How is it possible for my supply to switch erroneously?

That would be ECOES and Xoserve. I’m afraid you can’t access them directly.

Ok thanks for that. So if I contact ECOES they can check how my property is listed and which meter is linked to it?  

Do you know who the 'national database' is managed by?  Is it separate from ECOES or Xoserve? 

There is no way to access or contact them - you have to go through your supplier.

ECOES manages the electric meter national database, Xoserve for the gas one.

Thanks @Blastoise186. This is helpful information! 

I will check that the details are correct! 

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/get-compensation-problems-switching-energy-suppliers#:~:text=If%20your%20supply%20is%20switched%20by%20mistake&text=They%20have%2021%20working%20days,%C2%A330%20for%20the%20mistake%20.

If your supply is switched by mistake

You could also get £30 if your energy supply is switched by mistake. You must contact your old supplier and let them know. They have 21 working days to switch you back after the mistake has been made. This is called an ‘erroneous transfer’ in our rules that suppliers must follow as part of their energy licence.

If this happens your new supplier will automatically pay you £30 for the mistake . They should pay this within 10 working days of the date they agree a mistake was made. They will either send you a cheque or pay directly into your bank account.

Extra compensation if there are delays switching or fixing mistakes

Suppliers have to pay you compensation you are entitled to within 10 working days. If they do not , they have to pay you an extra £30. This is part of our ‘Supplier Guaranteed Standard of Performance’ . These standards make sure that suppliers put things right and that you are paid for a problem that was their fault.

You can also get an extra £30 in compensation if:

• the supplier takes more than 20 working days to reply to you after telling them about the switching mistake
• your old and new suppliers take more than 20 working days to agree whether your switch was correct - they will each pay you £30 if this happens
• your old supplier takes more than 21 working days to re-register your supply once they know about the mistake

Thanks. I was aware of that and I got the appropriate compensation as stated above last year when this happened. But OVO still wasn't able to sort out my account until months later. 

...I will be contacting them again anyway because just received a ' welcome to your new home letter'! 

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.🤞🏻