Transfer of ownership rights and generated funds from solar panels following house purchase.

Yes, I can indeed feel how frustrating it is for individuals to feel they’re banging their heads against a brick wall when it comes to being heard. Or not heard! Any of us who have been riveted by the long-running Post Office/Horizon débâcle can well sympathise.
 

I was also one of the SSE consumers who were joined to OVO and fortunately I can only speak well of the process…it took a few months longer than I had originally been led to believe, but that was a minor consideration in view of how well it went.  But I was perhaps lucky as my FiT solar array was handled by a third party, and so not part of the SSE/OVO migration: I’ve changed suppliers a lot in the last ten years, and nPower had handled my FiT payments from the start as they were the company I was with ten years ago when the PV panels were originally commissioned; nPower’s payments were eventually taken over by E.ON…that was nothing to do with any choice on my part, that was worked out at a national level, I presume, by nPower and E.ON.  So I’ve never had any issues with the FiT scheme amidst all my energy supplier comings and goings and changes.

I do hope you get sorted, and quickly, I have found OVO customer services to be the best out of any of the energy suppliers I’ve had, courteous, quick and responsive.  Although as I say I’ve never had to raise any FiT-side queries with OVO.   It sounds as though they need to let you know of a specific team that you could talk to?  That would be a good start, at any rate. 
 

Perhaps ITN could do a programme on the failings of our national energy provision over the past decade or so…

Good luck…

So, I’ve called again today to chase up my change of ownership. On my last call in November, they told me to call again in 4 weeks, so I doubled it and gave them 2 months.  Suffice to say, nothing has changed - it’s still being processed and I’ll get an email ‘very soon’.

I asked whether the extremely polite young lady could quantify ‘very soon’ as I’ve heard that phrase for the last 7 months but she laughed, obviously not understanding the irony (or, maybe, she did . ..)

Anyhow, I suspect my next update on here will be in another 8 weeks when I inevitably have had to call again.

Hey @TonyB-Dorset,

Really sorry to hear of your experience, it sounds very stressful.

Have they advised of why there’s a delay? Was it misadvise the first time, or is there a backlog? Very frustrating nonetheless. 

There is the option to raise a complaint, you can find our complaints procedure on the website.

I hope this gets sorted for you as soon as possible. 

Hi @Emmanuelle_OVO 

The closest I’ve got to an explanation is ‘the back office team are really busy’ which, after months and months and lots of calls, doesn’t really cut it any more. The thing that really bugs me though is that there is zero accountability or ownership. The customer services team, whilst being very nice, are completely and utterly unable to help in any way and offer us 3 options  . .. . 1) call back in 4 weeks, 2) send an email to the FIT team or 3) raise a complaint.

Sending an email is utterly pointless. The only thing that you get is an automated response telling you how busy they are and to expect a reply in due course.  I’m still waiting for a reply from last summer.

I also raised a complaint once but the lady who called me didn’t even know the nature of my complaint when she called (I would’ve thought that might have been logged?). After explaining for the umpteenth time, she was also absolutely incapable of escalating or helping.  She even got to the point where she asked me whether I wanted to raise a complaint about the handling of my complaint!

So, yeah, it’s a bit stressful and I’ve lost trust in what I’m told - mainly because every course of recommended action leads nowhere. I don’t know of any other industry where such flagrant disregard is tolerated.

In the meantime, I continue to get my Direct Debit raised whilst simultaneously generating and sending power back to the grid. It’s utterly bizarre.

Hi, has anyone else had a nightmare with the OVO FIT change of ownership process?

My, now 80 year old, mum moved into a house 2 years ago with solar panels and an existing FIT arrangement. Took us ages to find someone at OVO who could tell us what to do but finally found the online change of ownership forms and completed them. We’ve had maybe 3 or 4 emails over the last 2 years from them asking for more information which we’ve provided (even though, quite frankly, they didn't seem particularly relevant given the FIT account was already up and running….). We’ve email chased many, many times but generally just get an automated “we’re too busy” response.

Anyway, after chasing them 2 months ago she finally got a response today asking her to submit the same change of ownership forms she submitted 2 years ago!!!!!!!!

I tried contacting on X today but just got a snotty response from a media “manager” that we had to call the FIT telephone number. Except we’ve tried that number close to 40 times over the 2 years - in the rare event they actually answer the phone the person on the other end literally does not have a clue and just tells her she’s better off starting off the process from scratch…

By my calculations they now owe her about £4K.

Has anyone actually successfully changed an account over and if so, how? As I said she’s 80 and has a shopping list of health conditions, including 4 heart related issues and they really don’t seem to care how stressed she’s getting.

Thanks

I’m really sorry to hear this @shelby2909, it sounds like a very stressful situation. I’m sure she’s already tried this, but if not, the FiT Team you can call on 0330 303 5063 and by selecting ‘4’ when the IVR instructs you to do so.

I think it might be beneficial for your mother to go down the complaints route if she’s not getting anywhere with customer support. You can find our more about the complaint procedure on our website. I’d also advise, if she’s not already on our priority services register to get her added, you can find out more here. 

Thanks @Emmanuelle_OVO .

Agree we have no choice but to go complaints route.

Mum has had another email asking her for a load of the information AGAIN, and now asking her for wiring diagrams of the system! Again why was this not asked for 2 years ago and how on earth do they expect an 80 year old retired housewife to produce wiring diagrams?! 

We did try calling. It took best part of 4 hours to get through only to be told we needed to respond to the email sent as the person on the phone couldn't find a record of it.

I’ve never known anything like it….

I’m so sorry to hear this, are you named on your mothers account as financially liable @shelby2909? 

If so, I can ask our Forum_Support team to reach out. 

Truly abhorrent behaviour from Ovo. Complaining goes nowhere & they answer to no one.

I'm prepping an email to Martin Lewis in an attempt to get some light shone on this in a much more public way. It may go nowhere but enough is enough.

I’m sorry to hear this @TonyB-Dorset, i’ll ask Forum_Support to reach out. Please keep an eye on your private messages.