I’m deaf but don’t use sign language OVO not responding to my emails what else can I do? My bills are astronomical and risin by hundreds every month

That sounds like a bit of an exaggeration, but we’ve seen some pretty strange things with big bills recently. When you say ‘bills’, are you referring to:

• the statement you get each month by email?
• the balance shown on your account online?
• the amount you’re paying by Direct Debit each month?

If you give a few details of the situation, we may be able to make some helpful suggestions. In the meantime, you could try contacting Support via their chat option. Email is sadly not to be relied on.

Your disability may render you eligible to be on the Priority Services Register, which may make things a bit easier for you, e.g. when you contact Support.

I regularly check my OVO app to see the balance. Up until about 2 weeks or so ago I was in credit by about £400. I checked yesterday and it’s over £900 in debit. I’m looking through my historical bills and they’ve been modified to show my account in debit when I know for a fact my account was in credit. Changing my historical bills is just plain naughty. I’ve just opened a complaint but I wondered if anyone else has been having this problem?

We’ve heard of similar cases. If you go back through your bills to find the first that was changed, you’ll probably be able to find out why - check the meter readings it was based on and compare with the ones it’s based on today. It’s likely that there was an estimate that has been revised.

If one bill changes, all the subsequent ones will change as well because the opening balance will be different. You should be able to download bills as they are today from the website: there’s a link at the foot of each listing on that page.

If you disagree with the adjustment (and who wouldn’t?), contact Support.

Hi thank you for replying

sadly its not an exaggeration.  First let me say I am writing on behalf of my sister in law who is deaf/blind and learning disabledshe is a registered Priority Customer. And so am I as I  am  profoundly deaf.
She lives alone in a 1-bedroom flat

This is a bill she pays in full online monthly 

.Sep/Oct 23 was £163 this was after the bill ‘migrated’?

now Mar/Apr 24 is £993 ….  
 

I tried the chat it was just giving me a list of questions then a yes/no response and I wasnt getting anywhere.  I tried text relay and I was on hold so long the relay operator hung up on me! I have sent an email to the “hello” address but I see you are saying it’s not very reliable so I’m losing hope here…. Meantime…. she insists we pay her bills

When you use Live Chat, just say the keyword “Agent” without the quotes to bypass the bot.

One of the problems with email is that there is in most cases an email address associated with the account, which you can see on the account holders Profile page. Only email from this address is likely to be dealt with, and if the sender is also on the Priority Services Register, it should be dealt with a bit more quickly. Does this help at all?

This issue raised here is one of the very reasons I have not signed up for Direct Debit payments. This is supposed to be averaged across the year. However you hear stories of people being charged large amounts and building up large credits too.

I continue to pay pay mine promptly on demand each month. This amount varies and means I’m about to benefit from lower bills over the summer as electricity usage is less. However, as we all know OVO Energy will not introduce variable Direct Debit payments such as used by mobile phone operators, local councils and many other companies and organisations. Perhaps there is a reason why?

Thank you I will definitely try the ‘agent’ 

Hey @MayF 

I’m glad our community have stepped in already and offered email as an option for you.

It does sound like the bill has been a ‘catch up’ bill and covers more than just the next billing period, it’s likely it covers time previous to the billing period, but the Support Team will be able to access and clarify what’s happened.

While I can’t be 100% sure on the reasoning behind the increase in bill without access to the account, but I’ve linked below to a couple of topics related to back billing and historic billing that may be of use if the new bill is for a longer period than the typical billing period:

Keep us updated with how you get on.

Thank you. Well the ‘agent’ did work and quite quickly 10 minutes unfortunately I made the mistake of telling him I was typing on behalf 

I was typing on behalf of someone and he pretty much shut me down and suggested the email. As they needed “proof of identity” Now I am assuming this will mean send a copy of a power of attorney to the email address! 
and as said before the email address doesn’t seem to be very reliable . Looking at other convos here… she was migrated to OVO back in Sept 2023 but there was no mention of any catch up .and looking now ata bill of almost £1000 is just overwhelming Why not just tell her how much is owed so she can get back to realistic monthly payments as before and which she will gladly pay!  I have sent another much more detailed and forceful email to the hello address but I’m not expecting a reply. It’s a little bit of comfort seeing that there are others going through similar things

Hi @Jon.bushby,

One of our volunteers @Firedog has given the best advice for this. As we don’t have visibility to accounts through the Forum your best source for answers is speaking with our Support team. They’ll check the account for you and provide and explanation and if required raise a case with our billing team if there’s any discrepancies. 

Let us know how you get on with resolving this. 

Hi @MayF 

If you do need to submit a Power of Attorney document, you will need to submit this via email at hello@ovoenergy.com or by post using our Bristol address:

OVO, 1 Rivergate Temple Quay Bristol, BS1 6ED

I’ve linked below to a helpful topic on submitting Power of Attorney documents:

The following topic may also be if use to you:

you all for the replies Situation at present.  The “hello” email responded to me, however I missed it.  I saw it when I checked my mails today. It was sent 5 days ago and was requesting a photo of the meters. Today was a second email saying there had been an error in the billing and my account was now £410 in credit ! ….. this is apparently without seeing photo of meters

The 2 emails were sent by 2 different people The request for photo from an *advisor* and the account information came from a *billing agent*

Nice that account is in credit but feels like it should be a lot more 

Have you sent the photos through of the meters now @MayF? 

You could try  contacting Support via their chat option to check they’ve been received and can be added to the billing case. 

Yes I sent that yesterday. I will wait to see if I get a reply today. If not the. I will try the chat option.

Thank you

Hello.

please can someone help? I have recently switched from OVO to another provider and have been paying for estimated bills (I have no meter, since the landlord is reluctant to install one). My final bill came overestimated although I have paid all the bills for the months I spent with OVO. My question is: why did OVO re-estimated my bills that were already estimated? How could they determine if there has been increase in my usage if I did not provide meter readings! This does not make sense! Am I required by law to pay for re-estimated bills? OVO changed all the past bills and increased the usage, but I still have copies of the bills I paid for.
 

thanks in advance. 

I'm sorry, but what you are telling us does not really make sense.

Of course you have a meter installed - there cannot legally be a supply without one.

From what you say then your problem is with your landlord, if you are  responsible for paying the bills then you need access to the meter(s).
Just what is it that you are renting? A house, a flat, a room?

Without meter readings then any billing can only ever be estimated.

I'd also be interested to learn how you have managed to switch supplier without providing any ‘Final’ meter readings?
The old supplier needs them as the ending point to correctly calculate what you owe them for what they have supplied to you, the new supplier needs them as the starting point to calculate how much you will need to pay them for what they supply to you in future.

So you must have given both old and new suppliers some kind of 'final readings' - Just what did you give them?
Have you perhaps just given them both your own guesses rather than actual readings?
If so then they can only take your word that what you have given them are actual readings.

In the end though if you are responsible for paying the bills then you need to talk to your landlord and get access to the meter(s) so that you can give the supply companies correct, actual, meter readings.

Hi @Rosy_lili,

It seems some good advice has already been given by one of our forum volunteers. 

What closing read did you provide before switching? This read would also be your opening reading with your new supplier. It sounds like if you did provide a closing reading then it may not have been in line with the previous estimated readings, which would have caused your bills to be recalculated.

As we don’t have access to your account here we can only really guess. It may be worth contacting the Support team about this so they can look into it further for you. If you’re able to get an up to date meter reading, your final bill could be amended so you’re charged based on your actual usage. Without an up to date meter reading, you’d be charged based on the estimated reading on your final bill as we have no way of knowing your exact usage without it.

This thread may also be helpful: 

This link may also be helpful: 

https://www.ovoenergy.com/help/article/switching-when-renting-or-in-debt 

OK I posted on here in December regarding ridiculous bills. I made an official  complaint. Someone got on the case worked it out and I got a correct bill for £145 and they gave me a discount of £50 as a good will gesture for all their mistakes and harrassment

... now OVO have gone into another meltdown. They have changed the bill from December by adding yet another ridiculous balance adjustment, supercharged the bill yet again after going through all the trouble of fixing it months ago. I made a complaint on 13/05/24 which is supposed to receive a reply within 2 days...Still no reply.

Here we go again.

Hi @ianstewart1309,

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.

Just got a call saying I owe OVO 3k since they migrated from SSE....in July last year.

Spoke to OVO October last year and said I'm clear of any debts this is because I had being paying off via my meter any SSE debts every month for many years.

However I have now had this bill for 3000 backdated apparently from years back SSE. It is clearly a mistake. 1 bedroom flat that would amount to 6 years of electricity lol

Hi @Scoobydomk,

I’m sorry to hear this.

Does your bill show what your meter reading was when you migrated from SSE? Was it an estimated reading?

It may be worth contacted the Support Team who would be able to look into this further for you. Unfortunately, we don’t have access to your accounts via the Forum.

No. I had being paying it for many years. Every time I had electricity they're taken loads of every Monday daily. The meter would come down loads.

Hi @Scoobydomk,

I’m afraid we don’t have access to your account via the Forum so we could only really guess what has caused this rebill. Please contact the Support team who should be able to help further with this. 

Please keep us updated on how it goes.