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September 2, 2021
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Can I manage another person's energy account for them?

  • September 2, 2021
  • 38 replies
  • 7039 views

Hi all,

like many people, I have an aging parent who struggles to cope with modern technology such as online accounts.

I would like to manage my Mum’s energy account for her but her current supplier will not let me do this without a “Lasting Power of Attorney” and my Mum finds that troubling because it makes her think that “the law” is taking over her life.

If we were to change supplier to OVO, could the account have both my Mum and me as joint account holders without the “scary” legal stuff ?

thanks for any thoughts on the matter

PhilipJ

Best answer by Jess_OVO

Updated on 15/07/25 by Ben_OVO

 
To make sure we’re keeping our customers’ data as safe and secure as possible we’ve made some changes to how non-account holders can get in touch.

 

Historically, if a non-account holder was able to answer enough questions about the account, there were certain things that could be discussed or actions taken under 'Implied consent'. This is no longer the case.

 

We’re now asking the account holder to be present at the same time as a non-account holder gets in touch, so they can give permission for us to speak to the non-account holder, or add them as a secondary account holder. 

 

A really important question this one, particularly for those who are looking to support a friend or relative when it comes to their energy account.

 

Our community volunteer has already covered the support we offer at OVO in depth:

 

 

I believe OVO does recognise a valid and registered Lasting Power of Attorney under Property & Financial. The Support Team would be able to help get it set up once the account has been created by the switching process being started. But there's other options too if that's not your thing. Here's one we made earlier! :)
 

 

I would probably recommend Secondary Contact Non Financially Liable if you don't want to be responsible for her bills while still having pretty good access to the account. But Secondary Contact Financially Liable is a potential option as well.

 

You might also want to set up Priority Services Register too. :)

 

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). 

 

There’s also a lot that can be now managed online or via our OVO app (available for Android or iOS)  if your mum was happy to grant you access once she’s switched over. we find this can really help those who might just want to keep an eye on things on someone’s behalf.

38 replies

Chris_OVO
Community Manager
Community Manager
September 16, 2025

Hey ​@Glasgow56,

 

I’m really sorry to hear about the challenges you’ve run into while trying to register for Power of Attorney. I’ve shared your feedback with our internal team because we want to make sure everything works smoothly for you. 

 

I’ll keep you in the loop as we find out more, and please know that we’re here to help and are actively working on this. Thank you for your honest feedback!

Renewable energy jokes never get old.
Ben_OVO
Community Manager
Community Manager
September 17, 2025

@Glasgow56 the best thing will be if we get an email from the account holder, from the email registered to their account, sent to hello@ovoenergy.com.

 

In the email, include attachments of all POA documentation or the access codes. Also in the email, list all to-be POA full names. Our Support Team will then raise a case to our Admin team to get the POA added. If the email is sent from the email address registered to the account then it will bypass security. This will be quicker than doing things by post.

 

Let us know how you get on.

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Newcomer
September 17, 2025

Hi the issue with that suggestion would have been I would have done a 80 mile round trip to the account holders home to use the email address which was originally linked to the account, as I don’t have access to their email remotely . 
I rang OVO again and an agent did help me and they registered the code . 
 

I would recommend anyone who are having difficulties to make it clear to the company you will report them to the office of the public guardian. You will find all the details on the Government website. You don’t have to wait 8 weeks to report a company just keep all email communications, web chats and any dates and times you contacted the company by phone . 
 

hopefully the company will review their practices, and improve training of staff so that other attorneys do not experience the problems I did . 

Ben_OVO
Community Manager
Community Manager
September 18, 2025

Hi ​@Glasgow56,

 

I’m really happy to hear this is sorted now. I can only apologise for the experience you’ve had - this is a very simple process for us internally, and shouldn’t have been made this difficult for you at all. Just to give you an idea of how everything will look on our end - all POA’s will be named on the account with ‘POA’ next to your names. If you speak to an agent in future they will be able to see this, and will be able to speak to you about any aspect of the account in question. You’ll still have to answer three data protection questions as usual.

 

All the best,

 

Ben

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Newcomer
October 2, 2025

Trying to get access to my mums account as I have POA and no idea about the state of her account, over 50% of her state pension is paying a DD for her electricity.

She has no internet conection and has many health issues and in her late 90s.

I have used several methods to contact OVO, latest was phoning and was disconected after a period of time without talking to a person, tried the AI message service, said it would conect me to someone who could help, never did.

I have started a complaint now, I just want someone to comunicate with me to resolve the issue. 

Thank you

Chris_OVO
Community Manager
Community Manager
October 2, 2025

Hey ​@1745,

 

I have sent you a private message to gather details so we can assist you in resolving this issue.

 

Renewable energy jokes never get old.
Newcomer
October 14, 2025

Hi all

The issue has been resolved. Got to thank Chris_OVO for making this happen.

Abby_OVO
Community Manager
Community Manager
October 15, 2025

Hey ​@1745 

 

I’m glad to here this has now been resolved with a massive thanks to our amazing ​@Chris_OVO!

 

Thanks for coming back to us with that update, I’ll make sure to pass on your thanks to Chris.😊 

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