation, etc, etc. Some of this is migration of data from SSE to OVO systems.

None of these are difficult.

They are contractually obliged to make payments accurately and on time. They don’t.

Fortunately for OVO, the Regulators are even more incompetent and Citizens Advice are buried in issues, atm. 

I don't disagree with anything you have written 😊

No, they are not all equally bad. I have been with Octopus for several years for my supply, having switched away from SSE. I wish I had switched my FIT at the same time, but it seemed an unneccesary hassle at the time. I switched at the end of November and they paid me for December on January 3rd. No hassle. Still waiting for the period up to the switch on 29th November from OVO. THEY ARE NOT ALL EQUAL

Hi Ruth

Well, on TrustPilot, there are unhappy Octopus customers. Admittedly small percentage (~4%), but still significant.

So, again, if you’re in the majority fine, but a percentage are still unhappy.

Unhappy is probably relative. In my experience just recently service slipped slightly after they took on a lot of new customers from failed companies. This means that emails that used to be helpfully answered within 3 days are now occasionally missed or take longer. But you can still always talk to the people who can help with your particular query if you phone, and you don’t usually have to wait very long on hold. They managed the FIT switch and the transition to SEG without hassle and now automatically apply my ‘export’ payment to my account on a monthly basis. Compare that with OVO and I think most people would give them a five star rating. (They’ve been awarded top for customer service by WHICH two years in a row which I think is significant). 

The Which survey can still be biased just like any other. TBH the only way to get a true idea in my opinion is to survey literally everyone in the entire country.

Take those surveys with a pinch of salt. They are only a snapshot at best.

Well I’m mainly going on my own experience during the last few years, and that of the people to whom I’ve recommended Octopus. What is really evident from experience and from this forum is that OVO are absolutely terrible. 

Be careful there as well. VERY few people ever come here to say they love being on OVO. The nature of this forum means 99% of the userbase only posts to do one of the following:

• Get advice
• Ask questions
• Complain
• Rant

Look at the forums for Bulb, E.On Next and Scottish Power and you’ll see the exact same thing. I should know as I constantly patrol this forum and my network keeps me informed about what happens elsewhere.

In actual fact… There has been cases where people have told us that being on OVO is the best thing since sliced bread for them, especially after bad experiences those people experienced with other suppliers - Octopus included. It’s ultimately down to you as an individual as to who you want your supplier to be, but it’s best to avoid taking a scorched earth approach over it.

Well of course they do - my point is a lot of people are having the same problems as me and most importantly those problems do not seem to be being properly addressed. Occasional mistakes are forgiveable, but failing to rectify them despite constant contact and complaint are not. 

Further update. Having been promised backdated payments for a eighteen months, I have just received a first statement paying me for 3 months.

Court proceedings started next week through small claims.

@EMMeadows Have OVO given any indication about when the other payments will be made?

Is this the older of the 18 months of payments you are due? 

Hey @EMMeadows,

I’m glad to hear you’ve finally received a payment but I’m sorry you’ve had to resort to going to small claims. 

We'd recommend using established routes to resolve your complaint. This includes an internal complaint or if it's been longer than 8 weeks you're entitled to approach the Energy Ombudsmen directly. More info on our complaints process here. As you can imagine we can't give any advice with regards to this claim. For any contact about that we would recommend that your legal representative contacts our legal team here:

OVO Legal team, OVO Energy Ltd. Floor 5, Crescent, Temple Back, Redcliffe, BS1 6EZ.

Emmanuelle your response is a typical response for OVO showing you have no understanding of the situation. Procedures followed, complaints made. Energy Ombudsman involvement already finding in my favour with compensation.  Why waste time responding generically as though you know what you are remotely talking about.

@EMMeadows given that this is a public forum where no one has access to your specific details and most posters are simply trying to help, I’m not sure why you’re responding as you have - it seems pointless 

There is access. I have posted ongoing issues. 

@BPLightlog speaks the truth. Even the Forum Volunteers here do NOT get access to internal systems. Even I don’t have access and I’m the longest running active forum volunteer on this forum.

In actual fact, it’s an agreement we all made with the forum moderators and with OVO a long time ago. To help protect OVO from the nightmares of giving random people access to internal systems and protect us forum volunteers from liability headaches, we don’t have access to any internal systems. The closest we get is a special set of hidden forum groups where we can chat between ourselves and the moderators whenever we want (which is pretty standard stuff) and also the ability to do calls with OVO’s experts every month about particular themes. That’s it.

If you need to speak to someone who does have access to internal systems, this forum is not the place to come to. You need to talk to OVO directly via https://ovoenergy.com/help or 0330 303 5063.

I’m sorry this isn’t the answer you want to hear. But we will always signpost folks to the Support Team if we feel that the resolution requires internal systems access of any kind.

I too have been claiming FITs since 2011, and take daily readings so I gave my reading to SSE on the 1st April so that they would not have to estimate my generation.

OVO were out by 1p for me so not too bad. But I have still not received my FIT payment for March, April May yet.

I asked the FIT team what would happen if someone decided to pay their OVO electricity bill with the same laissez-faire attitude, would they be happy with that and got a stony silence.

I know Blastoise186 says that OVO make no money on this scheme so either OVO are so desperate for money they are sitting on the FIT money in their bank as long as they can, or they are totally incompetent! 😁