Hey @TracyH80,

Really sorry to hear this,

As far as I’m aware, unless there is an agreement in place where debt is loaded onto your meter to be paid off or you use emergency credit you shouldn’t have a debt balance for pay as you go.

We don’t have access to customer accounts here on the Forum, I’d advise contacting the Support Team, they should be able to raise this to our billing team to investigate. If they’re unable to resolve this, there’s always the option to raise a complaint.

Hope this gets resolved for you as soon as possible. 

@TracyH80 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-65544654

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/investigation-ovo-and-its-compliance-its-obligations-under-gas-and-electricity-supply-licences-slcs-03-264-265-27-27a-and-281a

I’ve recently been moved to OVO from SEE.

Currently on a pay monthly Gas - new supply we added when moving in. The property always had a pay as you go electricity meter, we assume because it was formly tennanted before being sold to us. We never got around to changing it, but upon needing to sort out a login with OVO to top up since the SSE app was closed we had to contact OVO. Upon doing so, the customer service agent started trying to tell us that we have a £200 plus debit which must be cleared before moving to a monthly meter. We’re pay as you go.. so how they believe this happens is beyond me. The CA agent hid behind the ‘its from SSE period previously’ and provided no proper information. After doing some googling it appears I’m one of many who suddently has a debt on my account following the merger…. we’ve written to their complaints department so we see what they have to say. OVO - you need to sort it out before myself and other customers move on

Hey @DeanF,

Really sorry for the issues you’re having,

It’s unusual to have that amount of arrears as pay as you go. There’s likely to be some debt from the migration if the meter was put into non disconnect mode. 

I’d advise contacting the support team for this one, if they aren’t able to offer a solution you can raise a complaint. 

How to get in contact about my OVO Pay As You Go account

• The best way to get in touch with us is via chat here. Just click the green chat icon on the bottom right of your screen. We’re here to help anytime from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 2pm on Saturday.
• Or call us on 0330 175 9669 during the same times.

OVO trying to bill me over £300 when I have a prepayment meter how’s that possible?

Hi,

The best people to speak to about this are the PAYG Support Team.

Please try Live Chat via https://ovoenergy.com/help or 0330 175 9669.

@Catherine mcc 

How are you paying you PAYG ?. Do you top-up in a shop, or use the app, or a credit/debit  card scheduled payment ?

Have you switched suppliers or tariffs in the last year ?

Are your current payments to BOOST or to OVO ?

The reason I ask is because I’m finally getting through a problem caused by an unexpected OVO account ( and bill ! ) when I was actually on BOOST. 

If yours is a similar problem then I can assure you there will be no solution by talking to either BOOST or OVO, no matter what anyone on here says.

OVO agents will tell you it’s a BOOST problem, and BOOST agents will tell you it’s an OVO problem.

You will get nowhere talking to either. I have been through all that already.

The only way I solved the problem was to take it to a higher authority.

@Buzby sometimes the best thing you can do is to just do what I did and leave it be.

Just because you yourself have had a bad experience with Support, doesn’t mean literally everyone else under the sun will as well. Additionally, you CANNOT just assume that the problem is the same as the one you had - it’s more often than not something else. This is precisely why Forum Volunteers won’t speculate, and why we don’t give reasons if we’re not confident enough about our thoughts.

In cases like this, we feel that simply signposting the user the right way and watch for updates is a better option than trying to force their hand. This is especially true for Account-Specific Issues where you cannot possibly get all the context needed to figure out the puzzle. We’re actually under instructions to let the Support Team handle those.

Additionally, for those on the Priority Services Register and/or Vulnerability Guild, OVO has specialist resources dedicated to helping you out. The exact nature of those resources is tailored to the individual customer so I cannot give an overview that covers all bases.

However, in my case the support is tailored to the fact I have Autistic Spectrum Disorder and reside in Supported Living, which - when combined with the Account Management Team model my account has run under since 2021 - results in super rapid queue times and many agents taking the extra time to better understand me and learn how best to support me due to the unique traits that every Autistic individual may possess. Everything one agent learns about me goes onto my account notes and is shared with the rest of the team - and ALL of that information is at their fingertips anytime they wish to or need to review it, such as when I get in touch with someone who’s not spoken to me before. The fact I’m a Forum Volunteer is also factored in, but this mostly just causes OVO’s teams to be able to serve me faster purely because I have a deeper understanding of how things work so they can get straight to the point and cut down on the amount of “ping pong” games that might otherwise happen. Similar measures are applied on the OVO Forum - the Forum Moderators have a deep understanding of my circumstances and can use that to adapt how they handle interactions with me if needed.

As a result, the experience I get is effectively Rockstar VIP Service, it’s that good - and it’s what I WANT everyone to get closer to over time as OVO rebuilds itself. We - as the Forum Volunteers - are watching this closely and we have… Ways… Of making sure that the Support Team plays nice with folks who aren’t one of us. I don’t go into details, but my strategy is highly effective.

The intelligence that is gathered is also shared with other departments within OVO, and where appropriate, with other organisations via the Priority Services Register so that those other places can keep their records up-to-date and fully synchronised. Likewise, if OVO were to send anyone to visit me, that intelligence would also be included with the job request so that the visiting engineer or representative is aware upfront. The only entity which does not get automatic access to that data is the OVO Forum - the reasons of which should be fairly self-explanatory. But even then, we can often detect signals of vulnerable customers and have agreed “workflows” between the Forum Volunteers and Forum Moderators to help get those customers the best experience we can provide while they’re here - but ultimately the Support Teams are the ones who have all the required info available, not us.

As a Forum Volunteer, the way I respond to threads is based on a lot of factors, many of which aren’t obvious upfront. This may include things like whether the question is Account-Specific, targets certain criteria that the Forum Moderators want us to focus on (or even flag directly to them!), fits within one of my specialist topics/subjects and how urgent I determine the need to resolve it to be, among other things. However, one cannot help everyone no matter how hard they try, sometimes you have to know when to step back - and this is important. I ignored that advice a few years ago on Discord, and it burned me hard. I learned that the hard way, but you shouldn’t have to.

You also have to bear in mind that we get a lot of folks here who are in difficult circumstances, being respectful and understanding is a key quality that runs throughout both the Forum Volunteers and Forum Moderator team, but so is knowing when to let things be.

Just some food for thought.

Hi @Catherine mcc 

One of our volunteers has left some really helpful advice here, as it’s best to get in touch with the Support Team about cases like this as we don’t have access to accounts here at the Forum.

Hopefully this has been helpful and you can get the matter cleared up.

This seems to be a common problem.

I think something has gone wrong in the migration from SSE to OVO.

OVO were so awful to me when I was migrated to them, I transferred to E.org… have always been on a prepayment meter and they have sent me a final bill for £1,000 even though I was always on prepayment.

They claim I migrated from SSE with £1,300 worth of debt, on a prepayment meter.

Trying to get it resolved has gotten no where. 

Hey @RW1987, 

It looks like our Forum_Support have reached out to you. Please check your private messages 

I have just received a debt letter when I am pay as you go and always in credit I have never used emergency credit my smart meter tells me I am in credit so how on earth has a £111 debt occurred and the meter doesn't display this debt.  But how can this be when in credit always?? I have spoken to ovo not getting anywhere in clear explanations and no notification of this debt occurring its not fair to claim this when un true 

Hey @Mandymonkey,

Unless there is an agreement in place where debt is loaded onto your meter to be paid off or you use emergency credit you shouldn’t have a debt balance for pay as you go. It may be that you’ve inherited a previous tenants debt or your meter has previously been put in a ‘non disconnect mode’ that you aren’t aware of. We don’t have access to your account here on the forum, I’d advise getting in touch with the support team to investigate. 

How to get in contact about my OVO Pay As You Go account

• The best way to get in touch with us is via chat here. Just click the green chat icon on the bottom right of your screen. We’re here to help anytime from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 2pm on Saturday.
• Or call us on 0330 175 9669 during the same times.

There may be some helpful advice in our topic hub:

Hope this helps.

Thank you for your reply.

I have never had a debt. Never used emergency credit. And I have lived in this property for over 10 years. I was with SSE all of that time with no problems. Then it was taken over by ovo 1 year ago. I am pay as you go and ALWAYS in credit. My smart meter is what I look at which says credit. How can a debt accure? They say because I didn't top up in March when I had £200 credit so there was no need to top up and I was also told backscreen debt from disconnection period?? What does that mean. Even so I am always in credit should not be happening. OVO has given me undue stress and worry it makes me ill to think I am in debt when I am not. I need to sort this so I can change my supplier 

I have asked for the contract and a breakdown of payments and usage i am still waiting 

If this doesn’t resolve the issue there is the option to raise a complaint. I’m sorry, it sounds like a very frustrating experience @Mandymonkey. 

Keep us posted with how you get on. 

Exactly the same is happening to me at the moment

Please could someone help me.

My mum passed away in April. I’m the executor of her estate.

She had an electricity key meter for many years with SSE and then Ovo and had never ever been in debit.

I received an email today saying that there is an issue with our meter balance. Our top ups haven’t covered the total cost of the energy used and there is a balance of £412 to pay. 

There is a breakdown of the charges that go back to 15th September 2023. Interestingly, the charge from 1st April to 31st June 2024 (they can’t even get the date right!) is £147.74 and 1st to 31st July 2024 is £45.93. Once my mum died in April there was no one living in the house. How could we have used that much electricity?

On the listing of energy used it gives the Kwh as rate 2. Does anyone know what that means?

My husband has phoned them three times today for help. One person he spoke to said that the charges were probably more like £117. We he phoned back later the department he needed to speak to had gone home.

I’m in a bit of a panic because after receiving a letter on Tuesday saying that the certificate for the meter has run out they needed to replace the meter as soon as possible. They are coming tomorrow between 8am and noon to fit a new meter. If we cancel there is a £35 charge.

Please could someone help me. I’m grieving for my mum and i really don’t need this stress. I know other people have had problems, did they manage to resolve it? Thank you very much.

Hi @Pleasehelp , sorry for your loss. That must be a difficult time. 
Although I don’t have experience of this you might be able to contact them via social media (direct message) for after hours help. 
The social media team on Facebook or Twitter might be worth a try. 
If the meter needs changing then as long as someone can take readings before the meter is taken, it might be worth letting the swap go ahead. 
As to the charges, they should be able to confirm that for you - there will be the standing charge of course, even with no usage unfortunately. There is a dedicated team in these situations but they are generally not available out of hours. 

Hope you get things sorted. 

Hey @Pleasehelp, 

I’m so sorry for your loss and this must be the last thing that you need to be dealing with. 

We have a dedicated team that deals with all aspects of bereavement within OVO. You can find all the information and how to contact them here. They’ll be in the best position to answer any questions you have and give you advice should you need it. Please get in touch with them and they can help take care of things for you. 

I hope this helps and if you need anything else please reach out. We don’t have account access here but we can give you advice and point you in the right direction to get help! 

Thank you both for taking the time to come back to me.

I am very lucky to have found a kind person with a sympathetic ear who has taken the time to listen to me and who is willing to investigate the problem for me.

I have been told that the money we are claimed to owe Ovo is complete nonsense  and that the only money that was taken from the keymeter (which is always in credit) during the periods of time mentioned are the only payments that were required and we owe nothing.

Basically, while a key meter is in credit it is not possible to owe any extra money. The whole point of a keymeter is that you pay in advance for future electricity/standing charges.

There is something seriously wrong when Ovo are trying to charge us £45 on top of the £25 that was taken from the keymeter balance for the 31 days in July when no one was living in the house, the only electrical items permently plugged were a small fridgefreezer and a small under counter freezer. I made some cups of tea during my visits and plugged a radio in for a few hours, but it didn't cost that much! Madness!

If I get to the bottom of what went wrong I will post again with the details. Hopefully it might help someone else.

Actually, it is possible for a Key Meter to have credit and debt on it at the same time - this is true of all PAYG Meters, whether they’re Key, Card, Token (remember those?) or Smart. The reasons for this can include:

• Actual debts you racked up for some reason and are paying off via a Prepayment Meter
• Use of Emergency Credit - you’ll be required to pay back both the used EmCr (only the used portion!) and any unpaid Standing Charges or Debts while in EmCr
  • This does NOT apply if you’ve never used EmCr
• Unpaid charges such as Standing Charges racked up whilst Off-Supply
• Use of Additional Support Credit aka Discretionary Credit - which loads on a Credit and a Debt at the same time

Hi @Pleasehelp,

I’m glad to hear that someone is now looking into this for you.

Please keep us updated.

I’ve just got my latest bill, does this mean payment has been taken from my balance (I’m PAYG)?   I’m £70 in credit but my latest bill is £111, do I need to top my balance?

Hi ​@Emma English ,

If you’re on Pay On-Demand, the bill payment is taken from your account balance automatically if there’s enough in there. Otherwise, you’ll be asked to pay the rest - the bill itself will tell you what you need to pay in. However, in this case, it sounds like the bill was auto-paid from the account credit.

If you’re Pay As You Go, you don’t get bills - you literally pay as you use energy which automatically settles the bill on your behalf.

If you’re on Direct Debit, the system figures it out for you provided you keep making your monthly payments.