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RW1987
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February 14, 2024
Solved

Pay As You Go Final Bill claiming I owe £1000 and OVO refuse to let me complain

  • February 14, 2024
  • 45 replies
  • 2517 views

Hello,

 

I was moved to OVO from SSE.

Pay as you go.

 

I built up some standing charge debt which OVO took approx 80% of every top up I made (which made trying to keep my home warm during the winter impossible!)

 

I tried to get the % of each top up they took lowered, however, they would claim they had done it on the telephone, but didn’t.

 

i did a web chat on several occasions, asked to complain and was told “you can’t complain, it’s debt” and they would end the web chat on me.

 

I paid off the debt and transferred to another company.

 

i received my final statement from OVO, keep in mind I was pay as you, and they claim I owe them £1000, saying in one month my gas consumption alone was £614.

 

i was on pay as you go, I was unable to use gas I did not top up my meter to use.

 

My standing charge debt I had run up was paid off before I left, but they claim this debt on my final statement is actually gas consumption.

 

i have tried to complain again about this and get it rectified, but they constantly transfer me around department to department, cut off my call and once again making a complaint so I can go to the ombudsman is just impossible.

 

I have emailed their CEO complaints team (both in Octoner and November) and they just do not respond. 
 

I am literally at breaking point with all of this!

Best answer by Emmanuelle_OVO

Updated on 31/07/25 by Chris_OVO:

Hey @Scotlynd,

 

Sorry for the issues you’re having,

 

It may be that your meter went into a ‘non disconnect’ mode during the migration process, where a debt balance was built up. Sometimes standing charges build up if a customer doesn’t top up gas for a long period of time, say over winter.

 

 

For traditional top up gas meters

 

Ever got to winter, topped up your gas meter for the first time in a long time and found the credit disappears, this topic should explain why. Let’s first talk about standing charges… What are they? And why do we pay them? Standing charges are a set, daily amount that you pay no matter how much energy you use. It covers the cost of the supplier to supply energy to your home. 

 

For traditional top up meters, standing charge debt will build up daily but won’t show up on the balance.

 

To see the standing charge debt on your gas meter follow these instructions: Firstly, make sure your top up card is out of the meter, then tap the red A button to turn the meter on. It will then say “PLEASE WAIT” and show your current meter balance, lightly tap the red A button again once and this will take you to the “OWED” screen, which will show the outstanding amount. 


You might be wondering, ‘how do I pay this amount back?’ When there is balance outstanding on the “owed” screen the meter will take up to 70% of your top up until this has been cleared. Please be aware if you’ve used your emergency credit this will not be available to use again until the amount on the “Owed” screen has been cleared.

 

We don’t have access to your account on the Forum but the PAYG team should be able to investigate this further for you. 

 

 

Have a question about your pay as you go account? Click the link below to find out how to contact us!

 

 

45 replies

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R
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RW1987Author
Rank 2
February 3, 2025

The Ombudsman get you to create a case and OVO and it’s all uploaded to a portal, I’m sure I’d still have access to it and OVO upload everything they hold on you I’m pretty sure.

R
Rank 2
RW1987Author
Rank 2
February 27, 2025

Removed the “solved” - best answer” because it really wasn’t….

 

the best answer in these instances is to go to the Ombudsman after 8 weeks of bashing your head against a wall.

Blastoise186
Super User
Blastoise186Super User
Super User
February 27, 2025

Hello,

Please note that the Best Answer is intended to help the wider community. It is not about whether your problem got solved because we rarely get told as most folks don’t come back.

These threads tend to stay up for years after you move on, so the Best Answer that gets tagged needs to be one that stands the test of time.

Thanks for understanding

Blastoise186

Forum Volunteer

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way! Remember, I'm just like you - AI Powered Evil Geniuses aren't Staff!
    R
    Rank 2
    RW1987Author
    Rank 2
    February 27, 2025

    Sure.

    Blastoise186
    Super User
    Blastoise186Super User
    Super User
    February 27, 2025

    As much I’d love to ask OVO to make it so that Questions here could just auto-solve when a linked case/complaint/support request got solved, there’s just no practical way of doing so - especially because folks from other suppliers also come here and we definitely can’t hook the Forum up to every single suppliers systems.

    That’s the basic reason why the assignment has to be manual and runs the way it does. The Forum runs standalone from everything else because we’re not allowed to have it hooked up to other systems, in case it exposes something to the community which needs to stay private.

    I’m sorry if it means things don’t work the way you may prefer, but it’s a tricky balance and we can’t make it perfect.

    Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way! Remember, I'm just like you - AI Powered Evil Geniuses aren't Staff!
      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement

      OVO Energy Ltd, Floor 5, Crescent, Temple Back, Redcliffe, BS1 6EZ, (Company no. 06890795) registered in England and Wales.

      OVO (S) Gas Limited is registered in England and Wales (Company No. 02716495) at Floor 5, Crescent, Temple Back, Redcliffe, BS1 6EZ.

      OVO (S) Gas Limited is part of OVO Group Ltd