Feed in Tariff (FIT) or Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) payments - who to contact if I have a query?

Thank you for the reply. It’s depressing that companies now resort to forums that one has to navigate in search of complaint resolution instead of staffing a well resourced complaints department.

I’ve emailed seg@ovoenergy.com twice in the last year to resolve this. Both times have resulted in an irrelevant reply.

Last exchange here:

Hi

I spoke to your customer services (Niall, I think his name was) on 12/9/2023 to query why I hadn't received my last SEG payment.

The payment from you of £29.60 was overdue at that date. This payment was for the export reading of 3807 dated 14/6/2023. I was advised that payment would be processed by 15 September.

This payment has still not appeared in my account. Please advise when you will send this payment.

My opening reading at the start of the SEG contract was 342. My export from start of contract to 14/6/2023 is therefore

3807-342

=3465kWh.

Total payment due at 4p/kWh= £138.60

Your payments to me have been

£57.68 (paid 7/6/2023)

£51.32 (paid 23/11/2022)

= £109

Adding the overdue £29.60 would bring the total paid to £138.60

I appear to have two SEG identities:

SEG ID E001241617

SEG1001481

These seem to be randomly attached to emails from you, so I don't know if they are both in use. Perhaps you could clarify that.

Response here, totally failing to answer my question:

Thank you for contacting the SEG team.

We are currently experiencing an extremely high volume of enquiries and therefore it is taking longer than usual to respond. We really appreciate your continued patience whilst we look into your query.

Due to a higher than expected amount of new applications, emails and switches, it is taking longer than usual to process these. If you have recently applied for SEG payments from us, please ensure you send all of your documents as soon as possible to prevent delays. These documents are:

• Photo ID (photographic, a copy of your passport or driving licence)

• Proof that you own the installation (a copy of the installers paid in full invoice, or a letter from your solicitor confirming ownership of the panels).

• MCS installer certificate or equivalent which is accredited in accordance with EN 45011 or EN ISO/IEC 17065:2012.

• DNO notification (a G83, G59 or G98 provided by your installer)

And if applicable;

• Battery schematics, company authorisation letter, third party photo ID and grant information.

• Proof of address (e.g. utility bill, bank statement or council tax bill dated within the last three months) You don't need this if your home is already supplied by OVO Energy

Once we are in receipt of the above information we will then be able to continue with the application and apply for the export MPAN. It can take around two to three weeks for the DNO to generate this and we will then contact you for your opening reading, which will be used to open your account.

Please note that we experience an increased workload at the end of each quarter as customers send in their SEG reads for payment. At these busy times it can take up to 4 weeks for us to respond. If your query is urgent, you can call our customer care team on 0330 303 5063 between 8am-6pm Monday to Friday.

You might find the answer to your query using our SEG FAQ's page:

https://www.ovoenergy.com/guides/energy-guides/smart-export-guarantee.html

For our application guide, please click here:

https://www.ovoenergy.com/binaries/content/assets/documents/pdfs/help/seg-application-form-and-supporting-documents-guide.pdf

Kind regards,
The SEG Team

I’ve called OVO three times since this exchange, and had a converstion with the chatbot. All to no avail.

Do you honestly think it is worth me trying again? Should I direct my complaint to Zoe or Kirstie *edited by moderator to remove full names* in the hope of an answer? 

Thanks,

John

Thanks for the quick reply, Emmanuelle. I’ve raised a complaint twice so far.

The first one was #2147198 raised on 11/10/2023. This one appears to have been closed without notifying me, and with no satisfactory conclusion on my part.

The second one is #22080051 raised on 28/11/2023. I was promised a reply within two weeks, but heard nothing. I chased this up by phone on 12/12/2023,and managed to speak with Joe in the complaints department. He put me on hold, and then transferred me to the South Africa call centre. There I spoke to Malika who explained how there had been a correction in my account, agreed that I was owed money, and stated that she was unable to authorise any payment to correct the situation.

I have no faith in raising a third complaint, as the OVO complaints department have completely failed me twice.

I will wait until the new year when your office festivities are finished, your staff might be able to focus on   resolving this satisfactorily.

I had a dual fuel account with OVO at my previous address for some 10 years, and thought OVO were a great company.

My current experience is that OVO are probably the worst company I have ever had to deal with. Sadly there appears little appetite amongst those I have interacted with to improve my ‘customer experience’.

Frustrating that you’ve already raised a complaint to no avail. I’ll ask Forum_Support to reach out @JohnMildenhall, please keep an eye on your private messaged. 

No progress whatsoever.

Hey @lionise,

Really sorry to hear of the experience you’ve had,

If you want us to check how our team has handled your complaint, you can ask for an internal review. You can do this at any stage of the process. Even if you’ve agreed to a solution with OVO, you might then decide it wasn’t the right one. Contact customer support and and ask for an internal review.

Our complaints team will do everything they can to resolve your complaint as quickly as possible. However, if it’s taken over 8 weeks, you can speak to the Energy Ombudsman. 

You can find out more about their contact details, as well as our full complaints procedure, on the website here. 

OK A Complaint has been raised Complaint number 21939937 on the 16/11/23  would you like to update BECAUSE l still haven’t had a responce.OVO really is a shambles of a company.

I called again and to my surprise managed to get through to the FiT team!

They told me that they can’t stop payments of deemed FiT exports which I find surprising.

However, they said that they can bring the central register up to date if I send the revised electrical schematic to fits@ovoenergy.com. I explained that I had been sending emails to that address since last October and had never received a response and had last sent them the schematic in December. The FiT team member apologised and promised that emails are now being actioned... 

Still nothing from the FiT team, so raised a complaint a week ago, no response to date.

Just 7 weeks to wait before contacting the ombudsman...

Two weeks after emailing complaints@ovoenergy.com and getting no response other than the automated acknowledgement I took it to the top of OVO and emailed 

Raman-complaints@ovoenergy.com and after nearly two weeks I have received no response whatsoever.

Just over 4 weeks until I can register a dispute with Energy Ombudsman | Ovo Energy

Hey @PeterCamb,

I’m sorry to hear this, 

The quickest way to get your complaint escalated would be to call the support team on 0330 303 5063. The full complaint procedure is detailed on the website. 

Yes, @Emmanuelle_OVO - I’ve done all that. Frustrating waste of time.

Just 4 weeks and one day until I can register a dispute with Energy Ombudsman | Ovo Energy

I’m really sorry to hear that the FiT register hasn’t yet been updated, I hope that when you escalate the complaint to the Ombudsman this is resolved ASAP @PeterCamb.

Hi @jmfenn ,

You can just email the readings to seg@ovoenergy.com or phone 0330 303 5063. If you call, you must do so during office hours as the lines are closed at weekends.