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?

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Please @Blastoise186 would you mind reading my post before commenting. 

Thank you

I did. My judgement after doing so is that one of the options on that page is the one you’re after. I cannot reply to a thread without viewing it first - I don’t have that ability.

The 0 Views thing doesn’t normally happen. I have a trick to try and fix that. That’s going straight to the forum provider to dig into.

I’ve spoken to the forum provider, they agree that the 0 views is a bug which is now being investigated on their end. I’m not OVO staff myself, but I have special permissions that allow me to do that.

As for the fraud/data harvesting question? Nope, neither is true. If you don’t totally shut down everything properly when moving out, it can leave you financially linked to that address - this is what OVO probably picked up via the Collections Team using Trace & Search to deal with an unknown occupier. It’s a completely legitimate process that OVO is entitled to do in order to collect debts and/or what is owed for services provided and not paid for.

You need to provide proof that you’re no longer at that property, which should close that account. Please also provide OVO with info on who’s now responsible if you can.

The view counter has been fixed and appears to be working now.

Hey @notanOVOcustomer,

Sorry for the issues you’re having,

It seems like the new owner or tenant hasn’t set up an account, or perhaps switched away without paying their interim payment with OVO.

OVO would have attempted to send letters to the occupier to get them to pay the monies owed, when they didn’t OVO would have gone to a debt collection agency.

This agency would have found your sons details through ‘trace and search’ (which means communications would have gone to your son at that address or there would have been some kind of ‘mark’ there, so the assumption was he was now in the property and responsible for the bills). 

Your son needs to contact the DCA and advise he has moved out and isn’t liable for this arrears and they will remove his name. 

Hope this helps. 

I’ve got a flat which has prepaid meter which was left with a small credit on for the new tenants 

out of the blue a final statement arrived to me not the letting agent? 
no one at OVO any help

A few things aren’t clear there, including whether you are moving in or moving out of this flat?

So it’s question time:
Have you moved out, or moved in?
If you have moved in then have you set up a new account with the supplier?
If you moved out has the final statement been delivered to your new address?
Is the final statement addressed to you by name or to ‘The Occupier’?
Was there a void period where the property was stood empty? (I realise you may not know that if you moved out).
Is the final statement from OVO - or as it’s a pre-payment meter is the statement from BOOST?
Is it a statement or is it a bill? ie Is it asking for a payment to be made?

If you are moving in then you need to set up an account to get the supply in your name.
You give them the meter reading(s) as they are on the date that your Tenancy starts (which may be before you actually move in) and should then only be liable for usage and the standing charge(s) after that.

If you are moving out then you submit the final meter reading(s) as they are when you move out and should then only be liable for the charges up to those readings on that date.

Obviously one or both of the above has been done for a ‘Final statement’ to be issued.

But of course there is often a ‘letting void’ the period between one person moving out and another moving in, anything used during those void periods, and the daily standing charge(s) is somebody’s responsibility to pay for.

Any credit left on a pre-payment meter during a void period will still be used up daily by the standing charge even if no energy is being used.
If there is no credit on the meter then they will build up as a debit to be paid later.

Responsible landlords will often get the supply put briefly into their name if there is going to be a long ‘letting void’, particularly if they are going to have workmen/cleaners in the property using electricity.
Then the incoming tenants get it put into their name when their tenancy agreement starts (or rather whichever is the earlier of when they move in or when the TA starts).
However if there is no letting void or only a day or two, or if the landlord just can’t be bothered, then it gets left for the incoming tenant to sort out.

Hi @Paul m 

Nukecad, one of our volunteers has left some really helpful advice already and has asked some questions that would help us get you to the right place as it’s quite difficult to get a full picture of what’s going on from what you’ve said.

Are you the landlord for the property and it’s usually a letting agency that deals with this or are you a new tennant.

It sounds like your details may have been found and attached to the account by our trace and search process.

If you could answer a few of the questions asked already, we’ll do our best to help.

Good point,

“I’ve got a flat” isn’t particularly clear about that.

I hadn’t entirely missed the possibility that @Paul m might also be the landlord rather than a tenant, the question about moving in or out should have captured it if/when answered.
With the minimal information that we have been given so far then being the LL is possible too.

If Paul is the landlord here then my comments about void periods would be the most relevant.

Hello everyone, I lived at a friend’s apartment briefly before getting my own place. My friend ended his tenancy around September and I moved to my new house around the same time. OVO has now opened an account in my name via trace and sent me a final bill. Even though I live at another address during this period.

I have since called and called OVO customer team and OVO collection team explaining to them. They agreed I am not liable and asked for evidence of my move-in date to the new house and I have provided my new tenancy agreement showing that i lived at another address during the period of the bill. I sent a total of 8 mails to OVO asking for an update since April 2024 till now. 
 

Sadly since April when i provided this documents, OVO has refused to respond and address this issue. This week I paid a visit to the old address and found a letter from OVO stating that they have sent my details to a collection agency. 
 

Can anyone advise on how to get OVO to reply my email and resolve this issue? The silence from them and now the collection agency is frustrating and affecting my day to day mental health.

thank you