Hey @Elena Wilson,

Sorry for the issues you’re having, 

Usually when you switch suppliers, we’ll receive the information we need from your new supplier and issue a final statement within 6 weeks of your switch date. If you’ve got a credit balance, once the final statement has been issued, this’ll be automatically refunded and be back in your bank account no longer than 10 days after you get the final statement.

What can slow down my switch, and how will delays be resolved?

Most switches go smoothly, without any hiccups. But, occasionally, there might be a delay – and it’s likely to be from one of these things: 

1. Your meter readings might take longer than normal to be validated

When you sign up to your new supplier, they’ll ask for your electricity and gas opening readings. They’ll also get your readings checked against the meter readings from us.

These checks are carried out by different companies, which means that when your validated readings are returned to them and your new supplier, they might not come back together. This can lead to a delayed first statement on one of your fuels. And if the figures don’t match, it can lead to a reading dispute. 

2. Your meter details or address might be wrong

It might be that they’re missing one of your meter numbers, or haven't got your full address. 

3. You might have had an erroneous transfer

They’ll use the national database to find your meter details, so they switch the right person. They should send these to you to check. If you forget and they don't match, they might transfer someone else by mistake. This is called an erroneous transfer. You can find out more about erroneous transfers in our help page. 

4. You've built up a debt

If you owe us money, we may reject or block your switch, which will lead to a delay. 

You can find out more about the switching process here. If you haven’t had your final bill within 6 weeks, you may be entitled to compensation. You can find out more on the OFGEM website.

Hope this helps. 

Hi Emmanuelle,

Thank you for responding. I switched to British Gas on 27-12-2023, and before that my OVO account had a credit balance of £248. Despite this, I am still receiving bills from OVO and they continue to deduct money from my bank account on the 1st of each month. As a result, I now have to pay both British Gas and OVO every month. Whenever I contact OVO, they assure me that they will resolve the issue and send me the final bill, but no one can provide me with a timeframe for when that will happen.

Kind Regards,

Elena 

Hi @Elena Wilson 

I’m really sorry to hear you’re no further forward with this.

I’ll have the Forum Support reach out to you to help get this resolved as I know you’ve been having difficulties for some time now. 

You should receive a private message here soon: https://forum.ovoenergy.com/inbox/overview.

Hi @Elena Wilson , what I did when I switched away was to cancel my direct debit (knowing the I was in credit). You would get a message but it would stop any further deductions. 
Also they obviously already have your bank details so it would not stop any refund due. 

Hey @Elena Wilson,

BPLightlog has given some helpful advice here, if your supply has switched away and you’re account has enough credit, you could cancel the direct debit.

My only concern is that it might be that British Gas have taken an incorrect address over, and that we still hold your supply? The support team should be able to check this information on the national database. If that’s not the case, it may be a delay in the final statement being produced.

Hope this helps. 

I have been with Ovo for several years but decided to move to E.on Next Drive with the EV - works better.  At the start of the process I was in credit to the tune of £1200 with a monthly payment of £300pm and actual usage around £250pm over the last year.

I initially asked for a refund but it (automation) would only give me £400 as it wanted 3 month credit to remain in the account.  I then transferred to e.on.  The next day (or so) I got an email saying sad to see you go - how nice.  We will refund you outstanding balance in 6 weeks - oh and the refund can take up to 10 working days!  That’s ridiculous it is not like they don’t have the data - we are on a smart meter with ½ hourly readings.

Anyway I don’t close the direct debit because they can’t send the money back if I do - so OVO say.

Three weeks later they take another £300 from my account.  This is insane so I ring customer service.   I am polite but point out that I would like my money back.  No deal you have to wait until the 8 weeks is up.  The rep at least had the good grace to agree it was an unsatisfactory procedure and delay and offered to raise a complaint. So I got an email yesterday asking me if my complaint had been resolved satisfactorily to which I replied NO.

Advice to others: make sure you get as much money out / balance as low as possible before changing supplier.

This is just standard procedure across the energy market - it’s designed to help you pay off the Final Bill as smoothly as possible and avoid Bill Shock. Whatever is left after that gets sent back to you automatically, after which the account will continue close itself down. The old supplier nukes the Direct Debit at that point, but once the Final Refund is in your bank account, you can 100% terminate the DD yourself without penalty.

It is best to let it run that way.

I moved my supply just over a year ago. I had the standard suggestions about timing and dd maintenance and whilst I understand the need to be assured of bill payment etc., I don’t know why the refund takes so long (but all suppliers seem to have a similar process ).

One thing I did, knowing that I was in credit, was cancel my direct debit - this is not needed for a refund as they have your bank detail - and although I was prompted to reinstate it (I didn’t), that prevented any further payments. 

Hi Blastoise

I get that. But the model assumes you are in debt to the supplier which I am not and suspect many are not given how they play around with the direct debits.

Just because it is standard procedure doesn’t mean it is right. Taking a months payment 3 weeks after the supply has moved and while the account is in balance to the tune of 3 monthly payments is just not on.

Anyway thank you for your inputs over the last few years. Always helpful.

Thankfully I am not depended on OVO for usage logging having registered with glowmarkt some time ago - e.on just send you a monthly bill as far as I can see.  It will be interesting to see how overnight electricity (0000-0700) at 1/3 the day rate works out!

What we need is a proper smart tariff comparison site to compare all these time of day tariffs now the market is getting so complicated.

Regards

Ditto  -  I moved to octopus and kept my DD instruction with the bank as  advised. Lo and behold a DD was taken after I moved, so I had to wait for that amount to be credited too. Perhaps OVO could change their advice ? Cancel the DD at the bank when you switch because OVO won’t do it. 

Hey @waiwurrie 

Sorry for the issues you’re having

I understand your frustration. The timeframe is due to a third party data collector needing to agree the opening readings with the new supplier & closing readings with the old supplier so that the final bill can be created. This is an industry timeframe & may change in future & become more streamlined but currently stands at six weeks. If you contact the support team they may be able to manually work out & estimate what the final bill will be & refund the rest. 

Just to add that one of the elements of the switch process being discussed is the myth that cancelling the DD on switching would make it difficult for OVO to issue the refund because the bank account details would disappear with the DD mandate. There’s enough evidence to indicate that this is not the case, so perhaps it needs emphasising that nothing bad will happen if the DD is cancelled.

If you’ve recently been billed to up to date readings from the meter & are confident that your final bill will be covered by your credit you can cancel your direct debit. We’ll refund to the most recently active bank details on our system @waiwurrie 

I’ve also moved to Octopus. 
it’s a bit odd, getting prompt responses and people doing what they say they will. 
 

i moved in May, from OVO. 
still not had final bill or refund and as nobody does anything, the excuses keep extending the timeline. 
I’m thinking the only way to get someone to actually bother doing anything is going down the regulator complaint route. 
 

ive got a brain injury that really makes dealing with this stuff a nightmare. I’ll have to get one of my support workers to get the ball rolling. 

Ofgem will not process your complaint - you must go via the Energy Ombudsman, not Ofgem.

Hi @Marmalade,

I’m really sorry to hear about this delay with your final bill.

It should only take up to 6 weeks for your final bill to be generated. When you got in touch did the team say why your bill might be delayed? 

Going down the complaints route may be the best option in this case if you haven’t raised one already. Here’s a link to our complaints procedure:

https://www.ovoenergy.com/feedback

Hope this helps.

26th July, I was told 3-5 days to finalise the account and 4-6 weeks for a refund. 
20th sept, told transfer was 20th

August, and it would be 6 weeks from then. 
 

still nothing. 
 

I’m really sorry for the issues you’ve been experiencing, that’s definitely not the experience we want for our customers, @Marmalade.

I’m going to have our Forum_Support team reach out to you so they can help you further with this. Look out for a private message here soon:

https://forum.ovoenergy.com/inbox/overview

I pmd 5 days ago. Had a seemingly unrelated response to which I replied 4 days ago. 
 

heard nothing since. 
live help had told me I had a refund on the way and I’d have it within 10 working days. This was over 3 weeks ago, so that isn’t happening. 

I’ve sent an email to complaints. 
the automated response suggesting I use the app or website is amusing. Since neither works, never have. 
 

is anyone capable of completing my switch, which I assume is a fairly normal occurrence?

I don’t know if this will help at all while your account is clearly in a state of flux, but paym.ovoenergy.com is the old address. Of course, it should redirect you if your account had been migrated to the newer system, but it may be worth trying to reach my.ovoenergy.com. Use the email address you use to contact OVO as the username and see what happens. 

Meanwhile, check that you have the latest version of the OVO Energy app from your app store.

Can someone please help. I've contacted email support and they said.  Normally the process will take around 4 to 6 weeks from the date we ended the supply and we will be sending it out to your email address. As per record, that was dated 19.09.2024. Rest assured it will be available the soonest possible time.

I've had confirmation that the meter readings were accepted. 

You have taken a further £230 and now you have close to £800 of my money. It's over 6 weeks and approaching Christmas, please can you sort?

Hey @jtcsmith 

Sorry to hear about this.

It’s hard to know what’s causing the delay as we don’t have access to accounts here at the Forum. It’ll be best to get in touch with the Support Team again, you can chat with the team via live chat instead of email. They’ll be able to check the account and see what’s happening with the switch.

We’ve got a similar topic which I’ve linked to below that may also be helpful:

Let us know how you get on.