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Why have OVO not sent my meter readings to my previous supplier?

H
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  • Hsal
  • Carbon Cutter*
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What is going on???

Its been well over 6 weeks and Ebico tell me that OVO have not sent my final meter readings. Why is this? I’ve emailed OVO as well and I’ve had no response. This needs to be resolved asap. Absolutely ridiculous that I can’t seem to get a straight answer from you guys.

You obviously have my meter readings and you’ve been taking money out of my account without issue. So what is the problem?

What information do you need from me to get Ebico my final meter readings????????

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Best answer by Nancy_OVO 11 May 2020, 16:54

Updated on 02/03/2021:  If you’re thinking about joining us, check out the available OVO plans and get your switch sorted today here.

 

Hey @Hsal,

 

For a bit more info on the transfer process, have a look at my answer to this topic.

 

It sounds like the opening readings we’ll have sent down the chain of handlers may be stuck with one of the Data Collectors. Your old supplier will need to chase this from their end to receive the readings and be able to close down your account with them.

 

Hope this helps,

Nancy

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Transparent
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Hi @Hsal and welcome to the Forum

So I deduce that you’re switching from OVO to Ebico. Correct?

The switch process involves the Receiving Supplier requesting the transfer via the two National databases. That’s ECOES for electricity and Xoserve for gas. Those requests create a system of Notifications during which lots of data is checked. It isn’t just the meter readings which are provided by the Relinquishing Supplier.

You can read more about this over here on the Topic “Where’s my final refund?”

You can also directly check who Xoserve have as your current gas supplier from the website Find My Supplier.

If you want to know who ECOES thinks supplies your electricity, then I’ll need to work out your Distributed Network Operator. Fill in your Forum Profile Page and I’ll see what I can do.

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H
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Ive switched from Ebico to OVO. I've reached out to Ebico and they have said that OVO have not sent them the final readings. They could be messing me about of course but with the current situation I cant seem to reach either OVO or Ebico for some straight answers. I'll update my profile

H
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Xoserve states OVO provide my Gas.

Transparent
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Hi @Hsal  and thanks for the info.

To check who ECOES believes is your electricity supplier you can go here on the website of Electricity North West (your DNO).

Please remember that here on the Forum we are fellow customers. I can’t speak for OVO but I have a pretty good idea how they work.

Now that I understand you have switched from Ebico to OVO, let me offer the following advice.:

You wrote above that you have already emailed them but received no reply. That’s very unusual. OVO have one of the highest customer response scores in the industry.

I don’t know the date when you sent that email, but it’s important that both parties understand that you are operating within the published Complaints Procedure because that has set timeframes. Personally I still prefer doing this by email rather than the online form. That means you retain a date/time copy of what you wrote.

So email again to OVO. Put the word “Complaint” within the Subject line and again at the start of the Body Text.

Ensure you provide enough information for them to positively identify you. I suggest:

  • Your name (as on your OVO account)
  • Account number
  • Postal address including post code
  • Start date of your OVO contract

Then give the URL of this Forum Topic. That will enable Customer Services to read what we’ve discussed here.

You should receive a response within 5 working days. This is most commonly by telephone. But if you prefer, you can request that this be by email too.

I don’t like using telephone for complaints because you get no copy of whatever remedy is being offered to you.

In the extremely unlikely event of this case getting referred to the Office of the Energy Ombudsman, it is these emails which prove that you have exhausted the Complaints Procedure

Post here again if you want further clarification.

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H
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@Transparent thank you for the detailed response - I’ve sent an email to OVO today following the instructions above, once I hear back I will post an update.

 

FYI ECOES has OVO as my electricity provider

Nancy_OVO
Userlevel 6

Updated on 02/03/2021:  If you’re thinking about joining us, check out the available OVO plans and get your switch sorted today here.

 

Hey @Hsal,

 

For a bit more info on the transfer process, have a look at my answer to this topic.

 

It sounds like the opening readings we’ll have sent down the chain of handlers may be stuck with one of the Data Collectors. Your old supplier will need to chase this from their end to receive the readings and be able to close down your account with them.

 

Hope this helps,

Nancy

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grahambenidorm
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I have completed my switch to OVO but my on line account still says my switch is underway and I can access very little information.

I called customer services and they said the switch had been completed all ok, OVO are my supplier however give it a “few” days for the web site to update.

I also had a brief online chat and was told there could be a delay before my opening meter readings (given a week before the switch date) had to be verified by a “third party” and this could take a while.

For the record I moved into the property a month  before the switch was completed and have heard nothing from the previous supplier despite my attempts to contact them although there was confusion from the previous tenant regarding if they were supplied by Scottish Power or SSE.

Who verifies my opening readings?

Is it not the responsibility of the previous supplier to at least write to any new tenant once the old customer has departed?

Why say my switch is complete when clearly it is not because I cannot access my online account?

Happy days

grahambenidorm
Blastoise186
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Hi there @grahambenidorm ,

Sorry we didn’t catch you earlier. I’ll try to answer your questions all at once for you. I noticed that you’ve previously mentioned that you have a visual impairment as well, so I’ll try to make my comments in this thread easier to read.

The first thing I’d like to ask is when did you switch back to OVO? I noticed that you were with OVO previously before switching away and then coming back. It takes about two weeks from when you sign up for your supply to move over, and your online account should start working shortly afterwards.

You might want to try logging out and logging back in again after your first payment has been taken, since this usually confirms that your account is live. Another trick that sometimes works is using another browser for a second, or fire up Incognito/Private Browsing mode and see if that works.

Internet Explorer is not supported however and will break MyOVO. You’ll need to use something like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Opera or Microsoft Edge Chromium.

These days when you switch supplier, you provide your new supplier with the opening readings, and they pass them onto your old supplier to act as the closing readings. This means you don’t need to tell both suppliers, but it does mean they need to double check the records to make sure it all tallies up with what’s expected.

As a new tenant, you need to contact the current supplier yourself to open an account with them when you take on the tenancy. Suppliers can’t detect this automatically I’m afraid. If you don’t contact them, they won’t know you’ve moved in and it may cause issues with the accounts.

As for your online account in MyOVO, the switch status doesn’t depend on whether you can access MyOVO or not, since MyOVO is just one of the ways you can manage your account.

I hope this helps. If you need any more help, please feel free to let us know.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
Tim_OVO
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Heads up @grahambenidorm - I’ve moved these comments over to a new thread on a similar theme. 

 

Did @Blastoise186 help you? It’s great advice with regards to contacting the supplier you were with when you first moved in. OVO will do the rest with regards to that opening meter reading, which can take up to 6 weeks. 

 

Access of some form to your online account should be possible before that though. See this topic for tips of diagnosing login issues. 

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grahambenidorm
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Hi there @grahambenidorm ,

Sorry we didn’t catch you earlier. I’ll try to answer your questions all at once for you. I noticed that you’ve previously mentioned that you have a visual impairment as well, so I’ll try to make my comments in this thread easier to read.

These days when you switch supplier, you provide your new supplier with the opening readings, and they pass them onto your old supplier to act as the closing readings. This means you don’t need to tell both suppliers, but it does mean they need to double check the records to make sure it all tallies up with what’s expected.

I hope this helps. If you need any more help, please feel free to let us know.

 

Thanks for your help and comments, I use a screen reader which is a bit hit and miss but hey ho on we go.

When I moved into the property the previous tenant advised they were supplied by Scottish Power. I spoke with OVO and they confirmed what you basically said in that I should open an account with Scottish Power (standard variable rate tariff) and once this was set up  give it a short while then start a switch to OVO my preferred supplier.

Hey ho contacted Scottish Power, an achievement in itself and explained the situation but was then advised they did not supply the previous tenant. They claim it was SSE and I would have to switch from them, well I was totally fed up and confused so went ahead and signed up for some wonderful tariff with Scottish Power. After a few days got my account details and welcome pack all ok there.

So knowing that I had a cooling off period of 14 days, I then contacted OVO and started a switch from Scottish Power to OVO  before I had even officially being supplied by Scottish Power. I then cancelled my account with SP which I was entitled to do legally and with no liability. Hope you are keeping up with this.

As previously mentioned the switch to OVO has been completed and they became my supplier from 7 February but I just now have to wait for the verification of the meter readings which might raise a few issues/disputes.

So I have no idea to whom I am liable for electricity and gas used by me up to the date (about a month) that OVO became my supplier. I initially thought it was Scottish Power but they said no it was SSE whom I found it impossible to contact and gave up after several hours trying.

Thus far I have received no bills from anyone or any other contact and finally just to further confuse things OVO have advised me that at no point did SSE ever appear on the national database as a suppler to the property where I now live. SSE of course are now part of the OVO family and I for one know the IT problems that have been caused as a result of that and also the take over of Spark Energy.

What next? I have no idea other than to wait up to 6 weeks to see what those nice people at Morrison Data Services decide in relation to meter read verification.

To be continued……...

 

grahambenidorm
grahambenidorm
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Heads up @grahambenidorm - I’ve moved these comments over to a new thread on a similar theme. 

 

Did @Blastoise186 help you? It’s great advice with regards to contacting the supplier you were with when you first moved in. OVO will do the rest with regards to that opening meter reading, which can take up to 6 weeks. 

 

Access of some form to your online account should be possible before that though. See this topic for tips of diagnosing login issues. 

Thanks for your help.

Basically my online account is still displaying that my switch is underway despite broswer cache clearing etc etc.

It seems that nothing can happen in relation to billing etc until verification of the opening meter readings I provided.

Part two of this saga will be the provision of Smart Meters which Scottish Power said I could not have because no signal at my property. Ha ha there are neighbours either side of me that have Smart Meters functioning all ok and those nice people at Arqiva say there are no signal issues for my postcode. Happy days and thanks again

grahambenidorm
Blastoise186
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Thanks for the details @grahambenidorm . I will make sure to keep using bold fonts when I reply to you.

The forum software is provided by inSided and should be compatible with most screen readers. I’ll see if I can play with a few in case there’s something that’s not working well and I can ask @Tim_OVO to contact inSided for help with getting compatibility issues fixed if needed.

The best place that should help figure out which suppliers have ever been involved would be the national databases shared by all suppliers. Those are ECOES for Electricity and Xoserve for Gas. Unfortunately, they don’t provide a way for customers to access the records directly, but OVO should be able to look up the records for your property.

Having seen my own ECOES record, I can confirm that it does list all suppliers who have ever supplied a particular property. Perhaps Tim can help out there?

As far as I know, if you started to switch to Scottish Power but cancelled during the cooling off period, that would mean you would never have gone on-supply with Scottish Power and would not have had an active contract. It would have instead been reverted back to the previous supplier. This may explain why OVO can’t find any trace of that, since it never went live.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
Transparent
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Hi @grahambenidorm - thanks for all the details.

 

If the previous tenant was with SSE, then this is good news.

 

SSE was taken over by OVO in January 2020. So all the previous meter readings can be easily checked.

 

That will ensure there are no wild estimates made!

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grahambenidorm
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Thanks for the input but just to reiterate according to OVO having checked the national database, SSE have NEVER been a supplier at the property I live in.

This then makes a mockery of Scottish Power saying that SSE were the provider when I moved in and this resulted in me opening an account with Scottish Power who then supposedly started a switch from SSE to them (Scottish Power). 

I of course short circuited everything and cancelled my dealings with Scottish Power and  switched to OVO.

It remains to be seen if any one wants to bill me for the period from moving in to the date OVO officially took over.

No offence but just because OVO took over SSE there are many many IT issues that remain to be sorted for once and for all.

grahambenidorm
Blastoise186
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Ahh ok. I think I’m starting to get a better idea of the picture now @grahambenidorm .

Admittedly, I’m not sure whether any supplier will attempt to bill you for the usage prior to when OVO took over the supply, since I don’t know whether your were the named account holder with any previous supplier(s) at that property.

What I can definitely say, is that the contract you cancelled during the cooling off period can be safely ignored since there won’t have been anything on that one. But this is where it gets a bit confusing.

If you had set yourself up with any supplier on the date you moved in and/or the previous tenant had notified their supplier that they were moving out before you moved in, that should have provided a cutover point where they’d have stepped out of the way and closed the old account and you would have taken on the supply and responsibility after opening a new account. In this case, you’d be billed for all usage from this point onwards, but nothing prior to that.

However, if the previous tenant didn’t close the old account properly, this is where it gets messy and it’s possible that they might get billed for that period instead of you. However, once you came on-supply with OVO with your own account, that should trigger a cutover point which would start billing you and cease billing the previous tenant.

I’m not sure OVO would be able to dig into the details regarding the old account from  the previous tenant though, especially if they weren’t with OVO. I think the biggest clue to solving this puzzle would be working out whether the previous tenant and/or your landlord still held the contract with any supplier between the date you moved in and when OVO took on the supply.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!

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