“Refunds should be returned by suppliers in a timely fashion. Customers can always request their balance back at any time…” hmm interesting. Unless they’ve switched suppliers when the credit stays locked into the OVO account until the wheels of commerce grind round and they eventually close the account.

Perhaps OVO think it’s not worth the effort to respond to every fanciful claim made in a news article, especially in papers like the Daily Mail. No one is ‘forced’ to leave more than enough to cover the remainder of the billing period’s usage. The journalist appears not even to have looked at the website the questioner referred to.

Nor the Forum clearly. We’ve said it a bazillion times - there’s ways to drop the balance down to one-month left, just not via Self-Service. And even down to zero if you’re on SVT. Sloppy journalism… Again...

I haven’t read that article so not able to comment directly on it. However I have just switched away from OVO just using the default process online, ie not making any special request to have my balance reduced. 
Step 1.  I lowered my dd to the lowest recommended online, from £260 to £190 per month.

Step 2. I switched away with effect from 8th June, leaving 3x £190 on the account.

Step 3. 18th June OVO took a dd of £190 Balance in account now over £700. Refunds not available as account locked - waiting for it to be closed.

Also worth noting… Suppliers have to keep your credit balance if you’re on PAYG, unless you want to be cut-off constantly for running out. That credit balance is the only way that PAYG supplies can be paid for, so draining it to zero means the service will stop.

Up to 6 weeks for a final bill, then up to 10  working days for a refund under ofgem rules. So 8 weeks isn't unusual.

That DD payment after you switched doesn't feel great. I think i would ask my bank to reverse it under the DD guarantee, although perhaps not worth the risk of further issues . Perhaps if the DD date wasn't so close to the switch date it would not have happened. But 10 days feels like it should  have been OK. 

One point of the article is that Ovo are not making a full refund easy.

I have tried contacting customer services to seek a greater refund but gave up when waiting for over 15 minutes.

I used the online facility which, by retaining 3 months of direct debits by value, appears to breach the Ofgem regulations.

I will be solving the problem my leaving Ovo in due course and fully respect the time taken to close an account and refund balances as part of that process.

And if anyone wonders why I am lingering and not leaving immediately, I am waiting to complete one years analysis of my electricity usage after having a solar and battery system installed mid August last year. Once I have a better handle on my lower annual electricity consumption I can at least join the new supplier with a realistic annual target use.

You seem to have an axe to grind.

Perhaps it’s worth mentioning that the Ofgem rules don’t specify how a supplier must let a customer drain almost the entire credit balance, only that there needs to be “some kind” of way to do so. I get the feeling that the “some kind” is left up to suppliers to decide how they want to do it.

Sorry, in your world if someone choose to highlight poor performance of Ovo it is because of an axe to grind?

Well there are the regular reissuing of bills despite taking daily smart meter readings. Oh and the time taken to realise they were reading my smart meter for nearly two months but were still asking for me to read the meter each week.

Then there is the lost then found then late Smart Export Guarantee application.

This is offset by the very nice people you speak to in customer service (when you can get through) who, when they cannot help, told me about their dated IT. This was when I asked why I had been put on a higher tariff having cancelled my Direct Debit when I had not.

The subsequent complaint was promptly dealt with, but no explanation as to why my tariff was changed and then another bill was reissued.

I have a jaded view of Ovo because of the lived experience, rather than viewing them as you appear to through rose tinted specs.

Finally, I have an EV and on the forums I frequent Ovo are also poorly rated for the machiavellian EV tariff which appears to be aimed at forcing owners to buy into Ovo’s technical solution. Your recent intervention regarding Myenegi Zappi chargers was not appreciated on that forum.

@Jeffus I will try to reverse that dd from 18th June then, not that I know how to!!!

@Electric_Twit I wonder if it might work, when you’re ready to switch, to cancel the dd so your account will default to pay on demand (at a higher rate). Then claim back all your balance, then switch. Don’t quote me !!

Info here in case you want to try it. 

https://www.directdebit.co.uk/direct-debit-explained/how-to-claim/#:~:text=Simply%20contact%20your%20bank%20or,the%20organisation%20asks%20you%20to.

Sounds reasonable. That is how it must basically work with pay on bill now for those who switch 

As long as you can claim all the balance online, thus avoiding a phone or chat contact.

I wonder what the refund function does when you are on Pay on bill, as there is no DD then. 

It does nothing, but at the same time that credit would drain when a bill comes anyway, which may automatically clear a few bills without you lifting a finger.

So if you wanted it back before switching you have to make contact with customer support ?? I don’t think that’s acceptable if you have 3 months worth which you’d like back ! Especially if it’s going to take 6 weeks plus 10 days before they repay it.

Actually, it’s best to leave it there if you’re switching away - that credit helps pay the final bill automatically which you’d still owe anyway. You get the rest back automatically after that.

Frankly all I wanted to do was get over £600 of credit back and maintain an appropriate Direct Debit, but I object to the fact that I must phone customer services to do so, only because I really think waiting for over 15 minutes for an answer is unreasonable.

Why does the online credit recovery tool state they will retain 3 months of Direct Debits?

When you move to Ovo all they insist upon is one month up front, so 3 months smacks of profiteering, in my humble opinion.

When I move I allow for due process on any surplus and await the final account. I just wish I could reduce the size of the surplus (over£300) in the meantime!

Well I realise that suits OVO, but as we have discussed, the amount there would cover far more than one month’s bill. Also the six weeks plus 10 days wait is a bit much. 

Well this isn’t as simple as I’d hoped…! Now I’m in laborious ‘chat’ communication with the bank ‍♀️ 

It looks likely that waiting for the dd to be returned by the bank will be no quicker than waiting for OVO to do it. Thank goodness I’m not destitute. Of course Octopus have taken their dd too now, so even though the switch itself was fairly quick (a few days) the money side of it is going to take weeks. 

I wouldn’t mind but the amounts were talking about are not insignificant.

I agree that is a lot of money tied up that won't be needed to pay the final bill for someone on a smart meter

A recent Ofgem consultation looked at leveling the unit rate and standing charges across all payment types.

Currently there is temporary leveling across DD and pre payment meters. 

Be interesting to see what happens following the consultation. 

I do not know what you mean by that. This (i.e. the OVO Forum) is the only Energy/EV related forum that I post on under this username. Likewise, if you’re talking about the MSE Forum, I don’t post there, nor have an account at all (it’s too confusing and tbh, dolor and other Forumites over there already have the energy section covered without needing my help). I do post on another forum with another username, however I disclosed that privately to the moderators of both the OVO Forum and the other one and they all approved me doing so and understood the reasons for it.

If I ever step down from such a forum, all of my known usernames would be blocked from re-use by anyone else to prevent impersonation.

If anyone else is claiming to be me (as in Blastoise186, blastoise186 or any variant of them) on ANY Energy related forum that is NOT the OVO Forum, it’s not me and it’s likely they are an imposter. The moderators of the forums that I do use know me well and would be able to verify whether an account that claims to be me really is me or not. I don’t publicly reveal the mechanisms that I use for that, but they work.

I will make it clear that I do not tolerate impersonation or defamation, and will take steps to protect my reputation if needed. If anyone is impersonating me, then I’d strongly recommend that they cease doing so immediately.

As the saying goes, “Don’t get your knickers in a twist”!

You did not post to the Myenergi Forum but your Ovo Forum post as copied to that Forum.

Myenergi are apparently wondering why there charge point cannot be included in the Ovo EV charging scheme and you weighed in with this little gem:

Your answer spread some confusion as your status within Ovo was not understood, I put them right on your role (or lack of it) as a “community contributor” or whatever you prefer to be known as.

So no one is impersonating you, one of you is enough!

I hope this puts you mind at rest.

I see. And that’s why it’s actually better to link back to the original post, rather than copy/pasting over if you’re going between forums. Doing that means it’s much easier to check this stuff over and verify what status someone has which avoids confusion (it also doesn’t break copyright either).

As a gesture of goodwill, I will authorise that content to remain up in this case and grant my consent for what has been posted there to be hosted on the myenergi forum to remain up without needing a full credit. In future, please ensure that correct credit is given, ideally by linking back to the original content.