I had an air source heat pump installed as part of the ECO4 grant earlier this year.
Out of the blue, I was then told that I was eligible for financial help with electricity bills. This comes in the form of an evoucher from the AWS Energy Fund. You use this to credit your electricity account.
This is the question: I still have credit from this payment on my Ovo account, but am thinking of changing suppliers. Will Ovo credit me with this money?
Many thanks, Cate
Best answer by Ben_OVO
Updated on 03/10/25 by Abby_OVO
Thanks for your help here @Firedog!
@Cate123 as per the guide @Firedog has linked, any credit on your OVO account will be refunded after your final bill is generated, which is normally within four to six weeks of the switch.
@Cate123 as per the guide @Firedog has linked, any credit on your OVO account will be refunded after your final bill is generated, which is normally within four to six weeks of the switch.
I’ve had some poor advice from Ovo customer service since I had the heat pump / solar panels installed, but I wouldn’t say that this kind of thing is particular to this company. The reason is prices - the deals that I’ve found on Ovo have a daily standing charge of 72p whereas most other companies offer prices within 60 - 67p limits.
The best thing about Ovo by far is this forum. Earlier in the year, when I was having huge difficulties getting questions answered quickly and correctly, my brother suggested that there might be an online forum which could help me out. This is when I found this place and wow - every question I’ve had has been answered - kindly, helpfully and speedily.
I’m don’t know how it’s funded but this forum was the single reasons that made me think carefully about leaving Ovo!
As for how it’s funded? I can answer that. The Forum itself is paid for by OVO out of its own pocket and has dedicated Forum Moderators like Ben. They’re all OVO Staff like any other - they just spend ~99% of their time hanging out on here keeping an eye on things.
There’s also the Forum Volunteers such as myself and Firedog - we’re unpaid volunteers who help out because we like to do a cool thing. OVO sometimes rewards us in a small way like giving us sneak previews of upcoming stuff - but the most important thing is that money never changes hands between us and OVO.
It’s a clever model because the money OVO spends on the Forum results in absolutely bonkers savings elsewhere - it literally pays for itself! :D
Even if you leave OVO, feel free to stick around on the Forum - you’re ALWAYS welcome here!
Gotcha - there are only two known suppliers that run a Forum of this type these days - OVO and E.On Next.
Scottish Power used to have one, but it became a toxic pit and got terminated. The other one we knew of was with Pure Planet, which sadly got terminated with PP went bust. Shame really, as their community manager was amazing…
I don’t think any other supplier is likely to do this anytime soon - it requires commitment and that’s hard to justify.
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