Renewal time - Why was I only given the option of an eyewatering 2 year fix on my online account?

Hi @Blastoise186 

Thanks for getting back to me.  Automatically rolling over to the standard variable tariff was pretty much what I figured would happen.  But the lack of information and the only visible tariff being a 2 year fix at almost double my current DD or nearly quadruple my recommended DD payment just smacks of a lack of transparency and treating customers fairly. 

Regardless of the market conditions I will need to see the TIL because given Ovo’s high standing charge it may well still be cheaper to move.   But more importantly, I like to think of myself as an informed customer rather than a passive consumer- I make it a point of principle in always knowing what I’m paying and never taking a company’s word without checking against my own personal circumstances.

I’ve been reading back through some of your old forum posts. I don’t think you’ve met me before.

When it comes to transparency, I’d argue that OVO is actually pretty good - and a lot more so than a lot of other suppliers. After all, this forum is public and anything that’s said here can be read by anyone. Anyone can post on here as well and get help too, even if they’re not with OVO. Hardly any suppliers do this - in fact I can only think of two others with a healthy community forum like this one.

You might want to hang around though, as there’s potentially more good things on the way which are definitely worth looking forward to.

Hi @Jess_OVO @Blastoise186 

Im afraid my suspicions appear to have been confirmed.  The Daily Telegraph has today listed Ovo along with BG, EDF and E.on as energy firms who seem to have a policy of either denying standard variable tariffs to new customers or not actively showing them as available but pushing expensive 2 year fixes.

This is in direct contravention to OFGEM regulations.  So unless I do just roll over to a standard variable tariff I think there will be a complaint going in.  
 

Really disappointed in Ovo.  You used to be really good value for money.  Then you became as expensive as the Big 6 as they were.  Now it seems you are just mimicking the worst practices of the original Big 6. 

Ok, I decided to have some fun last night before going to bed, so I’ve also had a quick play with OVO’s Quote & Switch tool just now, using my flat as the “potential customer”. Obviously, attempting to actually generate a quote for my flat would cause the system to pick up on my already active account, but I didn’t need to go that far to get the details I was after.

Attempting to select the option to pay without a Direct Debit currently asks you to call OVO to discuss your options over the phone, per the example below (you don’t need to enter any other details to do this).

If however, you choose the second option, you’ll be redirected to OVO’s sister PAYG brand Boost, as OVO maintains unique brands for each side. I won’t show a screenshot here, but it’s easy to play with and get the same result.

The first option though, goes directly to OVO’s fixed rate deals, which most members will likely be familiar with if they signed up via the Quote & Switch tool. Again, not much need for any screenshots or anything else here. But my point is that OVO does at least provide the option of going down the  Standard Variable Tariff route right from the start, on the very first page if you choose option three. True, it does then prompt you to phone OVO to continue, but the option exists.

Unfortunately, I can’t back this up with historical snapshots from the Internet Archive, because the Wayback Machine struggles to capture anything under switch.ovoenergy.com reliably these days (it can’t handle the way the Q&S tool tries to load in). But if memory serves, OVO has done it this way for over a year now and it’s not because of the recent events in the market.

The only reason Simpler Energy doesn’t show up on the quote results via that route, is because choosing the first option means you’ve already indicated that you’re not looking for a variable rate tariff - otherwise you’d have probably chosen option three and been signposted to the Support Team or gone with option two and been signposted to Boost.

To be fair, it’s also possible that under normal circumstances, a lot of potential members considering OVO’s variable rate deals might not have internet access anyway and as a result would likely call the Support Team to sign up over the phone without even going to the website. I know quite a few people in my local area who fall into that group. It makes sense to allow for that, so as to not lock those people out completely.

Personally, I’d argue this is compliant with the rules, on the basis that you can get a variable rate tariff from OVO via at least one signup channel (and the others give you a heads up about it). It’s just that there’s nothing in the rules (that I could find anyway) which says a supplier must offer an SVT directly via all possible sign-up channels as long as there’s a way to get it via at least one of them.

I think OVO generally prefers to keep things simple by only generally offering a single Standard Variable Tariff (Simpler Energy), a single One-Year Fixed Rate Tariff (Better Energy), a single Two-Year Fixed Rate Tariff (2 Year Fixed Energy), an EV specific tariff (currently OVO Drive/Drive+Anytime) and a loyalty deal (OVO Member Special).

The three year deal is new on me, but it seems to only be in certain cases. Either way, it’s way easier to compare OVO tariffs against each other than it is for most other suppliers. Especially since so many of them have a bazillion tariffs on offer at once!

I think that’s the thread you saw.

Well, as it’s the loyalty offer, usually the OVO Member Special tariff becomes available as one of your renewal options when your contract is up for renewal. It’s not available at all to new members or mid-contract - you have to choose it at renewal if you want it. You will never find it on a comparison site either, as it exists only within MyOVO.

There’s no other special conditions attached to it for the most part. It’s generally said to be very similar to Better Energy, but with a slight discount. Sometimes it’s cheaper, sometimes it’s not. Obviously, you can also choose the regular Better Energy instead as all available options are presented to you at the same time.

I guess it might be temporarily paused right now due to market conditions, but it’ll probably be back in the future.