Hi @philipn and thank you for raising this important issue here.

Just to double-check have you attempted creating your new account online here. This would be our initial advice to anyone moving in to a home we supply as we can’t set up and account via webchat or email at the moment.

If there are any technical issues which might prevent you creating your account online, then it would be necessary to contact us on the phone. Do you have a friend or family member who might be able to help with this? We’ve got more advice on adding a secondary contact to help with managing your account in the topic below:
 

Hi @Jess_OVO 

The issue is I am receiving bills addressed to the “occupier” that have the previous tenants account number on them. From what I’ve found online I was supposed to have received a welcome letter with my account number on it which I need to set up an online account. I’ve tried emailing but haven't had any replies and been in contact with multiple customer service members via web chat (before it stopped working) non of whom were of any help.

I am not currently in a position to get help from a family member and its important for me that I  handle this myself if possible. I’ve been able to set up my other utilities just fine and they had similar issues this being the only one I am having difficulty with.

The moving in link doesn't currently enable you to create a new account at the moment @Jess_OVO 

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Sorry, we can't give you an online quote today

You've probably seen in the news that wholesale energy prices are incredibly high at the moment. This means we can't offer our usual deals to new members right now.

@Jess_OVO does @philipn legally have to setup a new account with OVO as a new tenant or can they simply sign up with another provider as a new customer? 

Hi @Jeffus 

I checked with edf and they said I would need to resolve the account issue first as any attempt to switch would conflict with the previous tenants account. 

@philipn can you get the previous tenant to notify OVO that they have moved out?

Could you ask your landlord to do that?

There is a link on the following page or they could call OVO. 

https://www.ovoenergy.com/moving-home

@Jeffus The property manger called and explained the situation but she was told I have to call or get a family member to call. I believe the previous tenant had already informed them of the move as well and as the letters are addressed to the occupier and have no name I assume OVO should already be aware. 

So sorry I didn’t realise earlier, @philipn, due to current market volatility our online account set-up platform is currently unavailable.

This advice does sound spot on. I appreciate it would be really helpful for us to allow online account set-up at all times so this is really valuable feedback I shall be passing on.

In the meantime I hope a friend or family member is able to help you give us a call to complete your account creation.

@Jess_OVO  I just moved away from home and currently can’t get a family member to help. I also don’t have any friends who live anywhere close enough to help: would it make a difference if the property manager identified herself as a friend? Would it be possible to email someone directly since I am not sure I’ll get a response from the email on the website? Or text works too.

Are you able to use Relay UK or NGTS by any chance? If so, the number you’re after is 18001 0330 303 5063.

You are also able to give consent to speak to anyone you choose, so yup that can be a property manager if you’d like to do it that way. All I’ll say is make sure it’s someone you trust to speak or act on your behalf.

Thanks @Blastoise186. I wasn't aware of such a service and it worked great Managed to get through to Molly in customer service who was brilliant in handling everything

Thanks to everyone who took the time to help me resolve this:) @Jess_OVO @Jeffus @Blastoise186 

No worries. :)

As far as I’m aware, OVO’s stance is that they’ll happily accept calls anytime via Relay UK on the understanding that the Relay Assistant is simply translating between text and voice on your behalf.

The House Rules here also permit me to share some other helpful advice if I think it might be useful, even if it’s not related to energy per se. And I often have quite a lot of it. Everything I’m about to suggest is provided completely free of charge, no matter who your phone provider is.

If necessary, the Relay Assistant will explain how the service works to the other person on the call so that they know how to make best use of it and can provide advice about using the service to both parties at anytime on request. They’ll stay in the background and translate and relay absolutely everything they see and hear from either side of the call but may need to step in if the call is getting a little too tricky to manage.

I’ll give you a handy tip actually. Anytime you want to use Relay UK again, use the same process as you did with OVO and remember to prefix 18001 in front of the number before you call it so that Relay UK knows it needs to step in. Anyone who wants to call you via Relay UK can prefix your number with 18002 and it’ll do the same thing in reverse. If you need to call the emergency services, the number you’re after is 18000. Please don’t use that last one for any other purpose as it basically dials 999 via Relay UK.

You may also want to consider setting up emergencySMS as well. Not sure if it still works as for obvious reasons I’ve never tested it myself, but it’s worth mentioning anyway.

The final one you will definitely find useful is the TextNumbers service operated by Relay UK. Using this service, you can get a TextNumber to share with other people that will automatically activate Relay UK and forward the call to your registered number in one step. You can still use your registered number as normal of course, but this might make it easier for people to call you if they don’t know you’re using Relay UK. :)

In some cases, you might also be entitled to a slight discount off your phone bills too if you’re using Relay UK. Definitely worth asking your phone provider about that, as they’ll be best placed to check and set it up if available.

If you have any problems at all with the Relay UK services, you can contact them here.

Enjoy!