OVO Plus Tesco offer? Is this legitimate?

You are very welcome @BeePee 👍

Why is it only customers with smart meters eligible for this deal?

Well it would take me over ½ hour each way to reach my nearest Tesco so not much use to me either.

But at least they are trying to get other promotions out rather than just tickets for a concert in a  big arena in a city “Far far away”*.

*(Slade song from 1974 - if you don't know it already you will like it).

The usual story - there is always a catch with  promotions. 

That would be an incentive to upgrade. If you’ve already met all the conditions, you might as well grab the loot if you want it. Otherwise, it’s an incentive to get people to upgrade to Smart Meters and replace some of the ancient ones that are reaching End of Service Life and then claim the reward for doing so.

Likewise, there was an incentive to get people to visit OVO’s Bristol HQ recently for an event (sorry, that event has already been and gone!), which was a £50 gift card, a £50 gift box, free lunch and all reasonable travel expenses covered such as your mileage or train/bus fares. Mostly just a way to sweeten the deal and encourage people to go by making it worth their time.

You can’t force people to do stuff, but if you make it tempting to consider, you’ll get people’s attention willingly.

Thanks for your reply. I realise it was an incentive to change to a smart meter, just seemed a bit unfair for those of us who don't want to change, but still pay our bills like everyone else. I didn't realise OVO have rewards- might check in now and again - tho there might be a catch!

True, but it’s going to happen eventually regardless. Meters only have a finite service life and once it runs out, they have to get replaced. Traditional (Non-Smart) Meters are no longer manufactured because there’s no demand for them, so the chances of your next meter being Smart are about 98%.

I would qualify for this but since I’ve had no access to my account since last April not sure how I will be able to get this offer. Will try calling since that’s what I have to do for any query or submit meter readings. Is no one else still really disappointed that this is taking so long ? 

Hi @juneoid 

Sorry to hear about you having issues with being able to access your online account for so long. 

Just wondering if you managed to reach out to OVO’s customer support and get a fix for this? Hopefully, if you do meet all of the requirements, one of our agents was able to get this benefit linked to your account for you?

Would be great to know for anyone else that finds themselves in this position 👍

I meet all the requirements that are mentioned but still no joy in getting the benefit linked to my account. It was escalated to your complaints department and someone would contact us in 24/48 hours but that hasn’t happened to date. Also asked for email re new price changes as from 1st July as we can’t access account to see this. Again still waiting. 

Hi @juneoid,

I’m sorry to hear this. 

I’m going to have our Forum_Support team reach out to you so they can help you further with this. Look out for a private message here soon: https://forum.ovoenergy.com/inbox/overview.

Agreed.  I’ve just had an email from Ovo giving Ovo Live offers.  But it involves either 300 miles travel to London at huge expense or 150 miles to Glasgow at large expense. Neither location are at all suitable unless you’re local or well off.  I’d much rather that Ovo returned to giving interest on my current balance which would benefit more people instead of having gimmicks for a minority.

As we’ve mentioned here previously a few times now, the reason OVO Interest Reward got terminated was because OVO had no choice. The primary reasons included:

• Ofgem Request - OVO Interest Reward ran under special permission from Ofgem but had a clause that it was to be “Open To Recall” and be terminated on request from Ofgem. Ofgem triggered that clause a couple of years ago, but allowed it to continue to run for a bit longer for existing customers - this allowance has since expired - OVO was required to shut it down as a result
• Viability - with so many customers on the price capped Simpler Energy tariff right now, it’s financially unviable to run OVO IR because the markup simply isn’t there anymore with the current market conditions
• SSE transfer - this would have literally exploded the bill for OVO IR to excessively high levels

It’s worth remembering that the OVO Interest Reward was designed in a time where the market was more stable and OVO was less than half the current size it is today. What was viable - and possible - to do back then no longer is today. These are ultimately the reasons why it was killed off

​​​​​​Did anyone that signed up for this ever get there 2,500 points?

Yes! Signed up 27th June, points came through late August. Thanks @Lucky2 

@BeePee looks like I will have to get in contact with OVO today

@BeePee could I ask if you got a confirmation email to say you had received the 2,500 points?

I've been on the online chat and the customer service lady said that she would escalate it to the right person and if I haven't had the points in 10 days I have to get in contact again. She said I should be able to see the information on my profile when I get the points and sent an email.

@Lucky2 No e-mail. We just logged in to our Tesco club-card account each week and lo one week the points appeared (26-Aug). This corresponds to the 60 days they quote for the points to appear.

Hey @Lucky2, 

Glad to hear that you got it raised! You could also try speaking with Tesco’s clubcard department to see if they can see it pending or if it ever reached your balance! 

Keep us updated on how things progress 😊

@Chris_OVO  spoke to Tesco on Sunday and they told me to get in contact with OVO as they can't do  anything to help me as it has to be finalised from OVO. 

When I did the online chat today I was told to give to 10 days and if nothing had changed to get in contact again.

Hey @Lucky2,

​Thanks for letting me know! I know there’s a process the team can follow to request this be followed up, so fingers crossed the points arrive in your Clubcard soon! If you don’t see them, reach out to the team, and they’ll follow up for you. ​

@Chris_OVO Thanks Chris hopefully it will be resolved soon.

@Chris_OVO so just wanted to give an update on the Tesco points, I still haven't received my Tesco points and when I went back onto the online chat on Friday it seems that my case hadn't been escalated as promised.

I have been with OVO many years and only had good things to say about them, until now it's been plain sailing and have not had too many things to complain about and when I have it's been dealt with quickly. I asked the customer service lady how long this will take to resolve this and she said she couldn't give me a time limit as to when this will happen and to just keep checking my Tesco Clubcard.

Hi @Lucky2,

I’m really sorry to hear this. 

Hopefully this has now been escalated for you? Unfortunately this isn’t something we would be able to give an exact timeframe for. 

Please keep us updated if this isn’t resolved soon and we’ll see what we can do here.