Updated on 18/10/23 by Abby_OVO
Hi @Barney21 and thanks for sharing this experience with us here. I want to help as best I can.
I’ve been able to contact our Collections team using this number: 0800 0699 831. I’d recommend you ring them when you’re free to discuss your options. They’re open till 6pm on week days. They should be able to work with you to make sure the account balance is for energy you’re responsible for and that the repayment rates are manageable.
You’ve called out contacting the Energy Ombudsmen. I wanted to highlight here that if the cause of your complaint has been raised to OVO within the last 8 weeks, the Ombudsman may ask you to try and resolve this directly with OVO first. For more info on our complaints process, see here.
We’ve recently made some great online resources to help members with price cap rises. See this page here for more info on that. For lots of advice and support with your energy payments, go here.
Need more help and advice?
For free, independent advice on debt, energy costs, and other areas where you might need support, these organisations and charities can also help:
- Citizens Advice - visit your local branch, or their websites: for England and Wales and for Scotland. You can speak to an advisor online, in person, or over the phone: 0800 144 8848 (England), 0800 702 2020 (Wales), and 0800 028 1456 (Scotland).
- National Debtline - call 0808 808 4000 or visit their website.
- Step Change Debt Charity - call 0800 138 1111 or visit their website.
- Civil Legal Advice - call 0845 345 4 345 for free, confidential legal advice in England and Wales, if you’re eligible for legal aid. Find out if you are here.
If you have a negative balance of more than £150 and you’re unable to pay your energy bill, you might qualify for a one-off payment from our OVO Energy Fund.
Hope this helps,
Tim
Hi the first bill I received was 27th Aug 2020 and it says starting balance 6126..00 nothing before then
Wendy
OK. I would discuss all this with the Citizens advice team you have already been referred to and OVO. Citizens Advice will be use to this sort of query as per their website.
Of course this is all based on my limited questions so see what Citizens advice say.
As you say the account has always been in your name so there is a debt of some sort you are liable for.
The first bill you actually received you say was 27th August 2020. It would be useful to know if OVO think they actually sent you any bills before then, it doesn't sound like they think they have sent you a prior bill but I didn't explicitly ask you that.
OVO can only back bill you 12 months energy on that first bill unless you have done something fraudulent like wiring the meter to steal gas or electricity, or not letting someone read the meters for example. It doesn't sound like you have done anything fraudulent. You have just been in an abusive relationship.
A debt of 6126 sounds more than 12 months energy. Making a educated assumption, the period between 2014 and 2020 is 6 years as you said. Lets assume for the moment that the 6126 is for 6 years energy. Let's assume the preceding 12 months was a 6th of 6126, so 1021.
1021 would be the most OVO could charge you for the energy as they are only able to go back 12 months. OVO may be able to confirm what the cost of the 12 months energy actually was given it is a smart meter.
Of course you are liable for subsequent energy usage and as i am sure you are aware energy has gone up recently.
Just to say again this is based on limited information, so you would need to discuss further with Citizens Advice and OVO to see if it applies.
Good luck, feel free to ask anything else and let us know how you get on.
