My switch away was rejected as I have a 'profile class 0' (commercial) supply - how do I get database updated?

That’s not a good background story @HelsTC. I wish you’d posted here last year and I could’ve advised then how to get this resolved in time.

Whilst I appreciate all the checks that ECOES need to go through, they, like OVO, are still subject to the authority of the Energy Ombudsman. If you don’t have a satisfactory resolution within 8-weeks, you are able to take an issue to them whether or not you have been supplied with the proper Deadlock Notification.

This is the sort of advice that we can help with, here on the Forum.

Actually OVO have an excellent record in resolving matters before there’s any need to approach the Office of the Energy Ombudsman. That’s why they repeatedly score highly in the annual Which? customer survey.

So I’m pretty sure you’ll get the required action from them… but we could’ve done so ten months back.

Yep as @Transparent mentioned, a bad background story/experience for you @HelsTC 

If we can find some kind of trace to suggest that you flagged this to us earlier then the few weeks ago that you mentioned, I’m sure the agent, or their manager, would be able to consider this in a resolution. Having worked in the ‘Complaints’ team for years, I would suggest (assuming we can confirm evidence of you contacting us about this issue last year) that we could look to cover any difference in prices from the supplier of your choice at the time.  

One bit of defense for OVO here: it’s the new supplier that has rejected this switch. It’s their prerogative to reach out. But even if they did, you’d need to restart the switch directly with them. 

Hope this gets resolved quickly. Feel free to send the URL of this topic to any agent you speak to on the web chat team

Just been catching up on the situation @HelsTC and it doesn’t sound ideal to hear you mentioned this a year back. 

I’m hoping the process here on is a smooth one, but please keep us posted.

@Transparent. Thank you. Unfortunately I just did not have the time to see it through last year as it was evident to me from the responses of both suppliers last August that neither recognised it was unacceptable to expect me to spend time convincing the other supplier that they were the party in this situation that needed to address the issue. In fact neither recognised a dead end / stale mate had been reached. This was probably not reflective of OVO organisational culture, but clearly this one individual did not recognise the situation I was being put in.

I agree, OVO are a great provider in my experience and I am confident the people with the right problems solving skills now have this on their radar, and would be highly surprised if I found myself in the position in which the Ombudsman was the next step.

Yes, I don’t think this one will end up with the Energy Ombudsman either.

But for the sake of others who come to read this in future, you don’t actually require a Deadlock Letter in order to take a matter to the Ombudsman. You merely have to demonstrate that you’ve exhausted the (Ofgem approved) complaints process for your Energy Supplier.

And that’s why I always recommend that such communication is done by email. You get to retain a time/date-stamped copy of what you wrote. Simples.

Even if the actual issue rests at the door of ECOES, the route to a resolution starts with the Complaints Procedure of the Supplier.

Thank you for you're response @Tim_OVO

Apologies for the slow response Tim: family emergency ongoing here, so I'll stick to the key point: I can send the communications from last August but it wouldn't be helpful to post them here for various reasons so please do let me know where to email them.

Of interest: New provider has stated my application will go on hold whilst the meter record is sorted out by ECOES.

Much appreciated. 

Good to hear this is getting sorted, @HelsTC 

If you email us on hello@ovoenergy.com, link to this topic, and advise or the request you made for this change to happen last year. Hopefully the agent will be able to find the notes from this and update you on actions they’re taking. They might reach out to by phone.. 

So, I seem to be in the same boat now, and after prodding support a few times, I have now been given a resolution time frame of 45 working days (or 9 ½ weeks). That seems distinctly excessive to me, even if there are external factors involved. 

Does anybody know how this problem was created? Was the profile class wrong when I switched to OVO already, or did that happen with the installation of the smart meter?

Since this is a rather significant mistake, and I now feel held hostage by OVO, I would like to see some answers. I guess a complaint would be the only way to do that? 

I’m so sorry to hear of the issues you’ve had when contacting our Support Team to request a change to your profile class, @MrPuds.

As outlined in the ‘Best Answer’ above:

As you mention being advised of a much longer than expected timeframe to get this resolved, I’d like to take a look at your account to make sure this request has been raised correctly.

We’ve previously contacted you via a Private Message here, if you could respond to this message confirming your account details, I can investigate this further for you.

I hope this helps get things sorted.

Following up to this, can anybody point to first hand evidence of OVO’s interpretation of Profile Class 0? I have looked extensively at the communication and documentation from ECOCS and Elexon, and I have also asked several electricity providers. 

OVO claims that the use of Profile Class 0 is industry standard for elective half-hourly settlement (elective HHS). 

Nobody else seems to share that interpretation. And any information I can find says that Profile Class 0 is reserved for industrial supplies > 100kW which are on mandatory half-hourly settlement (HHS), a completely different process from elective HHS. 

Clearly somebody must be right, and somebody most be wrong.