How do I get a refund from OVO when my account is in credit?

Hi @Vamatex ,

Please talk to OVO about this: https://ovoenergy.com/help and they can set those up for you. We can’t do it via the Forum (sorry!).

Hey @Vamatex,

I’m sorry to hear this,

Are you able to post a screenshot of what you can see on your ‘meter readings’ page on the online account or app & we can look into this for you.

That’s a ten-year-old SMETS1 meter, but I don’t think that matters in this respect. Even though it sounds stupid, it might get you over the hurdle if you submit a reading anyway. I see exactly the same sort of thing on my app, and clicking the black button takes me to the screen where I can enter a new reading. Click it and see what happens.

Dear Firedog

I submitted a reading yesterday & nothing changed.

Thankyou anyway 

V

Hey @Vamatex,

I wonder if there’s an account specific issue going on here, maybe there’s something preventing an up to date statement from being produced? 

Have you received a recent bill? Was there an actual meter reading on it? If you’re on a fixed rate tariff, you’ll still be required to keep one month's worth of direct debit as credit in your account. If you’re on the Variable tariff you aren’t required to leave any credit on your account, although it is advisable.

Is your smart meter communicating & sending readings? The following topics might be helpful:

If your meter isn’t communicating this topic may help:

I have working smart meters on both accounts. I can see my historic hourly usage for many years upto the previous day. I can only assume that ovo can also see this info especially as they don't want a manual reading  which I sent anyway.

I've now emailed them from my one & only email address but apparently that is now not recognised by them now??

Odd as they send me daily emails regarding upgrades / offers.

Getting  tiresome now

If you’re trying to get in touch with OVO, using Live Chat or Phone is 10x faster than email, which is why we recommend those instead. https://ovoenergy.com/help 

No, my preferred option is email.

Its my choice.

While I do respect that it may be your preference, if you refuse to use other methods and your preferred one isn’t working… Then I’m afraid you’ll stalemate yourself. Sometimes, you just have to use what’s available even if it’s not your preferred option.

I strongly recommend you give Live Chat a try anyway on Monday and someone will be able to help with this MUCH faster than via email.

Hi @Vamatex,

I’m sorry to hear this. 

As our forum volunteer Blastoise has mentioned, it may be worth trying to contact the team via webchat or by phone. The team should be able to look into this further for you. I’m afraid we don’t have access to accounts via the forum so we’re unable to do this here.

Please let us know how you get on.

I have now received my refund. Thank you all for the advice.

Hi @Millie,

Glad to hear you’ve managed to get that sorted!

How to get a credit refund 

Hi ​@tonyx1302 ,

The fastest way is via MyOVO at https://my.ovoenergy.com or via the OVO Energy app.

Alternatively, you can contact Support via https://ovoenergy.com/help 

Sorted! Many thanks.

I have sent meter readings this evening and my account says I am over £4,000 in credit. I have followed all the steps to request a refund online and have found they will only refund £1,000.        Digging around on this forum and in FAQs, I have seen that even if I phone tomorrow, the agent on the phone can only refund £2,000. I would want double that. I would appreciate any advice for what to do in advance of making a call tomorrow. Could I just request  refund for £1,000 4 times? Many thanks.

Hi ​@KEY55 ,

Are you ABSOLUTELY SURE you really want to do that? I’m just curious, but what is the reason for wanting a refund? That’s a huge refund and I want to make sure you know what could happen if you took it.

If you’re absolutely certain this is what you want and you understand the potential impact on your account, there are ways to do this. You’ll have to basically request it over the phone and go through a verification process. OVO can do giant refunds, but they have to do a bunch of checks to make sure it won’t hurt you in the long run.

You should be able to take £2000 with a phone call tomorrow. You’ll then have to wait until after the weekend to take the rest, also by phone. If you’re on a fixed-rate plan, you’ll have to leave one month’s DD amount in the account after the refunds are paid out.

Please come back and let us know how you got on.

Why not? It is their money. I’m curious what consequences are you talking about?

We’ve had cases before on the Forum where folks wanted to take out giant refunds. Given the impact it can have on the account, I like to give them a moment to consider whether it’s definitely the right move.

Not trying to stop anyone if that’s truly what they want, but taking a pause to think it through never hurts.

I’m also curious what the impact would actually be. 

Why would an account be in so much credit unless the monthly DD is very high ​@KEY55 ?

If the DD is in a typical range thats an awful lot of credit for OVO to be sitting on, when it could be in your own account earning interest.

​@KEY55 hello and welcome to the OVO Forum.

I don’t want to sound pessimistic here, but I’d really recommend calling in and asking our Support Team to check if the balance of your account is accurate. Of course, we see many people with huge balances due to overpaying / OVO over-estimating. However, sometimes it might be the case that there is some sort of computer issue which has prevented OVO from charging an account correctly. You can find the contact details in the article below - get in touch when you can and please keep us updated of the outcome. If the balance is accurate then we’ll be able to refund you, but will need a photo of the meter.

I have had over £1000 credit on my account for months and Ovo keep finding reasons to not refund it.

They said set up a DD (I was paying monthly by card before). I did this and waited a few weeks. 

Then they said sorry, you need to pay a couple of DDs first before we issue a refunds. I did this and waited a few months.

Then there was an ‘issue’ with the online account so I couldn’t request a refund the normal way.

Then chat support asked for a meter reading before they could issue a refund. I gave this.

Then they said wait 24 hours so the reading will be stored on their system. I waited 48 hours.

Today they told me that they can’t give a refund because their systems are down and they don’t know when they will be fixed. Sorry.

I’ve been trying to get this refund for about three months now, I’m starting to think Ovo basically intend to just steal my money and never refund? What can I do? Do I need to go through my lawyer to get a simple refund?

This is another in a long long line of issues caused by Ovo over the years. I have zero faith in their systems or ability to do anything.

Hi ​@macjonald ,

If you’re struggling… Try https://ovoenergy.com/feedback . DO NOT risk using your lawyer for this.

HOWEVER, that much credit may indicate a billing issue. I’d suggest asking for a review first.