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Can anyone help answer why my bills keep changing and why I have a huge balance adjustment on my account suddenly?

 

I’ve been paying £75 direct debit for my two bed flat but received an email recently telling me it was going up to £452 a month. 

 

Shocked, I logged into my account to find all my bills from February were £300+ even though I could swear it was only recently I was in credit. 

 

I’ve checked back on my emails and as recently as May I was £95.62 in credit. 

 

I logged on to check my bills again today and now they’ve all changed again, dropping to around £150 a month but I’m still in a similar amount of debt because there’s a new Balance Adjustment for £975.58. 

 

There’s no details about what this balance adjustment is or a breakdown at all and no explanation for why all my bills are now different again. 

 

I phoned the support team who said it’s something to do with SSE but they couldn’t give a breakdown either and simply offered to reduce my direct debit by 15% which is still extortionate. 

 

I explained when the property moved to OVO I worked out with the support team then what we owed and already paid it in full. 

 

Just very confused and stresses as there doesn’t seem to be a way to resolve this, can anyone advise?

Make sure you download every bill you can as they mysteriously disappear from their system and altered ones appear with no explanation.

 

Funny you should mention that, as i download every bill and low and behold…. they altered and deleted the original correct bill that correlated with SSE’s last reading.

 

 

 


I’ve looked at the billing history and found the problem - my first Ovo bill (after migration) is not showing.  I’m not filled with confidence as I await a reply to my email.


@andykelp it can be a challenge sometimes figuring out what is going on as ovo don't have version numbers on bills

Vote for this if you haven't already and you think it might be useful.

 


Unfortunately OVO don't include version numbers on bills.

If you think that would be useful, vote for this


… they altered and deleted the original correct bill that correlated with SSE’s last reading.

 

There are two very different readings there for 27 June. Both are labelled You gave, but they can’t both be right. Do you have a record of the reading you actually submitted? I suspect that the higher one should in any case have been rejected as unreasonable, but OVO can’t just say you submitted a reading which you didn’t. 

It’s not clear from your screenshots which is the newer, but the lower one should have resulted in a large credit to your account. Are you sure that the ‘balance adjustment of £1000’ wasn’t in your favour?


I emailed Octopus to see if they would take me on, but sadly I doubt it due to my 2 meter THTC set up.  I honestly can’t cope with OVO any longer.  It’s getting that I am scared to log in to my account due to the alterations they keep making with no explanation.


They did the same to me, and even although I thought I had eventually got it sorted, they have reapplied the negative adjustment again and wiped off more of my credit.

 

Go to the Ombudsman and open a case giving as much details as you can and let them fight it on your behalf.

 

I’ve reopened my Ombudsman case as I’ve had enough of them constantly changing previous bills at random.


Hey @Linzi Cooper,

 

Sorry for the issues you’re having,

 

This may be due to a read dispute, where the opening and closing meter readings were adjusted to be more in line with your usage. A re-bill from your previous supplier may have resulted in an arrears or ‘balance adjustment’ being transferred across.

 

The support team will be able to confirm what’s happened here. 

 

These topics may have some helpful advice:

 

 

 

 

I can’t help feeling this is massively wrong and close to being fraud.  I religiously sent in meter readings to SSE and my direct debit was always set higher than necessary building up a decent credit.  This was also massively wiped out on transfer.  Those of us affected like this don’t seem to get any substantial proof that anything was wrong with SSE and fail to see why we should suddenly get hit with massive debt figures (over £1700 in my case) with no proper explanation.

 

My most recent bill was also changed by Ovo to show a meter reading on my daytime meter of over 46,000 when the faulty meter in question was actually replaced reading 42,304.  It is just one mistake after another.  I’m getting so stressed by it all.


Hey @danshoebridge,

 

I’m so sorry to hear this, and that you haven’t had a response until now on the Forum.

 

Is this sorted now? You can find out more about our complaint procedure on the website. 


Ovo are in meltdown


Ovo are in total meltdown. I got a bill in September for £1444 with random balance adjustments. This has since changed to £1220 to £760 and is currently at £810 along with threatening letters and emails about late payment charges and legal action.

Ovo have admitted all these bills are wrong and I have a complaint running, the ovo contact is very apologetic but still they can't work out the bill. It is simple arithmetic and a lot less than they are pushing for.

It is really difficult to contact ovo with them ignoring the chat and long waiting times on the phones. Astonishing with their massive windfall they can't employ people to give prompt customer service.

 

Anyone getting harassed in this way should cancel their direct debit and ask for a proper bill. It is not up to the customer to sort out disputes with SSE.

 

I also suggest contacting your MP


@ianstewart1309 if you’re going to make claims like that, it’s crucial you back it up with evidence.

Otherwise, one of the Forum Volunteers here - or someone else for that matter - may challenge you. No evidence to back up your claims means that unfortunately, they haven’t really got much meaning.


Ovo are free to look at the emails and bills they have sent me and all correspondence. They have my email address it is the same for this forum and for my account.


No-one here can access your account. This forum runs independently from everything else.

Additionally, you won’t get a response from OVO today anyway. Christmas Eve really is the worst possible time to be bringing this stuff up - 98% of the world is shut down for most of this week.

You’ll have to wait until mid-January I’m afraid.

If it’s urgent, try https://ovoenergy.com/feedback .


 


The interim solution is simple. Just call 0800 069 9831 and explain the situation, then ask for a collections hold.


 


Hey blastoise. I have no need to contact ovo right now. Contacting them is a ridiculous process as everyone on here knows


There will be no collection. I am refusing to pay the bill until it is correct. It has changed several times anyway.


Ovo are in total meltdown. I got a bill in September for £1444 with random balance adjustments. This has since changed to £1220 to £760 and is currently at £810 along with threatening letters and emails about late payment charges and legal action.

Ovo have admitted all these bills are wrong and I have a complaint running, the ovo contact is very apologetic but still they can't work out the bill. It is simple arithmetic and a lot less than they are pushing for.

It is really difficult to contact ovo with them ignoring the chat and long waiting times on the phones. Astonishing with their massive windfall they can't employ people to give prompt customer service.

 

Anyone getting harassed in this way should cancel their direct debit and ask for a proper bill. It is not up to the customer to sort out disputes with SSE.

 

I also suggest contacting your MP

 

 

 

Totally agree.  I was only fully migrated on 14th August and it has been an absolute shambles, and that’s being polite!

 

Improperly explained debit balance adjustment followed by numerous incorrect bills and constantly going back into previous bills and adjusting them with no explanation.

 

I migrated with over £1,900 in credit and my balance has also been all over the place since.  Down to £800 credit, back up to £1200 then reduced again to £800, and the final catastrophic bill has me at nearly £6,000 in debit, supposedly as a temporary measure until the latest mistake is corrected.

 

I have never been so frustrated and stressed dealing with any utility company in all my days.

 

 


Maureen, do not pay any bill. The threatening tactics should be ignored. They would be laughed out of court.


As we’ve said MANY times before here, there are only three primary reasons that 99% of folks post here:

  1. To have a rant/complain about something
  2. To ask a question about something - even if it’s not OVO related
  3. To raise an idea or suggestion they want OVO to consider

Those who are happy with the service rarely post here - and that’s true of pretty much all forums of this type. One cannot gauge the true picture of whether everyone is happy or not just by looking here. You must step back and view the wider picture as a whole.


As we’ve said MANY times before here, there are only three primary reasons that 99% of folks post here:

  1. To have a rant/complain about something
  2. To ask a question about something - even if it’s not OVO related
  3. To raise an idea or suggestion they want OVO to consider

Those who are happy with the service rarely post here - and that’s true of pretty much all forums of this type. One cannot gauge the true picture of whether everyone is happy or not just by looking here. You must step back and view the wider picture as a whole.



 

It’s almost laughable the way you keep defending them.  Even some of the other senior members agree that the constant altering of historic bills needs looking in to.

 

The simplest of tasks seems to be beyond Ovo’s billing system.  They made a total hash of dealing with my faulty meter being replaced.  It’s now approaching 2 months since that was done hence the latest bizarre bills showing me as nearly £6,000 in debt until it’s corrected.  Sadly, I have little faith that it will be done properly.


My primary reason for posting is to let people know they are not alone and that ovos tactics are wrong. 

I suggest that ovo work out the bills from meter readings rather than random adjustments. If their is a dispute with SSE then ovo should sort that out instead of overcharging customers 


That’ll be because I believe in accidental mistake before conspiracy - everything can be explained and fixed. Speculation rarely fixes anything.


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