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Bill saying i owe £780? Is this due to the 'Technical Error' on my account?

  • 15 December 2023
  • 19 replies
  • 1751 views

Hi

My account has gone from being over £400 in credit to £780 in debit overnight. I’ve always been really careful monitoring my account usage and making sure my direct debit is enough if not more for my monthly usage. I have a smart electricity meter and a manual gas. I have provided my gas readings twice a month to keep an eye on my usage and associated costs. 
 

I received the email below yesterday, im not too sure what it means. I can see 6 bills from 2022 even though I didn’t joined on December 2022. 
 

I’m off due to having a breakdown and this is making extremely anxious. I’ve called OVO and they’re trying to tell me it’s because I’m not paying enough every month which is just a nonsense and then said it’s because I didn’t provide meter readings often enough l, again which is nonsense as I provide them twice a month. 

 

A technical error meant we haven’t been able to send you any statements for a while. We're very sorry about this. This statement may be quite long because of the delay. Moving forward, these will be sent to you quarterly. 
 

Some of the charges on the statement are for energy you used over 12 months ago. You won’t need to pay for this energy - we’ll add a credit to write these charges off. Any payments you made during the time have already been applied to your account.

 

 

19 replies

N
Rank
Userlevel 1

I've had that too!! It also says my direct debit needs to go from £145 to £600 a month cause of this technical error! It's insane. I was with SSE and then OVO took over and SSE had a technical error when closing my account and now these have a technical error cause they haven't provided a statement till now. I don't know where we stand legally and I don't see why we should be charged when like you, weve been very vigilant with our usage. I've filled in a form with citizens advice but not sure where else to go. I contacted OVO and they said it's technical error and the bill is correct. It's not. I can see on my account it says account adjustment. Hopefully we can get it sorted soon cause it's really unfair.

J
Rank
Userlevel 2

I’m just hoping and praying that they are still to apply a credit like it says in the email. 
 

when I was speaking to them yesterday on the phone they said they would pause my account from collections. I said my f***ing account was £400 in credit yesterday and now you’re talking about collections. 
 

I’ve made a complaint which I’m waiting for a response to and then I’ll explore options including legal action. 
 

Even if it’s correct which I’m sure it’s not, it can’t be right that because of a technical issue they’re plunging people into severe debt.

N
Rank
Userlevel 1

Oh my god. They talked about collections to me. Like you, I wasn't in debit with them before a few days ago. Reading so many people on here in the same boat and have gone to ombudsman but even after resolve it happens again and again. I'm very scared to be honest.

 

I cannot afford £600 a month.

 

I'm just so lost what we do next cause I've even read people saying download your bills cause they will change them to help their case too but mine have all changed since I got the email to say I'm getting a statement. I've raised a complaint too but again, people on here have said they just vanish.

J
Rank
Userlevel 2

What’s frustrating for me is that I have always monitored my usage in the app, submitting meter readings regularly for my gas, so to keep on top how much I’m spending. Like you I’m shocked to see my account now in debt just because OVO said they have a technical fault. I also came across from SSE and I can see bills on my OVO account which was when I was still with SSE. I’m hoping as per their email, there will be a credit applied to my account to deduct these from my total.

 

All I can say is that it’s a total s*it show from OVO and they’re putting vulnerable people in a very difficult position. 

N
Rank
Userlevel 1

Exactly the same here. We have smart meters and I've checked them religiously and ensured at the beginning that ovo has correct access and it read correctly. Before yesterday I could see my monthly payment was correct and would leave me in a little extra credit by the end of the year.

 

Now I'm in massive debt and they want £600 a month from me

 

It's insanity and surely fraud!! I cannot see the bills I saw since they've changed them now.

I really just want it fixed asap but a lot of people seem to be in the same boat with no help

J
Rank
Userlevel 2

It beggars belief that you have got smart meters and yet they can still say you now owe them a ton of money because of a technical fault. All my bills like you have now been modified and don’t make any sense to me. 
 

They should do the decent thing and write it off. It’s not our fault.

J
Rank
Userlevel 2

No way. My account has now gone back to £400 in credit. Maybe they have applied a credit like they said in the email.

N
Rank
Userlevel 1

Oh wow really. I'm pleased for you. Unfortunately mine still says -£1,239! It's just crazy. I've emailed them a complaint too.

 

It's a very scary time. None of it make sense and I don't see how we should be victim to it.

Ensure to keep note of your account figures and meter reading as people have said on here that it's not the only time it'll happen.

J
Rank
Userlevel 2

I really hope you get a credit too to sort it out for you.  Either way it’s been handled atrociously.

Firedog
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Userlevel 7
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I've even read people saying download your bills cause they will change them to help their case too but mine have all changed since I got the email to say I'm getting a statement.

 

I’m sorry to hear about your troubles and I hope it all gets sorted out soon.

In the meantime, I don’t know if you get the same sort of email as I do when the monthly statement is ready, but mine always has the statement as an attached PDF. I find it’s a good idea to download this file and squirrel it away as the ‘original’.

If you later use the button on the billing details page to download the same bill again, you’ll find it’s got a different Date generated. This is because it’s only created when you click the button, using the current figures. Having the original makes it possible to see what changes have been made, if any.

Changes can happen: 

  • An amendment to an earlier bill might cause a change in the opening balance, even though the charges remain the same. If this is the case, you’d have to go through bills for previous months to see what the amendment was.
  • The meter readings used to calculate the charges might have been changed, e.g. if the original ones were wildly inaccurate estimates. In this case, the opening balance could be the same but the charges are different.

Bills depend on meter readings, so it’s really important to ensure that these are accurate. This is easy with a smart meter - so long as it’s behaving - but for those submitting readings manually, it’s vital to do it regularly (e.g. weekly) and it’s a good idea to submit a reading first thing in the morning of the day the billing period starts. This is the one that should be used to calculate the charges.

 

 

  

 

Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA
M
Rank
Userlevel 2

This is frightening just how many customers this is happening to.  OVO need to have their billing system seriously investigated!

 

Jeffus
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +2

Vote for this if you think ovo should have version numbers on bills and provide access to different versions

I agree, OVO need to seriously review their billing process which isn't currently suitable for customers who have bills re issued.

Unfortunately there has been no visible progress on this since the above idea was raised 9 months ago.

 

Jeffus
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +2

I really hope you get a credit too to sort it out for you.  Either way it’s been handled atrociously.

Good to hear it was sorted @Jon.bushby 

Just FYI the Ofgem backbilling rules and legislation means Energy Suppliers legally can only back bill for a maximum of 12 months.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/check-energy-back-billing-rules#:~:text=What%20are%20the%20back%2Dbilling,it%20was%20set%20too%20low.

Did OVO make this clear to you recently in the correspondence?

M
Rank
Userlevel 2

This is what they’ve done to my October/November bill.  Bearing in mind the daytime meter was replaced on 30th October reading 42,304.  

 

Where they produced a figure of over 46,000 units is beyond me.

 

No doubt this will take another several weeks to sort out.  😥

 

 

 

 

 

 

J
Rank
Userlevel 2

I really hope you get a credit too to sort it out for you.  Either way it’s been handled atrociously.

Good to hear it was sorted @Jon.bushby 

Just FYI the Ofgem backbilling rules and legislation means Energy Suppliers legally can only back bill for a maximum of 12 months.

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/check-energy-back-billing-rules#:~:text=What%20are%20the%20back%2Dbilling,it%20was%20set%20too%20low.

Did OVO make this clear to you recently in the correspondence?

They did say in the email that anything over 12 months would be written off

D

Same thing happened to me I was in Credit by £1300 so I lowered my monthly of £220 to £130 just at Christmas and now I’m in £8300 debt!! How is this even possible !!  Im Now paying £250 a month again and every three months they keep changing my direct debit to £1023 so I get back on track! I was never in debt anyways!!! What the hell!! I’ve had to call them ever time ! Where do they think I live Buckingham palace! 
 

alosni hat h fact that OVO energy ran so much and always say how amazing they are on adverts on the telly and radio!! If they was that good hey wouldn’t be making people go through so much stress every month I’m badly staying afloat as it is! 

Shads_OVO
Rank
Userlevel 4

Hi @DanPry, 

 

I’m sorry to hear this. 

 

It may be worth contacting Support so they can look into this further for you as they may be able to provide a better explanation on what’s going on here. Unfortunately, we don’t have access to your account on the forum so we can only really take a guess at what may be causing this.

 

Do you have smart meters and have you given up to date readings recently?

 

These threads may also be helpful:

 

 

 

 

J
Rank
Userlevel 2

Oh my lord. My account has gone back to £800 in debit. I give up. 
 

I’ve called today and I’ve tried to log a complaint but they’re being really difficult about doing that for me. 
 

I’ve been left with no choice but to write them a written complaint and go through the process before I can contact the ombudsman.

What worries me is what to stop them retrospectively changing the bills again. 

Shads_OVO
Rank
Userlevel 4

Oh my lord. My account has gone back to £800 in debit. I give up. 
 

I’ve called today and I’ve tried to log a complaint but they’re being really difficult about doing that for me. 
 

I’ve been left with no choice but to write them a written complaint and go through the process before I can contact the ombudsman.

What worries me is what to stop them retrospectively changing the bills again. 

 

I’m really sorry for the issues you’ve been experiencing, that’s definitely not the experience we want for our customers.

 

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

 

 

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