@LorraineB I have flagged the ovo moderators in case that helps.

Hey @LorraineB 

I’m sorry to hear this is still an ongoing matter.

I believe the Forum Support team have been in touch with you and are currently working on this for you.

They have access to teams that we don’t, so they’ll be reaching out to teams in charge of cases or the complaints team. They’ll keep you up to date with any changes or if they have any other questions to help, they’ll let you know.

@LorraineB Who is your current supplier rather than OVO ?

Ovo Energy is the worst company I've ever dealt with. I've been with them since March 2023, paying my bills regularly through direct debit. But in November, I got a letter saying I was leaving and had a final bill. Turns out, they closed my account without even asking me. They claimed someone else registered at my address, so they opened a new account without checking with me first. It was a big mess, and I had to go through a bunch of paperwork to open a new account. 

Then, they sent me a huge bill of £1500, saying I didn't pay anything the previous year. After bugging them for two months, they deducted about £900, even though I'd already paid around £1100 until October. And the whole time, their customer service kept threatening me about my credit report if I didn't pay up. It's ridiculous because they messed up by closing my account without asking, and they don't even know how much I paid! 

Its a shame that as a company they have no idea how much money I paid. After that I sent them all the bills I got from them, but they haven't bothered to reply or fix the problem. Ovo Energy in Bristol is just a terrible company to deal with.
 

Hey @eh2asham,

I’m really sorry to hear this,

It sounds like you had an erroneous transfer on your account. 

Why have you let me know I’m leaving OVO when I didn’t request to switch?

Sometimes we receive a request for us to switch your supply away from us in error. Whilst it’s quite rare there’s a few reasons this may have happened,

• Human error - someone may have entered your address details accidentally when applying for a genuine switch
• Fraud - very occasionally fraudsters may use your details to apply for an energy switch (if the details held by the other supplier match your details it might be worth contacting your bank and checking your internet security procedures)
• Mistake in your address listing on the national database - If way your address is listed is unclear or incorrect this can cause issues switching. Check out this topic for more advice in getting this corrected.

When this happens, we contact the supplier who has taken the supply in error and request for them to switch the supply back to us. During this time, you’ll need to continue paying for your energy usage as once the supply returns you’ll be charged as though the supply never left. We aim to sort out an erroneous transfer within 12 weeks. 

You can find out more about this process here. 

Can I get compensation for an erroneous transfer?

Yes! If you’ve been switched by mistake, on or after 1 May 2019, you may get compensation.

You’ll get a minimum of £30 for the inconvenience. The maximum is £120, which is payable if your energy isn’t switched back to your original supplier in a timely way1. The new supplier (the one you’re switched to) is the one that pays up.

This rule was introduced by the energy regulator, Ofgem.

If you’re concerned about the size of your bill, it’s worth checking the meter readings used have been actual readings you’ve submitted and not estimates. 

I hope this helps. 

I went through an ET last year that took months to resolve; eventually went to Ombudsman - they saw in my favour and sorted it out. 

However a year later i’m back with another ET on my account and looks like the same story.

Why is it possible to switch to a different supplier quickly but not have it returned in the same time frame when an ET complaint is made. Why at no point do the energy suppliers contact the customers to figure out what has gone wrong or make sure the details are correct? 

This process seems flawed and it’s not just OVO, seems like most energy companies have not managed to work out how to deal with this problem adequately.

Hi @ADickson, 

I’m sorry to hear you’ve experienced this. I’ve responded to you on this thread.

Hi, I have already emailed ovo regarding this but I'm worried that with it having happened twice now, whoever is attempting to do it will keep trying. 

Is there any way to stop it from happening again ? 

I have not long signed up for a fixed rate tariff and just received confirmation of my warm home discount, could they be affected by this?

Also I've seen mention of compensation on the help topic regarding this but I have no idea who they're trying to switch me to, as I've only received the 'sorry to see you go' email from ovo. 

Hey @Fawkes_hay 

Sorry for the issues you’re having, it sounds like a stressful situation. 

This suggests there might be some confusion with your address on the national database. I’d contact the support team & find out if your postal address matches the address on the national database. Have you contacted them to say you aren’t switching? If you do this as soon as you get the email we can put a block on you switching away .

If it’s too late the erroneous transfer process will start. I’d also advise contacting the supplier who keeps trying to take over. 

If the supply does switch away you’ll still be billed on the rates of the plan you signed up to once the supply returns & your warm home discount if applied to the account won’t be affected. 

Why have you let me know I’m leaving OVO when I didn’t request to switch?

Sometimes we receive a request for us to switch your supply away from us in error. Whilst it’s quite rare there’s a few reasons this may have happened,

• Human error - someone may have entered your address details accidentally when applying for a genuine switch
• Fraud - very occasionally fraudsters may use your details to apply for an energy switch (if the details held by the other supplier match your details it might be worth contacting your bank and checking your internet security procedures)
• Mistake in your address listing on the national database - If way your address is listed is unclear or incorrect this can cause issues switching. Check out this topic for more advice in getting this corrected.

How do I stop the switch taking place?

If you receive an unexpected leaving email, contact our Support Team to let us know you don’t want to go. They can put a stop to the impending switch and find out which supplier’s making the request. You’ll also need to make sure you let the other supplier know that you don’t want to switch to them as they may reattempt the switch.

What if the switch has already happened?

Even if the switch has already taken place, we can make sure it’s reversed. If you let our Support Team know, they can raise this as an ‘Erroneous Transfer’ (ET). This involves contacting the other supplier to let them know the switch shouldn’t have taken place. As this is a regulated process, they then have to return your supply to OVO and they can’t charge you anything.

@Emmanuelle_OVO

Sorry, I forgot to reply. 

The online chat were helpful in that they put a stop to the switch but despite asking, they said that no notes or anything extra could be attached to my account to stop it happening again. That it'd just be a case of approaching them each time it happens so they can stop it. 

Thankfully someone else from CS phoned me in reply to my email I had originally sent and he put into place a ban to automatically decline any switches until I approach them to remove it. He also said I should take a photo of each meter to ensure their serial numbers are correct matched to my address. 

I do believe that it's someone using my address as I received a letter from utility warehouse, addressed to someone else's name with a new sim, so I'm thinking they tried to switch all utilities to them but mistakenly put my address? That doesn't explain why it happened earlier this year however

Hey @Fawkes_hay 

Thanks for popping back with an update, I’m really glad the Support Team were able to help out somewhat.

Hopefully this doesn’t happen again or you get to the bottom of why, it does sound like someone’s maybe entering their own address incorrectly? Fingers crossed it doesn’t continue.