Phone line for vulnerable customers

  • 3 May 2023
  • 4 replies
  • 106 views
Jeffus
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Whatever comes out of this consultation may help in the future

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/may/03/uk-energy-suppliers-to-set-up-dedicated-phone-lines-for-vulnerable-households

Perhaps OVO could implement some of the ideas voluntarily early. Perhaps a dedicated 24x7 emergency number for vulnerable customers on the Priority Service Register.

The consultation isn't up on the Ofgem site yet last time i looked this morning.

What specific improvements would others like to see in terms of OVO Customer Service?

4 replies

Emmanuelle_OVO
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Hey @Jeffus,

 

Sorry this post was missed! How interesting, this is such a great idea. 

 

If I hear any updates on this internally I'll let you know.

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.
Jeffus
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Hey @Jeffus,

 

Sorry this post was missed! How interesting, this is such a great idea. 

 

If I hear any updates on this internally I'll let you know.

Here is the consultation @Emmanuelle_OVO

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/consultation-framework-consumer-standards-and-policy-options-address-priority-customer-service-issues

The public can respond to the consultation so be good to encourage posters on the forum to respond. Open till end May

Be nice to see the final OVO response posted here as well. 

juliamc
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We did write about the possibility of having a dedicated phone line eg for priority service registered customers but it was suggested that everyone would end up phoning it once word got out.

Jeffus
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We did write about the possibility of having a dedicated phone line eg for priority service registered customers but it was suggested that everyone would end up phoning it once word got out.

It would need designing carefully, i haven't read the consultation yet. 

Unfortunately OVO are currently rated poorly for Customer Service by Ofgem rated 3, the second worst rating. I personally would say that is what we are seeing on the forum sometimes. 

1 No Material Weaknesses: The supplier’s processes, governance and policies seem up to standard, and their data indicates they are generally achieving good consumer outcomes. 

2 Minor Weaknesses: Some of the supplier’s policies, processes or training could have been more comprehensive, but we did not find evidence of any significant concern. 

3 Moderate Weaknesses: The supplier did not have some of the policies or processes in place that we would expect, or the training and guidance available to their staff was not at the level we considered necessary. We may also have found some poor performance data. 

4 Severe Weaknesses: We either found that a significant proportion of the supplier’s processes and policies were missing or inadequate, or their data indicated that they are not achieving good consumer outcomes. 

Ofgem also list OVO in their current compliance work on the following which is probably not surprising given some of the customers that come to the forum. 

1. Customers in payment difficultly

2. Direct debits

Certainly lots of opportunities to improve things going forward. 

 

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