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Why has my migration from SSE to OVO taken so long?

  • 26 February 2022
  • 19 replies
  • 1262 views
Z
Rank

Good evening all,

 

I have been informed in early December that my energy supply will be migrating from SSE to OVO Energy. However, the migration was never completed.

No migration has been done so far and it is already taking so long - Around three months.

I have sent multiple emails and made so many calls to SSE and their position is that my account is fully migrated.

On the other hand, OVO Energy is telling me that my account is still in migration.

SSE is telling me that the account is migrated and if I have any questions I need to turn to OVO Energy. From the other side, OVO Energy is telling me to turn to SSE…

I really do not know how to proceed and what to do!

Does somebody have the same issue with the migration?

Please advise.

Many thanks,

Zdenka

 

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Best answer by Blastoise186 26 February 2022, 19:52

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19 replies

Blastoise186
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Userlevel 7
Badge +1

Evening @zdenka !

I’m Blastoise186 and I’m one of the forum volunteers who helps out here. I’m not an OVO/SSE employee myself so I can’t access your accounts I’m afraid, but I can give advice that may help.

Based on what you’ve described, I suspect your account might be stuck in the migration process somehow which definitely isn’t what should have happened. My understanding is that you should have already been fully migrated by now as the entire process is meant to take no more than six weeks from the date it starts to run. If memory serves, I think it’ll now be for OVO to resolve rather than SSE - it makes more sense for things to be handled from this side when you think about it.

Chances are SSE is also correct. If your account has been removed from their systems, they’ll no longer have access to it.

As for how to get your account fixed? This is an unusual situation so probably the best thing I’d recommend for you right now, would be to use OVO’s Complaints Process to get more eyes on your account. However, you might want to try calling 0345 0260 712 first. This number goes through to a dedicated team who are assisting former SSE customers who recently migrated to OVO. The line will open again on Monday morning. See if they’re able to (hopefully) get the show back on the road and if not, the Complaints Process will cover you.

Hope this helps. Please keep us posted with how things go.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
G
Rank

Hi,  

I was told that I would be migrating from SSE to OVO in Jan 22, it still hasn’t happened.  Despite multiple requests to OVO by phone, e-mail and online messaging I always get the same response, ‘It will happen shortly’.  Is anyone else having or had similar issues and how did you resolve them?

R
Rank
Userlevel 1

I am in the same position.  I bought a house in January 2022 which at the time had electricity supplied by SSE.  I was told I was being migrated to OVO but I am still waiting for an account to be set up in my name.  After many hours on webchat and phone to OVO and finally via the OVO twitter account it transpires there was a technical problem with the migration and I am now on a "spreadsheet" with many others waiting for this to be resolved.  I have missed out on the opportunity to take out a fixed rate at the start of the year and am accruing electricity bills with no idea now how much I owe for my electricity. It is very stressful and worrying but all I am told is that I will have to wait till it is sorted out.  It is simply an appalling service from OVO and as soon as I am able I will be moving my account elsewhere.

At this pointI would suggest you try OVO twitter account.  It is only through them that I finally found out what the problem was even though they are unable to help move the issue along. Good Luck. 

G
Rank

Hi @Robert2901, @Tim_OVO 

Thankyou for the reply and the recommendation to try the OVO Twitter account. At least you have managed to find a reason for issue through Twitter but, as you say, no timescale for resolution, which is appalling.  If it helps, I am taking regular meter readings and then using the Energy Cap maximum values for kWH and the daily standing charge to calculate how much I owe. That  gives a maximum which they can't charge more than, I then put that ammount in a savings account to cover the eventual bill. Hope that helps, but agree it is all very stressful!

Tim_OVO
Rank
Userlevel 7

Hi @Robert2901 and @Gareth_H - thanks for flagging this. 

 

I’m sorry to hear of the delay in setting up your OVO account after the supply joined us from SSE. Just in case, if you haven’t had an email from OVO confirming this, you’re still with SSE for the time being. We’ve made a great resource of FAQs here that are worth a look. 

 

It’s tricky for me to comment on causes as it’s likely to be something account specific. One thing to check is your activated online account here:

 

https://account-activation.ovoenergy.com/confirm-email

 

Another important thing is to make sure you’re making monthly payments for your energy. It might just be an account access issue, meaning bills are still being made. Or it might be that there isn’t any bills possible but at least monthly payments will allow credit to build up ready for the bills. 

 

Lastly with something like this, our Support team is best placed to take a look and help. Please be advised that we are seeing lots of contact to our Support teams at the moment with price cap and government support news making the headline this week and last. It might be worth delaying this contact another week when we’ll be able to get to you quicker…

 

Thanks for your patience as we get to everyone as soon as possible. 

Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there! My green tech: Aclara SGM 1411-B smart meter, Chameleon IHD6
G
Rank

Hi @Tim_OVO,

Thank you for the response.  I have tried activating my account using that link on a number of occasions without success, I get the message ‘Your password reset link in invalid or expired’. 

I have also tried on number of times to submit meter readings and make payments to my old SSE account.  I can still access it online: however, the account was closed on the 3 Jan and will not allow me to do either of those things. 

Much like @Robert2901 and @lucyloo2023  I have spent many a frustrating hour with the OVO support team, online, by phone and email with little or no progress.  I do not blame any of the individuals I have dealt with, they just do not seem to be up to speed with the issue. If, as it seems, this problem is affecting many Customers I would have thought the support team would have been given the facts to pass on. Perhaps that is something you could pass up the chain?

R
Rank
Userlevel 1

I would be more than happy to be paying someone somewhere for my electricity.  I have never had an SSE account.  I was told when I bought my house that the account was in the process of being transferred to OVO so an account in my name has not been set up with SSE.  It seems an account has never been set up with OVO either due to a technical issue.......I was told (wrongly) my account was with Boost but I do not have a prepayment meter. It is definately a credit meter. OVO have acknowledged this was a mistake.  At no point have I been contacted directly by a letter to my home address by OVO to confirm that they are now supplying my electricity. It is acknowledged finally via twitter that they are but I am stuck on a spreadsheet somewhere while the problem is being sorted out....and have been for 7 months. 

Thank you for all the good advice but unfortunately OVO is a shambles.  The customer support is clearly overwhelmed and many people like myself have found themselves locked in a system that cannot cope with the shambles this company find themselves in. 

At this point in time I don't even know if I will get the £400 government rebate as I don't have an electricity account in my name to claim it.  I have been sent several links regarding this but I really can't find anything that directly addresses my situation.....if anyone could point me to a paragraph that does address my situation I would be very grateful. 

D
Rank

Hi

My account has been stuck in migration since December 2021. I've been able to pay my direct debit to sse, until last month when they stopped. I've gone through the ombudsman and ovo havnt done anything they were asked to do. 

They keep saying they can't give a time frame. But 10 months is a joke, especially in this current climate. Does anyone have any ideas how I can get this sorted. 

L
Rank

hey...so im stuck in no mans land, between accounts. SSE have closed my account with a congrats, youve moved to ovo message and ovo are saying that my account isnt fully set up. they cannot make notes on my "not set up account" and cannot take readings or discuss account….so what on earth am i supposed to do whilst i am stuck in this in between stage? any ideas on a postcard please. 

 

Tim_OVO
Rank
Userlevel 7

Hi @DonnaLouise, I’m so sorry to hear about your experience. 

 

As your complaint was escalated to the Energy Ombudsmen, it should’ve been confirmed to you which contact channel to use, for the complaints team or the Ombudsmen directly. Our Support team won’t be able to help as this is a remedy that needs to be implemented with your complaint case handler. Dig out the latest contact from the Ombudsmen and find the contact channel they recommended. 

 

Hope this gets resolved for you soon,

Tim

Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there! My green tech: Aclara SGM 1411-B smart meter, Chameleon IHD6
Tim_OVO
Rank
Userlevel 7

Hi @LouOX7, thanks for posting this. 

 

I’ve replied to your other topic on the same question, here: 

 

 

Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there! My green tech: Aclara SGM 1411-B smart meter, Chameleon IHD6
B
Rank

My 86 yo mother pays dd each month.  She was sent cash only vouchers which she was giving trouble cashing so phoned SSE who said they couldn't help and transferred me to OVO.  After spending hours on the phone they have said they are unable to see her payments as there is a billing problem with the migration of her account.  It appears her dd is all going on her gas bill and nothing on her electric. They can't tell me when this is likely to be resolved. So now we are worried that mum is going to be presented with a massive bill.  She is on a smart meter and they gave confirmed they are taking daily readings but unable to produce  a bill

Emmanuelle_OVO
Rank
Userlevel 6

Hey @Billingmess1,

 

Sorry to hear this,

 

What date did her account start migrating across? It typically takes 6 weeks following a migration to get a first bill. But with a small number of customers their migration process may take longer. 

 

If she continues paying her monthly direct debit then even if she gets her statement and it covers a two month period she’ll have made payments towards this.

 

Hope this helps. 

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.
B
Rank

My mum has paperwork  providing her with a new account number on 28 June which tells her that that her bank will be notified of the change and she doesn't  have to do anything.  So we'll over the 6 week period and no date as to when it maybe resolved

Jeffus
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +2

@Billingmess1 vote for this if you don't think OVO have enough capacity in their Support Team

 

D
Rank

My account has been stuck in migration since early December. Spent so much time talking to advisors on the phone, email, online chat and through the Ombudsman and they’ve still done nothing. They won’t tell me when the account will be up and running, won’t tell me how much i’m meant to owe them and worst of all, won’t let me switch suppliers until they’ve finished doing whatever it is they are doing. 


Has anyone else been waiting a ridiculously long time and actually had their account sorted now? All I can see on here is others that are still waiting, no one seems to have actually had this resolved? 

Emmanuelle_OVO
Rank
Userlevel 6

Hey @dom1986,

 

Really sorry to hear that, that sounds like a really frustrating experience. 

 

The migration process shouldn’t take that long, typically it takes about 6 weeks. It sounds like there is a technical issue with your account, unfortunately we don’t have access to customer accounts on the Forum. 

 

It sounds like you’ve done the right thing raising a complaint, if you’ve already exhausted other avenues.

 

Really hope this gets sorted as soon as possible. 

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.
D
Rank

OVO is an absolute mess. My account is STILL in migration (and has been since December) - they won’t give me an update. Every time I manage to talk to anyone (which isn’t easy in the first place!) I just get ‘sorry, we don’t know what’s going on and we can’t give you an update, nor can we tell you how long it will take. Oh and you can’t move to a different energy supplier either’ - So, we’re just in limbo, being held hostage by literally the most incompetent company i’ve ever had to deal with. 

My wife is 8 months pregnant and is incredibly stressed about the situation and I can’t help her because I have no idea what is going on! OVO need to sort this out NOW - it’s not good enough to say ‘we don’t know’. 

Jeffus
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +2

OVO is an absolute mess. My account is STILL in migration (and has been since December) - they won’t give me an update. Every time I manage to talk to anyone (which isn’t easy in the first place!) I just get ‘sorry, we don’t know what’s going on and we can’t give you an update, nor can we tell you how long it will take. Oh and you can’t move to a different energy supplier either’ - So, we’re just in limbo, being held hostage by literally the most incompetent company i’ve ever had to deal with. 

My wife is 8 months pregnant and is incredibly stressed about the situation and I can’t help her because I have no idea what is going on! OVO need to sort this out NOW - it’s not good enough to say ‘we don’t know’. 

If you haven't already, put in an official complaint.

https://www.ovoenergy.com/feedback

Then after 8 weeks ask the Ombudsman for help. 

https://www.ombudsman-services.org/sectors/energy

Given it has gone on so long, try asking  OVO for a deadlock letter for the complaint, then you can go straight to the Ombudsman. 

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