UPDATE

Okay this may sound churlish given that Ovo have acted swiftly following the Ombudsman’s decision, but as usual, nothing goes smoothly with them

Here goes….

Yesterday, I received an email saying I had been switched to Simpler Energy E7. Fair enough I suppose but a phone call would have been nice beforehand. Not worth getting angsty over….

However the following is wrong this morning:

1. Whilst the MyPlan page now shows E7 and the correctly revised rates, they continue to show the incorrect meter change timings (ie inverted E10)
2. My IHD continues to show E7 timings (as it has for months) but the tariff rates have not been updated. This applies to the rates showing on the actual meter as well
3. My flat continues to think its on E10. At 5am (dont ask) I observed the offpeak circuit switch off instead of at 7am as it should under E7. Will observe what happens at other E7/E10 times of day

Perhaps Im jumping the gun a bit, so will allow a further 24 hours to see if it gets corrected (I bet it wont). However what really gets me down is that I hoped following the Ombudsman adventure, I would get a direct contact at Ovo to make sure the changes were implemented correctly. As it stands, things are wrong and Im faced with the same time wasting process of ringing CS and hoping I can find someone who knows what they are doing. I had nearly six months of that so Im not going to allow myself to be mucked around again.

Thoughts on best way to proceed?

Edit...Think my first point of call will be the Ombudsman to let him know things arent resolved, However its an Ovo contact I really want preferably at a Senior/competent levek

Okay 6:30 am and meter still showing off peak rate in use, but then again its been like that for months.

The problem is my hot water and heating circuits are dormant which they should not be until 7am

My really stupid question is should the smart meter be controlling my off peak circuits or is it just a means to collect readings? Does my flat need some form of electrician intervention to jumpstart it into E7?

Jeez im so sick of this….I somehow knew getting the compensation would be the easy bit lol

Here we go again. The basics:

1. You have a contract with OVO - a Plan - to deliver electricity at a certain price at certain times. This has to be agreed by both parties before taking effect, so I’m assuming that you requested a switch to a different tariff - E7, as you earlier suggested you might.
2. The contract should be clearly reflected by the information on your Plan page. If it isn’t, that should be put right, probably before any other changes that need to be made. 
3. The meter’s TOU registers should be configured to match the plan (as it should be). I can’t say for certain, but from what I’ve seen, TOU Rate 1 should represent the peak register tier and Rate 2 the offpeak tier.
4. With that all in place, the meter’s ALCS should be configured via ECAUL to switch the offpeak circuits (heating and hot water, in your case) on and off at the times specified in the plan (as it should be).

This seems to require collaboration between at least two and probably more teams at OVO, the two being probably Billing and Smart (if that’s what they’re called) and there may be a third which deals with the contract itself. I wish I knew! 

I’d give it a couple of days to see whether all of this has fallen into place. If it has (), you should see changes on the billing page for the current period to show that the right readings from the right registers are now being charged at the right rates. This should be independent of any other corrections being made to historic bills, except of course that any such changes will affect the opening balance of the current period.  

I’m a bit sad that you’ve taken this decision, because I’m still not convinced that it wasn’t possible to set the meter up for E10 (point 3 above), since all the rest was in place for E10 (apart, that is, from the illegal timings swap on your plan page, which probably affected billing). It happened ad hoc for joanx, and they allegedly managed it post hoc for Jessica, too, but I’ve seen no explanation of why it shouldn’t be possible to make the same changes for you and @pegem .

@Firedog

Hi mate, aye I get all that re points 1 - 4 but my grievance is that it hasnt happened and Im left with no direct contact at Ovo to put things right. As you say though, give it a few days. I just cant face more endless calls on hold only to speak to someone clueless in CS

To be honest, all this has been sparked by me receiving an email yesterday saying

“ We want to let you know that in line with energy industry rules, we’ve moved you onto our variable plan, Simpler Energy. Your new plan started on 20 March 2024 , the day after your last one ended. “

Ive been on Simpler Energy since the day of migration. Would you believe the email is headed “Your new fixed-rate plan will start soon”...erm then they refer to variable plan E7 as above. Unbelievabe….

I think I gave in re E7 rather than chose it as my Ombudsman contact was adamant Ovo werent going to implement it despite my protestations. I also had it mind that being on E10 would greatly reduce the number of providers I could move to if I wanted to leave Ovo

Sorry mate if that you makes you sad, but when he point blank refused to consider the info re @JessicaRose I I just wanted this over with. As it turns out, its not over and not sorted

Edit - just gone to log to my Ombudsman case to send a message and the login credentials dont work, Do they seriously close cases that quickly after a determination? FFS!

I just tried to sign in using my old bookmark (Trust Alliance Group) and was surprised to find everything from my case - closed last August - still intact. Try again?

Thanks for that….it took two password resets but yes the case was still there so I have sent a message to go along with the phone message I left earlier

It appears Ovo have until 12.04 to comply so I guess I have to wait. At least ive put the Ombudsman on notice. I just dont hold out any hope of them getting this sorted given the previous six months events

Im gonna effing explode!

In response to my specific message to my Ombudsman case manager, I get some lacky sending me an email stating “Ovo say they have implemented all remedies put forward and consider the matter closed”

So Ive got some money, no apology and most importantly ive got the same misconfigured meter as I had before.  What the hell do I do next?

Hi @MikeMilf,

I’m really sorry for the issues you’ve been experiencing, that’s definitely not the experience we want for our customers.

As your case is with the Ombudsman, which is the highest level of escalation I’d advise going to your assigned case handler and advising OVO hasn’t implemented the remedy. I wonder if they’ve given OVO a timeframe to get this implemented?

Do you have an OVO Ombudsman complaints handler? If so, you can send the name to Forum_Support and we can reach out to them for you.

Ombudsman complaint process: 

They’ll review what’s happened and how we’ve handled your complaint. First, they’ll look at everything we’ve done so far with your complaint. Then they’ll decide if we should have done more – and what we need to do to put it right.

Here’s how to get in touch with them:

• Phone: 0330 440 1624 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm, and Saturday, 9am to 1pm)
• Email: enquiry@energyombudsman.org
• Website: www.energyombudsman.org
• Post: Energy Ombudsman, PO Box 966, Warrington WA4 9DF

Helpful to know – you don’t have to accept their decision – but we have to.

@Shads_OVO 

Thanks for the reply and comments

Ive mentioned recently that I didnt think my case handler was up for a fight so to speak and he openly admitted the technical side of meters etc wasnt his speciality. Quite frankly i ended up with the feeling that if Ovo told him the sky was green he would go along with it

He found in my favour on all points and was pretty dispraging about Ovo in his summary, but now its been publisehed I get the feeling hes moved on.

There seems to be no support now and having messaged him twice recently I suddenly get replies from minions, not him.

If you want to do anything for me, @Shads_OVO get me a phone call from someone at Ovo with the ability to listen and the power to make decisions. Its my view that an engineer visit would prove the problem to Ovo, but Im now back in the realms of trying to fight my way through Customer Services

Im glad I have had the goodwill credit applied, but the underlying problem has NOT been remedied

LOL within 5 mins of me posting my last post here I got a message from an Ombudsman minion telling me they were sure everything had been implemented…..Oh really and how the hell would you know?

This is my reply…..Im now getting beyond angry

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi XXX

Thank you for your message.

With the absolute greatest of respect please stop believing everything you are fed by Ovo....

Yes I have had my goodwill gesture, but no apology (not that im bothered).
MOST importantly all Ovo have done is done is apply an E7 tariff without checking that it actually is working on my meter. IT IS NOT

I went out this morning first thing and on my return I saw my off peak circuits had been used by my heating and water cylinder between 1pm and 4pm.
 THIS IS NOT ECONOMY 7 IT IS ECONOMY 10...not what was agreed

The details of my current tariff on their website show corrent rates but completely incorrect timings.

Ovo have been very quick to say they regard the matter as closed but it is not. I thought I would get the courtesy of a phone call to check if all was sorted but they couldnt even be bothered to do that.

THIS MATTER IS NOT CLOSED AND IT IS VERY WRONG OF OVO TO SAY IT IS. Or does the Ombudsman not care that things are done properly, just that Ovo say they are?

I WANT A PHONE CALL FROM SOMEONE SENIOR AT OVO...ITS  THE LEAST THEY CAN DO

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If Ovo try to worm their way out of implemeting things correctly by saying “well we did put him on E7” this whole thing is going to the Money Pages of the Telegraph and others

Hilariously, Ovo now say they cant intervene as its an Ombudsman case. The Ombudsman wont help as Ovo say they have carried out all remedies (they havent)

What an absolute joke system

I even reached out on Twitter to try and get a decent contact to talk things over with but the minute they realise its an Ombudsman case they stonewall me

Id love to wake them up by not paying my bills but they would just disconnect me lol

Even more hilariously, Octopus say I cant migrate to them as long as there is a problem with the meter,because they cant take on other companies problems

@MikeMilf perhaps the time has come to accept everything they say, close the case and bugger of the Octopus! I challenged my decision, simply because the ombudsman reversed the peak\offpeak instructions on TPR to OVO, a simple mistake, but if they do exactly what he says we are going to be back where we started. Still waiting for reply!

With your experience, I'm not hopeful of the bunch of clowns being able to sort it! If they do fine, if they foul up again, I'm of to octopus!

I feel your pain! I’d be tempted to agree with everything, even though you don’t, get the case closed, then move to Octopus! 

Tried to reach out to Ovo on Twitter and get a decent contact of someone with the brains to listen and gets things resolved

Minute they know its gone to the Ombudsman they clam up and refer me back to them. Ombudsman guy has turned into a chocolate teapot who ignores my messages

All I got out of Ovo was the number of their complaints team - whats the betting they clam up on Monday at the mere mention of the Ombudsman? In any event it just feels like a roll-bacl into the same old process that took six months to get nowhere

@pegem I made contact with Octopus last week to see if they could take on ex-E10 customers. They were very helpful but adamant I would have to sort any meter problems before migrating, as they flat-out dont offer E10 and wont take on other providers problems

Really frustrating when you type a post then it gets picked for moderation, only to disappear into a black hole never to appear.

Cut a long story short - Ovo sent me supposedly the number of their ombudsman team only for me to discover it was just a number for the ombudsman service. When I complained, i get some numpty saying “ we are sorry you are not having a good experience, please reach out to our customer service team who will be able to help” aaarrrgh!

Now feeling 100% trapped. Octopus wont touch me until meter is sorted out, with Ovo and the Ombudsman playing pass the parcel and doing their best to get nothing done

Just a reminder: Moderation reviews aren’t instant here - it’s queue based and generally works on a first in, first out basis.

If your post/comment was flagged after a bunch of something else got flagged (almost always unrelated stuff), those other items will be higher up the queue and will probably get reviewed first.

If your content is rejected, you’ll be told why. If you’ve not had that yet, it’s probably not been seen yet.

@pegem I would love to *edited by moderator* go to Octopus however they wont touch me as long as there is an issue with my meter

Ovo are a *edited by moderator* nightmare….had a letter in this morning telling me how my complaint is now closed. You would honestly think they would liaise with the customer first wouldnt you?

….and other post into moderation only to disappear forever

Dont you like criticism?

As I said, I was just letting you know that these things take time.

I have an exemption which means I bypass all AutoMod functionality. It’s unfortunate that it swallowed your comment, but I’m afraid it’s a necessary evil here due to the amount of spam that gets submitted.

You may want to reconsider how you write your comments - that may help reduce this issue. Other than that, nothing you can do other than wait for a manual review.

Oh really? I dont swear and I dont mention staff names

That’s not the only stuff it looks for. The exact details are kept under wraps, but there are a lot of things that will set off the AutoMod. Once it locks onto you, it becomes increasingly hungry the more times you set it off, which in turn makes it even more likely to swallow your content.

The advice I’ve given is the best possible advice we can offer you to try and shake it off. However. no guarantee can be offered as to exactly what will make it leave you be. You’ll basically just have to get it to trust you again - and no-one here can reset that.

Well on the bottom of the letter I received today was the phone number of the complaints team and amazingly it seems to be a direct dial (no switchboard)

Spoke to someone who appears to be the first person in six months who might know what they are doing. Took all my details and the reason why my complaint shouldnt be marked as closed

Very helpful, but said he would have to refer to metering department and agreed it may need an engineer visit. I will dare to get my hopes up until such time he disappears on me or lets me down

Happy to share the number via DM to anyone else whose complaint isnt working out using email.

Hi @MikeMilf , 

Sadly, this isn’t the platform that we would be able to support you on regarding an ongoing complaint. I can see that @Shads_OVO has provided the contact information on her previous post for the Ombudsman Service. While I can appreciate that it is frustrating if you don’t feel that a resolution has been found you would need to ask them to investigate the matter further.  

If you can send a message to Forum_Support the team can request the handler of the case to reach out to you directly. I really hope this gets resolved soon for you.

I’m still not convinced that an engineer on-site will be able to make the correction to your meter’s configuration that it needs. It may be possible, but I would expect that it’s a job (reset the TOU matrix to match SSC 935: TPR 375/374 for peak/offpeak) best done remotely by an Aclara expert in OVO’s smart team. A visiting engineer could perhaps earn his fee by acting as middleman in this exchange instead of you.
   

That said, I’ll repeat my earlier disclaimer - it may sound as if I know what I’m talking about, but don’t let that fool you.

Update:  Nothing lasts forever!

So, VOV can't even keep a solution in place.  Once again my meter is back on E7 timings!  It lasted all of 17 days with the correct settings and now I ma back where I was before!

Ovo do not care - even the senior ombudsman person that was responding to my emails before is now blanking my communications.  The only option left is to actually follow through and go to court for breach of contract.  This is beyond farcical and I don't have the time or willpower to keep going with this - Im sure thats the plan - be as incompetent as possible until people give in.  

I note that OVO have an office in Bristol.  Might be time for a day out with a placard and a megaphone.  I wonder exactly how much bad publicity I can create?  Drastic times call for drastic action.