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Just been moved from Fixed to Simpler Variable under Energy Price Guarantee scheme. OVO have charged £60 Exit Fees?

  • 3 October 2022
  • 12 replies
  • 291 views
J
Rank

I’ve just been moved from a higher Fixed rate to a lower Standard Variable rate under the Gov’s EPG scheme. However when I checked my latest payments OVO have charged me two £30 Exit Fees. I got in contact with the Help Centre online and they replied that ‘this is an error we are aware of, all we need to do is raise a case to billing, as you account is under account management 27’.  I’m still waiting on billing to contact me.

I’ve put this on the Forum in case others are affected. Check your latest payment carefully!

 

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Best answer by Emmanuelle_OVO 3 October 2022, 16:15

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12 replies

Blastoise186
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Userlevel 7
Badge +1

Hi @jamesbob75 ,

Just so you know, I’m a forum volunteer.

As I understand things, you will be refunded. You won’t be contacted by the billing team but your account management squad (which is a new service by the way!) will be keeping an eye on things for you and if it doesn’t get resolved as requested, they’ll give the billing team a nudge.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
J
Rank

Thanks for the quick response and clarification. I expect it’ll get sorted in due course.

Blastoise186
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Userlevel 7
Badge +1

It should be. While you’re here, let me explain how the new account management works. I’ve had it for nearly two years as I was one of the first members to be picked for the trial. Trust me, it’s WAY better than what you normally get!

Rather than you getting through to basically anyone, your account is now managed by a dedicated squad made up of around 10-20 agents and whenever you get in touch, you’ll almost always speak to your assigned squad, which also helps massively improve queue times among other things because you get placed in the queue to speak to that squad which you only share with other members assigned to the same squad, rather than a giant queue with absolutely everyone else trying to get in touch. They’ll get to know you and personalise the service you get over time, along with doing things like keeping track of your active cases and following up on your behalf.

They’re also pro-active, so if they spot an issue with your account, they’ll attempt to get it resolved without you having to do anything and in some cases, you might not even notice.

There’s more to come as well, but I’ll let you discover it over time. :)

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
J
Rank

Thanks again. I’ll look forward to the new improved management of my account 🙂.

P
Rank

Mine too! I was just coming here to post the same thing. Do I have to contact them to raise the issue or do you think I'll be automatically refunded? 

Blastoise186
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Userlevel 7
Badge +1

You should be automatically refunded, but feel free to let OVO know anyway if you wish.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
Emmanuelle_OVO
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Userlevel 6

Updated on 21/11/2022 by Emmanuelle_OVO: 

 

The current Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) will stay in place, at £2500 (for a typical household) until 31 March 2023.

 

How this affects your OVO plan depends on the prices you were paying before October 1st. You should’ve had an email or letter to outline what’s happening.

 

If your fixed plan prices were higher than our variable plan, Simpler, even with the EPG in place, we will change you to the cheaper Simpler plan and backdate this from October 1st. Whatever is the cheapest option for you, that’s what we went for. The email/ letter will have outlined this in detail. 

 

If you never got an email or letter about this, please check your email provider’s junk/spam folder. There will be notes on your account about the changes made, so our Support team can update you if you’re not sure what’s happened. 

 

Latest guidance on the EPG 

 

After the 31st March, the discount provided by the Energy Price Guarantee will decrease, bringing the average household bill to £3000, (depending on household usage) until 31st March 2024. 

 

This means that the average customer's overall bill cost will increase by around £500 per year, from April. The Energy Bill Support Scheme (the £400 split over 6 months) will also end in April, so customers will see a rise in their bills as a result.

 

We’re also expecting Ofgem to announce an increase to the Price Cap at the end of November. Due to the way in which the Price Cap and the EPG support level is set and applied, this will mean that some households will still see an increase in their prices from 1 January 2023. If you are affected by this change we’ll be in touch to let you know.

 

We understand that this is a difficult time for many of our customers, we’ll ensure that our website is kept up to date with all the latest guidance. 

 

If you’re worried about your bills, we have lots of support available. See here for more information about OVO’s Customer Support Package. 

Hey @jamesbob75 and @PoppysMama,

 

Sorry you’ve been affected by this issue. 

 

Just wanted to re-assure you, this is a known problem and we are getting this rectified.

 

I think due to the sheer volume of contract changes OVO are processing at the moment some customers have slipped through the net and been affected by erroneously applied exit fees. 

 

Your exit fees should be reversed and won’t appear on your next bill.

 

Hope this helps. 

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.
J
Rank

Well done OVO, you have corrected the error and my exit fees have gone, thanks 👍.

V

I've also been charged this (2 X £30) No sign of a refund though :( 

 

Regarding support, I hope the above is correct as I've been waiting nearly 4 years for someone to fix my smart meter (no  replies to emails begging for help or call backs)

Abby_OVO
Rank
Userlevel 2

Hey @vegas22 

 

Sorry to hear you also experienced this issue.

 

I’d recommend contacting the Support Team regarding this as it should have been done automatically before now. We don’t have access to accounts here, so you’ll need to contact them about this to ensure you get the refund.

 

You can also discuss the smart meter with them again. It’s likely they’ll want to run a health check on it so I’ve linked below to the topic pages for both generations of smart meters, take a look and check which yours is, and fill out the details on this form, which will go directly to the team to assess.

 

 

 

Location: Electric Avenue
V

@Abby_OVO thank you for your reply.

Regarding the meter, I've pretty much given in trying now (rang countless times over the years, sent an email literally begging them to help and explaining how it was impacting my life) but I've not had anything back. Was actually going to ring octopus to see if they could help as the last time I rang OVO I left the call completely exhausted with no result (or really any impression the person cared). Total opposite of what they used to be like.

Abby_OVO
Rank
Userlevel 2

Hi @vegas22 

 

I’m really sorry to hear this, it’s not what we want to hear at all.

 

Keep us updated with how you get on with this.

Location: Electric Avenue

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