Can I manage another person's energy account for them?

Hi @Arthurscott 

Yes, if you call when together they can get this done no problem, if you’ve not called already.

Worth mentioning here that being a secondary contact allows you to call us to discuss an account on someone’s behalf, but in order to make any changes (such as setting up a Direct Debit or new contract) you would need to be a financially liable contact (or have the main account holder’s permission during the call). 

Hopefully the Support Team have been able/will be able to get the issue regarding the credit resolved for you too.

So far it’s taken 12 months for an ongoing issue that still unresolved for one of OVO’s vulnerable customers. My mother was taken seriously ill 12 months ago, and since I‘ve become her primary carer.

At this time, when she had her faculties, we contacted OVO and I was authorised on the account to speak on her behalf. I’ve made several calls to them since to try and resolve an issue with the smart meter screen not registering. With medical equipment and such in constant use it’ll be nice to monitor how much the next bill will be and current usage etc. since OVO took over, the smart screen has stopped working.    

Today, I chased this up with OVO (FYI I’m calling every 8 weeks) and this is the final straw. I’ve been told I’m not authorised to speak on behalf of my mother despite calling several time in the past with no issue. 

why do OVO treat their vulnerable customers with such contempt?

Where has my name disappeared to? I never has issues before speaking with someone.

Why does it take a YEAR to have an ongoing issue still in it’s unresolved state?

I’ve given up on OVO , just as the same it don’t *edited by moderator* for my mother.

Hey @MackUK 

Sorry to hear about this.

Do you now have Power of Attorney? This can be added onto the account by the team and you can speak on behalf of your mum freely, you can send over the required documents to this email address: customerservice.admin.team@ovoenergy.com.

I’ve linked to a similar thread that may also be helpful:

I’m also going to have the Forum Support reach out to you to see if they can help further with this, look out for a Private Message here soon: https://forum.ovoenergy.com/inbox/overview ​​​​​​

I am having great difficulty in getting OVO to give me information regarding how to register power of attorney. I too was told to use hello ovo email address only to receive an automated message back saying it would only accept emails linked to the account holder. I have asked 4 times for an address to send it to . The chat function reply was to ask if I was the account holder and wanted to go through all the security questions. Second time I was ignored, third time I was asked to send name , address telephone number,  date of birth , email address but no address to send it to. On the fourth attempt I was told attorney had to fill out a form  but still no address to send it to . 
I have spoken to citizen advice and they like me can’t understand why the company is not able to provide an address which Power of attorney code or a copy of the power of attorney can be sent . 
I am very frustrated at  OVO inability to give an answer to where the power of attorney should be sent. I raised a formal complaint 2 weeks ago which they have failed to acknowledge I will give them 8 weeks before I contact the financial ombudsman and raise a complaint. OVO clearly do not understand that Customer go to a lot of trouble and expense to create these legal documents and to make it so difficult for their named attorneys to register them is not acceptable 

Hey ​@Glasgow56,

Welcome to the community, 

We’ve got a few articles on the Forum about registering for Power of Attorney, but they all confirm that you’re using the correct email address, as you can see from the article below. 

“POA and LOA can be sent to us by email using hello@ovoenergy.com or by post using our London address:

OVO

PO Box 81428
LONDON
N17 1LB”

You can follow up with our Support Team to check the progress of the documents a few days after they’ve been submitted by speaking with our Support team. 

I hope this helps! 

You can only use the Ovo email address if you’re mail  is linked to the account. If you do try and use that address you get an automated message saying you can’t use it . You say the address is in Bristol but the address you gave is a London one ! 

Hey ​@Glasgow56,

To get started with your Power of Attorney registration, please use the email address provided. Don’t worry if you receive an automated email at first, this just means your email hasn’t been registered with the account yet. Once everything is set up, you won’t receive this message anymore. 

Thanks for letting me know about the address we’ve just recently changed to our London address and i’ve now updated the text above to match the address. 

Hi can you give me the Bristol address as we have 3 power of attorney’s who want to register 

The London one is the one you’re after - it’ll be forwarded on if needed.

Hi I wish to update you to the email had from OVO energy on Saturday regarding my enquiry regarding adding a legal power of attorney to my relatives account 

It states 

If you’re getting in touch on behalf of one of our customers…

You’ll need to ask them to add you to their OVO account. 

“To be able to discuss billing, payments, anything financial, or any sensitive account information, you’ll need to be named as ‘financially liable’ on the customer’s account. To be added to the account in this way, we need to speak to both you and the account holder, to get joint permission. “

despite your assurances not to worry that the account is not linked to the email address the message says 

“Please email us from your registered email address”. We had changed the email account on the 28th of August but you still have failed to update your system.You also sent a statement to the old email address on Saturday as well . 

Even though my question was regarding power of attorney the email on Saturday makes no mention of it but refers again to making someone financially viable on the account before they can make any decisions. This is not correct as named attorney who have LPA which are registered with the office of public guardian can make all financial decisions on behalf of the account holder 
 

I sent my access code on the 28 th of August for you to view the document  . The company have 30 days in which to view the power of attorney document 
 

If the company continues to fail to recognise my LPA and does not add it to the account so I can make decisions on behalf of the account holder, I will have no option but to report the company to the office of public guardian . They will investigate why staff answering queries regarding LPA’s clearly do not understand what a LPA is and keep referring to making someone financially viable on the account in order to make financial decisions. 

For anyone else who having problems getting OVO to give you information on how to add a LPA to account or recognising you as a named attorney, go to the office of the public  guardian website and it will give you all the contact details on how to make a complaint. 
 

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