Credit Refunds

“Refunds should be returned by suppliers in a timely fashion. Customers can always request their balance back at any time…” hmm interesting. Unless they’ve switched suppliers when the credit stays locked into the OVO account until the wheels of commerce grind round and they eventually close the account.

Perhaps OVO think it’s not worth the effort to respond to every fanciful claim made in a news article, especially in papers like the Daily Mail. No one is ‘forced’ to leave more than enough to cover the remainder of the billing period’s usage. The journalist appears not even to have looked at the website the questioner referred to.

Nor the Forum clearly. We’ve said it a bazillion times - there’s ways to drop the balance down to one-month left, just not via Self-Service. And even down to zero if you’re on SVT. Sloppy journalism… Again...

I haven’t read that article so not able to comment directly on it. However I have just switched away from OVO just using the default process online, ie not making any special request to have my balance reduced. 
Step 1.  I lowered my dd to the lowest recommended online, from £260 to £190 per month.

Step 2. I switched away with effect from 8th June, leaving 3x £190 on the account.

Step 3. 18th June OVO took a dd of £190 🙄 Balance in account now over £700. Refunds not available as account locked - waiting for it to be closed.

Also worth noting… Suppliers have to keep your credit balance if you’re on PAYG, unless you want to be cut-off constantly for running out. That credit balance is the only way that PAYG supplies can be paid for, so draining it to zero means the service will stop.

Up to 6 weeks for a final bill, then up to 10  working days for a refund under ofgem rules. So 8 weeks isn't unusual.

That DD payment after you switched doesn't feel great. I think i would ask my bank to reverse it under the DD guarantee, although perhaps not worth the risk of further issues . Perhaps if the DD date wasn't so close to the switch date it would not have happened. But 10 days feels like it should  have been OK. 

One point of the article is that Ovo are not making a full refund easy.

I have tried contacting customer services to seek a greater refund but gave up when waiting for over 15 minutes.

I used the online facility which, by retaining 3 months of direct debits by value, appears to breach the Ofgem regulations.

I will be solving the problem my leaving Ovo in due course and fully respect the time taken to close an account and refund balances as part of that process.

And if anyone wonders why I am lingering and not leaving immediately, I am waiting to complete one years analysis of my electricity usage after having a solar and battery system installed mid August last year. Once I have a better handle on my lower annual electricity consumption I can at least join the new supplier with a realistic annual target use.

You seem to have an axe to grind.

Perhaps it’s worth mentioning that the Ofgem rules don’t specify how a supplier must let a customer drain almost the entire credit balance, only that there needs to be “some kind” of way to do so. I get the feeling that the “some kind” is left up to suppliers to decide how they want to do it.

Sorry, in your world if someone choose to highlight poor performance of Ovo it is because of an axe to grind?

Well there are the regular reissuing of bills despite taking daily smart meter readings. Oh and the time taken to realise they were reading my smart meter for nearly two months but were still asking for me to read the meter each week.

Then there is the lost then found then late Smart Export Guarantee application.

This is offset by the very nice people you speak to in customer service (when you can get through) who, when they cannot help, told me about their dated IT. This was when I asked why I had been put on a higher tariff having cancelled my Direct Debit when I had not.

The subsequent complaint was promptly dealt with, but no explanation as to why my tariff was changed and then another bill was reissued.

I have a jaded view of Ovo because of the lived experience, rather than viewing them as you appear to through rose tinted specs.

Finally, I have an EV and on the forums I frequent Ovo are also poorly rated for the machiavellian EV tariff which appears to be aimed at forcing owners to buy into Ovo’s technical solution. Your recent intervention regarding Myenegi Zappi chargers was not appreciated on that forum.

@Jeffus I will try to reverse that dd from 18th June then, not that I know how to!!!

@Electric_Twit I wonder if it might work, when you’re ready to switch, to cancel the dd so your account will default to pay on demand (at a higher rate). Then claim back all your balance, then switch. Don’t quote me !!