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Is the OVO website really going to be down for the rest of 2023?


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I am shocked, surely this cannot be correct?  I understand websites being down for sometimes a few weeks for updates, but when I tried to log into the OVO Energy website today only to see the message “We're in the process of migrating groups of customers to our new website so access to your online account won't be available until the end of 2023” I was quite frankly flabbergasted.  And with absolutely zero warning that this was pending.

So is that right, will there be no website for up to 9 months???

How will I monitor my usage in these trying financial times?  How will I be able to check when my peak charge times are?  How will I be able to check whether my direct debit is adequate to cover my monthly costs, and how will I be able to change it? How will I be able to view and compare historical bill values?  And how will I be able to view and compare any new fixed rate deals that might become available.

Seriously, this kind of potential duration of outage of online services would be scandalous in good times, but to callously and without prior warning remove access to the website at a time when the budgeting and planning capabilities the previous website offered are essential in the middle of a cost of living crisis I find to be utterly unconscionable.

Suffice it to say that if the ability to view, monitor and control my monthly electricity bills online will indeed be removed for the better part of a calendar year, I will be moving my account to a different provider.  I need that control and visibility now more than ever.  Shame on you OVO.

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Best answer by Emmanuelle_OVO 2 May 2023, 10:37

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Userlevel 7
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Please bear with me. I’ve requested information from forum moderators

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That’s interesting that there’s a couple of reports of this. I went directly to https://www.ovoenergy.com/ and had no such message or info. I’m wondered if this is anything to do with the legacy billing system (Apollo I believe it is called)?

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The worrying message can be seen on https://paym.ovoenergy.com

Userlevel 7
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Yup, that’ll be Apollo. Officially it’s the Legacy Billing System, but internally it’s called Apollo and tbh us forum volunteers use that name way too often! :)

Many members have already migrated to the new system, those that are left are just a minority. Your access might be restored sooner than you think but it depends on what needs doing.

I’ll post more here when I know more.

Userlevel 1

That makes more sense now.

https://paym.ovoenergy.com was the link I had saved as the bookmark for the OVO website, and that is what gives me the awful “Website down for the rest of 2023” message

When I use https://www.ovoenergy.com/ it gives me access to the website as normal.

I would strongly suggest that someone at OVO needs to update the message at the former website to avoid sending anyone else into the same blind panic as it did for me! 😮

Thanks to all three responders in helping get this one sorted.

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No worries. In future you’ll want https://my.ovoenergy.com to access your account :)

Userlevel 7

Hey @PeteyW,

 

Thank you for flagging this! I’ve raised this internally and will update this thread if or when I get an update. 🙂

I have checked this but when I go to the website to log in, I still go back to the unbelievably bad message about waiting until the end of the year to access my accounts. Maybe its because I’m a loyal old customer using this Apollo billing system! 

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Your account should be moved to the new platform by the end of the year, but it might end up being faster than that. We’re waiting for updates from OVO and they’ll be posted to the forum if we hear anything.

The new billing platform (codenamed Orion) is massively superior to Apollo so it’s worth the wait.

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This is absurd

I have had an email telling me my bill is available and giving me a link to it that does not work!

So I have no idea what I owe

It is not just absurd it is not acceptable

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@p47rick have you tried to see if you can log in via this page?

https://www.ovoenergy.com/

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All the above suggested links still result in the message that my account is being migrated.

Having had no bill for 9 months, we now TOTALLY blind as to our energy usage.  Hopefully Ovo will implement the resolution as per Ombudsman by the implementation deadline so that I know whether I need to sell a kidney to finance any possible underpayment.

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It was just a thought as a few customers seem to have been able to regain access using these. I have no idea what the process is as I’m just a customer as most people here are. You may want to get some advice from OVO directly 

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OVO’s Support Team will still have account access, they can check the bill for you, send you a copy and help you pay it off a different way.

I agree with PeteyW. To remove the OVO online account from all customers potentially for the next 8 months, especially when people need to keep a close eye on charges is totally unacceptable and a disastrous customer experience! Add to this that OVO continue to advise going online to solve problems and it makes matters worse. Many customers rely on their online account to monitor usage, check their bills and ensure their direct debit and payments are adjusted to cover those bills. By removing this visibility we are all flying blind with no ability to control our usage within budgets. I presume OVO will not charge customers for unintended over usage, late payments, underpayments? I suspect not. I have experience of building and maintaining large global websites, and integrating these with backend ERP systems and have NEVER had to shut down a website longer than an overnight update. If OVO were selling products online, they would be out of business in a matter of hours! This is not good enough OVO

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Actually, over 98% of OVO’s customers are already on the NEW system. If you’re seeing that message when logging in, you’re part of the ~2% that are still on the old one.

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Actually, over 98% of OVO’s customers are already on the NEW system. If you’re seeing that message when logging in, you’re part of the ~2% that are still on the old one.

I was originally on the NEW system but was moved to the OLD system (without being informed) when Ovo had an issue with my billing which I assume was due to us having our gas meter physcially removed last June. It was still on our account when I last had access.

OVO’s Support Team will still have account access, they can check the bill for you, send you a copy and help you pay it off a different way.

 

Whilst I undertstand that the billing will be emailed to us, as we haven’t had any billing for 9 months, viewing our usage online was the only way we could monitor our consumption.  We wouldn’t get any billing by email as they haven’t been able to raise the bills!!  They haven’t been able to give me billing info when I spoke to them numerous times over the last 9 months.

 

It was just a thought as a few customers seem to have been able to regain access using these. I have no idea what the process is as I’m just a customer as most people here are. You may want to get some advice from OVO directly 

 

Also, I have sought advice from Ovo who just say it may not take as long as the end of 2023 but as the advice and info I have been during the last 9 months has been so unhelpful and inaccurate, I’m not that optimistic.

 

It’s all a bit of a shame, really.  We returned to Ovo as we liked their customer service etc. in the past but the way we our case has been handled over this past 9 months has changed my mind. 

 

 

I have had so much problems with Ovo that I regularly keep an eye on my account and now not able to and the link suggested doesn’t work for me either. Really think this is totally unacceptable. No email from them to let us know and not hopeful that this will be resolved soon. Even if it is only 2% affected this needs to be resolved for everyone soon. 

I’ve just returned to OVO, having finally given up on British Gas, whose online account pages didn’t provide the information it claimed would be available - but at least there is a sort of working website!

I’ve just received a letter from OVO dated 19 April 2023 asking for meter readings  at changeover, to be submitted online. The letter reads “Go to your account (my.ovoenergy.com/login) to send it now” but the page then displayed simply advises that a new website is under construction, and that it will be available by the end of 2023!  Clearly the left and right hands don’t belong to the same body.

I’m tempted to write the detailed readings on the back of the letter and return it by post, with a suitably polite message about getting one’s act together.

Unless anyone here can suggest a better solution?

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Try this link

https://www.ovoenergy.com/

And click on the login button 

 

Thanks, that's very helpful - I’ve now submitted the opening readings. But begs the question as to why did the link provided in the letter sent to me not work? And is the website really being rebuilt over the next seven months, or not?

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Thanks, that's very helpful - I’ve now submitted the opening readings. But begs the question as to why did the link provided in the letter sent to me not work? And is the website really being rebuilt over the next seven months, or not?

There is an ongoing migration of some older existing customers from an old IT system to a new one. I suspect the link on the letter isn't correct.

I am sure one of the ovo moderators on the forum will pick this up on Monday and feedback. 

Whats most dispappointing is there was no warning of this. No email to say it was happening or was going to happen. 

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Whats most dispappointing is there was no warning of this. No email to say it was happening or was going to happen. 

I think that is a very good point. 

The communication could have been a lot better. It is very telling that even the. Ovo moderators on the forum had to check what was going on. 

Userlevel 1

I was told that I would continue to be sent my bills - and a few days later I had an email with my bill.  Unfortunately the bill was accessed via a link in the email - and guess what - I ended up back in the “no website untl Christmas” page.

 

There is no way that I am phoning them and hanging on for ages.

But my current monthly payment is well below my current bills and I have been making top up payments each month. Tis is done via the website - so I won’t be able to top up until Christmas!

 

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