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Why am I still getting charged for gas? - My faulty gas meter was removed!



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Userlevel 7
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Join the club. I'm in exactly the same position and I know there's another person on here suffering the same level of OVO incompetence.

 

My case is currently with the ombudsman because OVO were unable to resolve it. I'm not sure why it's so hard to fix but there you are 🤷

I suggest you raise a complaint via the OVO complaint email - complaints@ovoenergy.com

They won't fix it but you can't go to the ombudsman until you've given OVO 8 weeks to resolve it.

Userlevel 7
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I should add that I'm only paying for the standing charge as OVO have recognised that my gas use is zero. Can you give them a new meter reading - your closing reading? Then keep giving them that reading until the system works out you aren't using any gas.

Hi thanks, I raised the complaint last year as you advised and will raise a case with the ombudsman at the end of January.

my meter reading has been the same since August and submitted online but OVO keep estimating a gas reading and then charging myself for that. The last charge was approximately £191 … 

Thanks for the reply.

 

 

Userlevel 7
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Your account is probably on the old Apollo system (you may know that already) and the customer service team for that is In Sunderland. If you phone and ask specifically for them they should know how to deal with your account. Apologies if you’ve done that already.

Userlevel 7

Hi @MattatWhitstable I’m sorry to hear about this experience. 

 

I want to try and avoid you jumping through any more hoops, waiting in any more call queues and repeating yourself. I’ve asked the Forum_Suport team to send you a private message to take some account details (for security) and they’ll make sure your complaint is worked, resolved or escalated. 

 

Hope this happens quickly,

Tim

Thank you Tim and replied to the private message.

Userlevel 7
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It does seem to be a common problem. Rather than being an isolated issue it seems to be a systematic failure. OVO haven't worked out how to close a customer's gas account when their meter has been removed. As people increasingly move away from gas this will impact more and more people.

 

What would be great is if OVO took responsibility for this failure and fixed their process. Then they need to contact every person on this thread who is reporting the problem and fix their accounts. This contact needs to be from someone in OVO who can actually fix the problem rather than a customer service agent who promises it will be fixed then does nothing (which is what we normally get).

 

Userlevel 3

Hi @M.isterW and now @hillfort (welcome to the club!)

Just to update you, I have now contacted the Ombudsman and am awaiting a response from them. As far as OVO Energy’s complaints department is concerned, I had a phone call two weeks ago from a lady who told me that the national database had now been updated and  it just needed their own billing department to update their records again and all would be sorted. I asked for an idea of timescale and was told the average time was 40+ days. I lost my cool at that point and told her it was unacceptable as I had already waited 4 months, and she swiftly tried to back track and indicated it could happen much sooner. In the last two weeks I have twice watched my gas account disappear from my on line account and then re-appear again within 24 hours, so they don’t seem to have cracked it yet. It’s almost become entertaining watching them trying to defeat their own systems!

Hi @Johnd1949 thanks for the update on here, I have been fighting with ovo for 2 years now regarding my meters, being faulty it took 14 months to get an engineer visit this took three separate days off work as ovo’s system is not linked to the engineers system. found this out when i called to confirm my appointment after missing the second visit.

 

when he did finally come out to swap out the meter he looked at the gas meter outside and said i am not touching that its capped my work sheet says to replace faulty meters, its not faulty its capped. swapped out the electricity meter, and since then my in home display has never worked as it is looking for two meters.

I have phoned ovo to complain but like others have said here they simply ignore the calls / emails. still waiting 2 years later for my automatic compensation payments, and so far it has taken 10 weeks to get my solar panel payments witch is due by the end of this week.

ovo have been on the phone though demanding payment, as I have fallen into debt over the winter, i simply refuse to pay for a lousy service. personally i think two years of standing charges is more than enough to cover the cost of meter removal, energy companies are just taking as all for mugs at the moment.

my direct debit went up to 140 pounds a month in the summer I only burn 60 quid a month thanks to the solar panels, it’s a joke.

Userlevel 7

Hey @hillfort,

 

Really sorry to hear this,

 

Have you now had the meter removed or is it still capped? 

Hi @Emmanuelle_OVO unfortunately this is still installed but capped.

Userlevel 7

Hey @hillfort,

 

Thank you for confirming,

 

You would still be charged standing charge until your meter is removed.

 

Please contact Support and book a meter removal if you no longer wish to have a gas supply. We have a great guide on this topic which will outline the process and costs:

 

 

Hope this helps. 

Userlevel 3

Yes, @hillfort, you can pay them £106 and they will remove the meter, but don’t expect to lose those standing charges any time soon.  OVO Energy haven’t yet worked out how to get their own systems to accept the removal of a gas meter! However you are welcome to join our queue of people waiting. 🤔

Userlevel 7
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We should set up a club @Johnd1949 

Userlevel 7
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Yes, @hillfort, you can pay them £106 and they will remove the meter, but don’t expect to lose those standing charges any time soon.  OVO Energy haven’t yet worked out how to get their own systems to accept the removal of a gas meter! However you are welcome to join our queue of people waiting. 🤔

@Tim_OVO @Emmanuelle_OVO is there really an IT limitation preventing standing charges stopping once a meter is removed?

Or a training issue for some ovo staff? 

Or something else? 

 

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +2

Hi @Emmanuelle_OVO unfortunately this is still installed but capped.

Hi @hillfort , depending on how cheeky you are feeling, you could switch to Octopus, get them to remove the meter for free and then decide whether to switch back to OVO again. This should avoid the back-office issue that OVO appear to be having when meters are removed.

@nealmurphy will be switching my supply to octopus in march as that's when my current seg tariff expires, so can move the gas / electricity at the same time.

@Johnd1949  I have already paid them 12 months of standing charges they should be offering to remove it for free or offering to pay back all of the standing charges they have happily collected, ovo it systems are a joke.

Userlevel 7

Hey @hillfort,

 

I’ll get Forum_Support to reach out to you, please keep an eye on your private messages.

 

Hope this helps. 

Userlevel 3

Well that was fun.

I have  just had another call, from a lady in the complaints department, who was full of the joys of spring because she was pleased to tell me that she had removed my gas account and all was now sorted.

I said, “Oh that is good news, when did this happen? Because when I looked this morning, the gas account was still there.”  She paused, tapped at her screen and said  “I did it on 23rd January.” Then she looked again and said “Oh, just a minute”  I won’t go into all the rest in detail but she put me on hold and consulted with the billing department, who presumably put her right about the system problem and she now tells me that she has involved the Technical team, in whom she appears to have a great deal more faith than I have, but I guess she is young!  So the situation with my fictitious gas account is still unchanged and the standing charges, for not having a gas supply, are still mounting.

I actually ended up feeling sorry for the lady in the complaints department.  She started the call in such high spirits, but she clearly has much to learn about the company she works for.  

Userlevel 7
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Are they just trying to remove the gas part of your account without setting your electricity to single fuel ? 

Userlevel 7
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Are they just trying to remove the gas part of your account without setting your electricity to single fuel ? 

Or set the standing charge to zero for the gas meter?

 

Userlevel 3

@juliamc  Who knows what they are doing but they’ve now done it on at least 5 occasions, that I am aware of, and it has appeared to be sorted, only to revert to the original situation within 24hours.

@Jeffus  That idea occurred to me too, that they could have a “dummy” gas plan with zero standing charge, which would at least remove those charges. The problem is that all their systems that estimate the Direct Debit  charges would still assume that the gas account exists and therefore continue to use last year’s gas usage to set this years assumed usage.

This is why I am currently building up a surplus on my account, in spite of the standing charges for fictitious gas, because my DD is set too high but the system won’t let me reduce it!!!   Although my Electricity Fixed Price contract runs out in April, so the surplus might be worth retaining?

Userlevel 7
Badge +2

@juliamc  Who knows what they are doing but they’ve now done it on at least 5 occasions, that I am aware of, and it has appeared to be sorted, only to revert to the original situation within 24hours.

@Jeffus  That idea occurred to me too, that they could have a “dummy” gas plan with zero standing charge, which would at least remove those charges. The problem is that all their systems that estimate the Direct Debit  charges would still assume that the gas account exists and therefore continue to use last year’s gas usage to set this years assumed usage.

This is why I am currently building up a surplus on my account, in spite of the standing charges for fictitious gas, because my DD is set too high but the system won’t let me reduce it!!!   Although my Electricity Fixed Price contract runs out in April, so the surplus might be worth retaining?

Good point. 

The dummy plan could also have zero unit charges for gas.

You can also call Collections in theory and ask them to freeze your direct debit at a lower level for 3 months, then after that another 3 months if needed.

0800 0699 831

You are right, you will see a big increase in electricity in April when your fixed price ends. Look out for the ofgem price cap announcements on the 27th Feb. 

Userlevel 7
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If you have a fixed price contract that’s probably overriding any manual changes they’re trying to make. The contract will require that you complete the standing charges for the duration surely ?

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