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Please can anyone assist with my issue.

I have just found out this morning that my 80 year old mothers account has been switched from Utilita to OVO without any permissions either from her or myself ( I had permissions to oversee account). As it stands today she has not yet received account details from OVO or payment cards, so she has no fuel. I called Utilita and they tell me to call OVO and yes all OVO lines are closed for the weekend.

I need to know who gave permission to switch this account and who is taking responsibility for essentially leaving an 80 year old woman in the middle of winter with no fuel.


Lucy.

Updated on 05/11/24 by Emmanuelle_OVO:

Supply been switched in error? This topic might be helpful to you:
 


Were you a Boost customer? Find out about the switch to OVO PAYG here:

 

 

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.

 

Sorry for the delay. this forum is primarily volunteer led and unfortunately we’re not always able to check in as often as we’d like to. I’m Blastoise186 by the way, one of the forum volunteers here.

To me, it sounds like your mothers account was transferred by mistake and you have the option to invoke the Erroneous Transfer process if you wish. This process will reverse the switch and put your mother back onto Utilita, restoring as much as possible back to how it was. I cannot say for sure how this switch happened as I don’t have access to the systems involved, but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone else accidentally switched the wrong supply when they tried to switch supplier. However, Utilita has probably given you bad advice because ideally, they need to initiate the ET process, not OVO. However, my understanding is that it can be initiated from either side if needed.

If your mother is still on Pay As You Go, she can’t have come on-supply with OVO because OVO doesn’t do Pay As You Go anymore - the sister brand Boost handles that instead. Your details might not be on the account, so she’ll need to contact Boost herself if you can’t get Utilita to listen. I’m afraid there’s no way of being able to know who authorised the transfer - especially if another unrelated customer accidentally switched your supply rather than their own and there is no way for OVO/Boost to know in advance that a vulnerable customer is at the property - the Priority Services Register data is not usually automatically shared across suppliers outside of exceptional circumstances.

If possible, please activate Emergency Credit and use the existing top-up keys/cards to get some credit back on the meters for now. I know it’s not ideal to do this but life comes before profit and I’m pretty sure both Utilita and Boost would understand continued use of the existing top-up devices in these circumstances.

Either way, if both suppliers agree the transfer was a mistake, you’ll automatically qualify for £30 compensation as an apology.

I’m also going to tag @Jess_OVO in case she’s able to advise further.

 

Glad to hear you managed to get your mum’s meters topped up and back on supply, @Lucy mcewan.

 

As our community volunteer, @Blastoise186, has already mentioned it sound like there’s been an ‘Erroneous Transfer’ of your mum’s account to Boost our PAYG sister company. This can happen for a number of reasons, such as a mistake made when trying to request the switch of someone living in a similar address. Whilst both suppliers can request the supply be returned back to the correct supplier, it might be easier to contact Eon to double-check the best way to keep the account in credit in the meantime. 

 

I’m hoping this helps get things resolved. 

 

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