I moved house and closed my OVO account but my details have been found through 'trace and search' - how can I stop the debt collectors contacting me?

​@Firedog , indeed! It is the first time I’ve encountered a situation like this. I underwent quite a lot of distress from the first debt collector as they threatened to take me to court and dent my credit rating - even though I had a final bill from OVO and proof of my move out - and insisted I get further signed documents from my previous landlord (which I went to pains to get - and the case was closed following that). 
 

This debt fishing tactic should be made illegal! The collectors should not be allowed to harass people like that.
 

Not quite, I'm sat in the pub with all my clothes on. 🤣

☢️cad

​@Abby_OVO please can you look into this and have the team STOP harassing me. I have sent an email to OVO per nudecad’s advice but nobody has responded and today I am getting calls from BPO again. It is fraudulent of OVO to be trying to claim from past tenants (in this case, clearly with a final bill as of the move out date) for an unpaid bill owed by another person.

Morning ​@JL1001 

Sorry to hear of what’s happening hear, I can fully imagine how frustrating this must be. If you’ve had no email back from Customer Services at hello@ovoenergy.com, you can try emailing again or calling. I’d also recommend speaking to our Social Media team about it. You can send them a private message via Facebook or Instagram / X using the handle ‘@OVOenergy’. I have colleagues in the Social Media team that are trained in reversing Trace and Search cases - if you contact them and request that a complaint be logged they’ll get it sorted for you. When you do get through to someone, please also ensure that they recall the debt from the DCA (Debt Collection Agency), if you’re being contacted by one. 

I’m sorry you haven’t had this fixed already, it’s a quick fix as long as we have proof that the tenancy has ended, eg a council tax bill or Tenancy Agreement - you’ll need to forward one of those to the team when you speak to them. Trace and Search is a means for debt collection where details for the possible tenant of an OVO supplied property are passed to OVO by third parties such as Landlords, Letting companies and Land Registries and, sometimes, these details can unfortunately be incorrect. 

Please keep us posted as to how you get on - I hope this is resolved soon for you 🤞

​@JL1001 

Did you read the post that I gave you a link for?
Here it is again, click on this green text:

Read this if you want to stop debt collectors harassing you.

It tells you there that complaining to a supplier will do NOTHING to stop a debt collector from contacting you.

You have to stop them yourself - which you do by following my advice in that post.

Thanks ​@Nukecad , yes, I did send an email to BPO per your advice but have not gotten a reply and the team are still harassing me over calls. It could be that the teams within the agency are not speaking to each other. Maybe it will take time but I am just very frustrated that I am getting these threats for something I am not responsible for…
 

​@Ben_OVO thank you. My partner and I had spoked with OVO over the phone during the time the first collector came after us and they assured us the account was close with nothing to worry about. Why am I still being contacted by a new debt collector? This should have been resolved already…

​@JL1001 very frustrating! Have you tried contacting the Social Media team? They’ll be able to ascertain what the issue is, and they can recall the debt from the debt collector as well - there’s a form that the Advisors fill out and send off to recall DCA action. Just to confirm - OVO can recall debt from a DCA if the debt was sent to them by OVO - this is something we do whenever we see this exact type of situation.

Let us know how you get on!

In that case then next time they call:

Remind them politely that you have already instructed* them that you require* all communication to be by email or letter, and that you will ignore any further attempt at telephone contact.

Don’t say any more other than ‘goodbye’; hang up there and then - don’t get drawn into discussion.

Then stick by your word and either block the number or ignore all calls from that number.
(Personally I go the ignore route and make a note of date/time everytime that they phone after being instructed not to, as evidence for if I do want to prove harassment).

If you do answer one, by mistake then just repeat that you have already instructed* them that you require* all communication to be by email or letter, then hang up.

instructed and require are important words to use, they let the DC’s know that you are serious and have probably taken advice.
(They are also much stronger words to use than ‘told’ and ‘want’).

Thanks ​@Nukecad and ​@Ben_OVO . I managed to contact the OVO team via social media and they are looking into it. Will let you guys know how I get on!

Hello, 

i have recently received a letter to my current rental address from a debt collection agency about a bill for a property i moved out of. With no prior contact from Ovo energy. 
 

In short last year i rented a flat with my partner the ovo bill was in his name with me as an additional. We moved out in june. And had a final bill and refund from ovo. Then 9 months later, receive a letter to my new property from debt collectors asking for money from the two months after our tennacy ended. How can they justify this without prior contact. When they had our forwarding address etc on file. We updated credit files, electoral registers and banks etc as soon as we moved. I assume this was a traced account but am completely confused as to how my name was legally attached to this. 
 

i have since spoken to ovo and made a complaint and enquiry nearly two weeks ago without an update. I have sent tenancy agreements, council tax bills and final bills from the old account as evidence. But am yet to have confirmation that this is a) being looked into and b) is closing down. 
after two weeks i am increasingly worried about my credit file. And am unsure how to get someone on the phone that can actually fix this. Everytime i make contact i am told different time frames.

Morning ​@kgoodenough99 

I’m really sorry to hear that this is happening - very very frustrating 😔. It does sound as if this has happened through the ‘Trace and Search’ process where we’re given details for who lives at a property by third party contacts such as Land Registries, Landlords, the Post Office etc. Sometimes the info we get given via this process can be wrong, as may have happened here by the sounds of it. 

It really sounds like this has been going on for too long. If you’ve raised a complaint you should have been given a complaints reference number. You’ll also have a dedicated complaints handler who needs to remain in contact with you until this is resolved. If you’ve received an email with your complaints reference number I recommend replying to it and asking for an update, and asking them to reverse the Trace and Search and also recall the debt from the Debt Collector (these are both things we can do when the Trace and search process has gone wrong). 

The only other thing I can think is that the complaint was raised but wasn’t escalated after a certain amount of time - when you get in touch ask them to escalate the complaint if that hasn’t been done already. Let us know how you get on - good luck with it. There’s a few Forum posts by people who’ve had the experience like this one:

Cheers.

Hi ​@kgoodenough99 

What has happened here is unfortunately pretty common in rentals.

Your initial response in complaining to the energy supplier is also common but (again unfortunately) it is the wrong approach to take.

You need to stop the Debt Collection agency themselves, complaining to the supplier will not do that.

You need ro be clear in your mind that it is not the supplier who is chasing you; (the supplier already knows that your account with them was closed before the debt arose), it is the Debt Collection Agencey who is chasing you and so it is the Debt Collection Agency who you have to stop.

What has happened:

• You moved out and closed your energy account, exactly as you should.
• Someone moved in a couple of months later and opened a new account.
• OVO want paying for those couple of months, if the property was not let then that should be the landlords responsibility, but the LL never opened a new account when you moved out.
• OVO have instructed a Debt Collector to chase the money owing for that couple of months the property was empty.
• The Debt Collectors should be chasing the landlord for payment, but their systems see you as an easier target to go after first.

What's happening now:
Once the Debt Collectors are on the job:

• They will look for a name, any name at all, that is connected with the property where the debt arose - and yours came up as their favourite because you had been living there.
• They will then trace that name to an address and send demands for payment to that name/address.
• They are not bothered if they are correct or not, they are just chasing debt from anyone who will pay it.

What you need to do next:

• You need to contact the Debt Collectors not OVO.
• You need to tell the Debt Collectors that you are not liable for the debt because you had left the property, and can prove that. (Provide proof such as your final account from OVO).
• Tell them that any further demands for payment of a debt which is clearly not your debt will be classed as Harassment, and reported as Harassment to the regulator.
  (Emphasise that word - harassment - it has a serious meaning for debt collectors).

What happens after that:
The Debt Collectors should back off, but they may try to give some more waffle, however you just stick to your position which is -

1. You do not recognise that debt and do not owe that debt.
2. You have sent them sufficient proof that the debt is not your responsibility and do not need to engage any further.
3. As they have proof that the debt is not yours then any further demands for payment will be regarded as Harassment.

If they don't back off then do complain to the FCA that they are Harassing you. Such a complaint has very serious consequences for debt collectors.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An alternative way to stop Debt Collectors -
As you have already made a complaint to OVO then there is an alternative, similar but slightly different, approach that you could take with the Debt Collectors.
See my post here:

After recovering my email account after a good while checking my inbox have received an email from Ovo Energy saying my latest bill opening date 26th February 2025 £3076.31 in debt and closing date 25 March 2025 £3140.89 in debt. I don't understand how or why I'm being sent this bill as I was with another company who i took with me to the new house in July 2019 i was on a payg meter and my company took over a week or so later and there was obviously no debt otherwise I would not of been able to change Energy Company and I had move out around 4/5 weeks being there  because of being infested with rat's, then around 3 weeks in to being there the ceiling fell through from the bathroom that was the room above but my wonderful (Landlord) wouldn't fix ceiling or get pest control for rat's  and because of my physical health I moved out and took my company with me to the new place and  when I moved back to London a year later I closed my account with my Energy Company but now I'm worried about this and them trying to take legal action against me as I'm not sure if or where my paperwork is too prove I wasn't living there in the past 5 years.

Hi ​@Blu3wolf 

I’m the forum volunteer who usually gets asked to look at these billing/debt collection issues.

So lets see if we can work out what is going on here, once we know exactly what has happened then we can work out what you need to do about it.

As you have written it above that is all a bit confusing to follow.
(It usually helps readability if you use spaces to divide it into sections rather than just a solid wall of text).

Trying to pick the bones out of it - and please correct me if I have read it wrong - lets take it in small stages rather than trying to do it all at once.

So to start with could you answer these first few questions and once we have the answers we can go on from there:

1. You have been emailed a bill, from OVO, for a property where you no longer live, is that right?
2. Does that bill have your name on it?
3. When you did live there OVO was not your supplier, is that right?
4. Were OVO the supplier at the property when you first moved-in in 2019, ie. before you switched to your own choice of supplier?
5. Have OVO ever been your supplier, are they your supplier now?

Hey ​@Blu3wolf 

Sorry to hear this.

I’m glad to see one of our volunteers has already stopped by. If you could answer their questions it’ll be helpful in getting you the best advice.

I’ve linked below to a few topics which might be helpful:

Further information from yourself would help too.

I ended my contract with OVO energy two years ago  in 2023. Last Friday 20 June  I received a bill for £288.46 which they say I owed from that time. Furthermore,  I had to pay this amount by 04 July otherwise I might be charged another £15. This caused me acute anxiety and I spent 2 hours going through my online bank statements. It became clear to me that I owed nothing. In fact I was paying by Direct Debit until my final payment of £27.72 which I paid using my debit card. I rang OVO this morning and they admitted they had made a mistake. I have no idea how a mistake like this could have been made.

Hi,

   Sorry to hear you that you had issues with billing, I've been with OVO for 4 years and not had any major issues, in fact I was refunded for an overpayment that I wasn`t aware of 😊.

I`m also a but confused why you posted this on a OVO Forum when your no longer a customer,

at least your sorted now and got a refund 👍.

Shelle, it was interesting to learn of your issue. It does prompt us all to check all bills, transactions, statements etc that go through in our daily lives. Even in big well organised businesses mistakes can and are made so it was good you kept the “paperwork” to prove an incorrect billing.

Glad it’s all been sorted quickly by OVO Energy.

Hey ​@Shelle,

I’m sorry to hear of the stressful experience you’ve had, but I’m glad it’s been resolved. 

Sometimes the final meter readings a customer is billed to can change & they are re-billed. For example, if a customer moves out of a property & doesn’t provide a reading so we estimate the final bill & then the new tenant send us a meter reading after they move in & it’s out of line with the estimate. Or, in the case of a switch there can be a read dispute, in which the final estimated reading is out of line & one of the suppliers challeges it. 

But it sounds in this case like there may have been an administrative mistake. 

The following topics may have some helpful advice on this topic:
 

Hope this helps.

Hi ​@SimonFF2 ,

This is probably one for the Collections Team. Please try 0800 069 9831 in the first instance.

Otherwise… https://ovoenergy.com/feedback

Thanks

Actually they do make sense, £46 looks like a years Standing Charges for an empty property, but it’s not your bill. (Unless you own the empty property).

If you moved out of the property in July 2023 then, unless you still owned the property, you were no longer responsible for the billing after that date.

Because of what is now happening I am assuming that it was a rental property and not a property that you sold to someone else. Is that right?

What will have happened is that nobody moved in after you had left; so nobody has taken over the bills. That makes the Standing Charges the Landlords responsibility to pay.

So OVO are now chasing for payment - But they don’t have a ‘named’ account for whoever was responsible for the bills after you had left in July 2023.

In such circumstances either OVO them selves, or a Debt Collection company acting for them, will run a Search/Trace to try and find who is responsible to pay.

Because of the nature of such a search it will often more easilly find the previous tenant, (ie. you), rather than finding the landlord who isn’t on the Electoral Register etc. at that property

What you need to do now: Don’t just ignore the letters.

You need to look if the letters are from OVO themselves or from a Debt Collection Agency. Whichever one it is is the one you need to reply to.
(If the letter is from a  Debt Collector then to stop them sending more you have to deal with them and not with OVO).
Reply to the letters simply stating that you moved out of the property on such a day of July 2023 and so any bills accrued since that date are not your responsibility.

Don’t get into long discussions or debates with them, just simply keep saying “I moved out on such and such a date, any bills from after then are not my responsibility”.

I wrote a help article on how to deal with these kinds of letters.
Read and digest the ‘Important Facts’ in the opening post; and then you’ll want link#3 "Letter addressed to you by name about a debt at a property that you have now left."

Yes, I understand now.

In the meantime, I was finally able to speak to the collection department in South Africa, and that was their reasoning: the refund they gave me last year was "a mistake". They refunded me too much and now, a year later, they want the money back.

The agent that you spoke to was clearly wrong.

Telephone jockeys in any organisation will and do often make on-the-spot ‘guesses’ about things, some of those guesses can be very wide of the mark.
Especially when they haven’t listened to you properly and/or haven’t understood what you have told them.

You already have proof that it is  NOT an overpayment of a refund.

You said in your first post that it’s an itemised billing for July 2023 to July 2024.

Don’t rely on anything said over the phone by an agent when you are complaining about something, as you have found here, it’s often a ‘guess’ said without checking the facts. It can easily be denied later that they ever said it, you have nothing written down.

You need to deal with such matters in writing, ie. email or letter.

I say in that article that I linked (did you read and digest it?)

Tell them that you require that all further communication must be by email or by letter and that you refuse to discuss anything on the phone, it they do ring you then inform them again and politely hang up.
(Having everything in writing avoids “you said/no I didn’t” type arguments that can arise with phone calls).

I also say repeatedly in that article, and repeated it above - don’t get into any discussions or debates (and particularly not on the phone)

Stick simply to - “I moved out on such and such a date, any bills from after then are not my responsibility”.

​@SimonFF2 I hope you’re well, and welcome to the OVO Forum.

​@Nukecad has given some great advice here that’s absolutely spot on. Your details would have been passed to us incorrectly by a third party like a Letting Agent or Land Registry through the ‘Trace and Search’ process. You’ll need to raise a complaint about this (you can find out how to do this here). I’d recommend doing everything by email, as you’ll need to send in the Tenancy Agreement for the old property showing the dates you were there. If you don’t have this, a council tax bill would be the next best thing. 

Once Customer Services have received this from you then they’ll be able to reverse the Trace and Search account that’s been set up, and remove your name and details from the incorrect account. They’ll also be able to remove any negative credit file markings if any have been sent to Experian. By all means reference this Forum topic to Customer Services when you speak to them.

This is a stressful thing to happen, but is also a very common occurrence, and is easily resolved by our staff. Let us know how you get on!