Forum Topic

Update on energy companies SSE and OVO.

ILLEGAL TRANSFER FROM ENERGY PROVIDER SSE TO OVO.A response given on Trustpilot on 26-1-23  by energy provider SSE regarding my illegal transfer from energy company SSE to energy company OVO which are part of the same company."Hi, Thank you for your recent email, I apologise for the delay in my response.We appreciate you contacting us. When I check your account, it has already been transferred to OVO Energy. As a result, your account has been closed and we no longer have access to it. I suggest you to get in touch with OVO Energy because they are the team that can assist you.Thank you for contacting SSE."John from OVO has informed me that I was tricked by SSE to sign up to OVO with a false promise of a £50 energy credit.And the response given on Trustpilot by OVO. Thanks for getting back to me, Neil.I've checked over your account and I can see you've managed to reach the team. I am sorry that the letter has caused such confusion, but the install would have had to have been with SSE.Thanks,Dave.Both SSE and OVO are continuing to argue that the other party are to blame for the illegal transfer. I have to wait about 7 weeks for SSE and OVO to sort the mess out before the Energy Ombudsman will intervene. Anyone wishing to change energy providers would be wise to check on Trustpilot the company they are thinking of using before deciding. SSE and OVO are having shocking reviews. See part of Which magazine review of OVO below.                                                              "Ovo Energy came near the bottom of the table in 13th place out of 16 energy companies rated by 10,197 members of the public in the annual Which? customer survey. This is a big drop from last year, when it came joint second. It had poor two-star ratings for almost all of the aspects of service we looked at, managing an average three stars for just one - the accuracy of its payments."One dissatisfied customer said: 'It’s impossible to contact them. Online options don’t make it easy to solve problems.'

Neil Milkins ● 450d20 Comments

I rang OVO Energy and think I was speaking to someone in a call centre in The Philipines.  I asked what had happened to my £82.05 and was told that they must have put the money against my bill.  I said it wasn’t good enough:  They asked me for money on the phone and have given me no itemised billing or record it has been paid, but thankfully it is on my bank statement.  
There are also about 4 weeks when I do not have an itemised bill, just a demand for money.  It is like being mugged in the street. When we said we wanted to move to Octopus, OVO sent a meter reader to our home.  Both my husband and I read the meters and took photos, in case there was a mistake.  Lucky we did because the electric meter reading is incorrect and they have added on an extra 100.  It is the final meter reading and they can’t even get it correct. I hate them.

Martine Guy ● 330d

We complained and managed to get just the one bill.  It is complicated enough with just one!

Philippa Bond ● 330d

Thanks for the above replies. Today we received our final bill from OVO Energy.  On one page they give full details of gas/electric used and it is an amount under £100.  However on the covering letter they say we owe a much larger final amount, no details are given for this much larger amount. In my opinion, OVO’s bills are extremely confusing.  Our quarterly bills usually go over 11 sides of paper.  In total, this means about 22 sides of paper, because they send one bill to me and one to husband.  They seem unable to send one addressed to Mr & Mrs.   The bill from Octopus was only over a few pages and was easier to understand. I had to pay £82.05 to OVO in order to clear my debt with them.  No sign of it on this latest bill and I wasn’t in debt to them, my payments were up to date.  Where’s it gone? Glad to be moving to Octopus.

Martine Guy ● 330d

Another example of Long Thatcher. An insidious condition which the country still suffers from - new symptoms manifest from time to time.

Michael Winstanley ● 335d

There seem to be rather a lot of different agencies involved in the delivery of energy to the consumer. I think we decided seven in a commercial electrical supply.We have been involved in a property which for some reason despite there being a smart meter the energy company never seemed to be able to read it remotely and would insist on sending random people to read it at random times.  Eventually we managed to get them to let us know in advance.Believing that it was a faulty meter we waited about (with constant reminders) three years for it to  be changed. We thought it might be this faraday cage problem but oddly enough an energy broker said that although the company selling us the energy couldn't read it he could read it - so why the company itself couldn't who knows?  Once a new meter was installed it was working remotely and could be read for a while but it seems to have stopped again...  Nothing seems to work anymore.

Philippa Bond ● 335d

It's at least partly to do with hedging. The reason 30+ smaller energy suppliers have gone bust in the last couple of years is that they signed long-term (e.g. 1 year) fixed--price contracts with their customers but were buying most if not all of their gas and power from the short-term markets (day ahead, week ahead, month ahead etc.). Lots of lovely profit (well, at least commercial viability) when the wholesale price is low but when it shoots up they are stuck between a rock and a hard place - they can't increase the price to consumers until the contracts are up for renewal but have to pay the hugely inflated wholesale prices now. Bankruptcy is simply inevitable. Consumers do get transferred to other energy suppliers but this in itself is expensive and is reflected in all our bills. The big supply companies buy a higher proportion of their gas and electricity a year ahead or even more. When prices are rising this is great - they are protected from the full effects of the rise (and so can protect their customers). But this knife inevitably cuts both ways - a proportion of their gas and power will now be being delivered at the price in the year ahead market a year ago, much higher than it is today as you note. Prices are actually coming down rapidly (as reflected in the fall of the price cap) but of course we don't directly see this because of the Government's Energy Price Guarantee which paid quite a proportion of our bills for us.

Malcolm Grimston ● 335d

Have you tried reading the meter and doing the sum. It's on the internet I'm sure you can find it, you seem to find everything else.

Andy Pike ● 335d

I read this recently:https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/may/18/ovo-good-energy-compensation-overcharging-ofgem-electricity-gas-bills I too would like to hear about how you can check the readings.I think one of the problems is that many of these companies are using more and more computerised systems to work their companies and there is the usual problem of Rubbish In = Rubbish Out.  So sometimes it is good and sometimes not.

Philippa Bond ● 335d

We have moved to Octopus from OVO Energy.  Our first bill from Octopus says we are in credit and this has been a very pleasant surprise for us.  
We now await our final bill from OVO who are, in my opinion, the energy company from hell.  I have nothing good to say about them.  Read the negative reviews on Trustpilot. Does anyone know of someone independent who can check energy bills, as I would like to see if we have been overcharged? Neil, how are you getting on?  I would like an update from you.

Martine Guy ● 335d

I wondered how Neil was getting in with OVO Energy?   I tried moving to Octopus today, but OVO have objected.  We paid our latest bill at the bank on 24 April, which I would have thought was enough time for OVO to receive it, but no doubt they will say they haven’t.  I hate this horrible company.

Martine Guy ● 359d

I had some of that - I wonder if it is in the loft now - I must have a look during daytime..  I got it and then life got too complicated.  Do you feel it works? I also need to move the sofas further away from the radiators to let the warm air heat the room better.  I also want to make a friend a draught excluder out of an old pair of jeans to use until they change their glass doors. Every job always seems to take a bit longer than you think!

Philippa Bond ● 439d

Philippa, I bought some insulating foil for behind the radiators, easy to fit and not expensive, well worth considering

Adam Tripp ● 441d

It is still a good idea to re-look at your fuel usage as there are more options around to see and more helpful tips - especially if you can find ways to use less without making yourself ill. You can check curtains and blinds and insulation are thick enough - and remember to pull them when the sun sets.  I'm currently looking for the special curtain rail that carries a curtain to stop so much heat disappearing through the double glazing on a door. This cold spell when you can actually feel any cold air entering is a really good time to look for and note any draughts even if you can't deal with them right now.  I know there's a door that needs some attention.  I haven't tried the joss stick method because I haven't seen any for a long time - and nobody here smokes. I do know that when my feet are cold - I feel cold - so need to find and wear something warmer on my feet!Do you think there'll ever be a normal?  I think there is always something else that can be done.

Philippa Bond ● 441d

thanks Andy, hopefully our bills will be back to normal by next winter...time to put the kettle on :)

Adam Tripp ● 441d

They have not yet fallen below the guarantee price so still being heavily subsidised by the govt and still a lot dearer pedvtherm than 2 years ago.also dont forget you are getting 66 per month off the Bill's for the winter months.But we are getting closer to it affecting our Bill's, but not there yet.Just as well the chancellor cancelled Truss' 2 year promise ( and the kne the labour party favoured) and said he would review year on year. The public subsidy of fuel Bill's is not as high as anticipated.

Andy Pike ● 441d

my latest gas bill is double this time last year. I appreciate there are various factors at play but the 1 year price chart for UK wholesale natural gas shows a pre-war price 11.02.22 of 186p Therm whereas today it's 136p Therm, so despite the ongoing war the wholesale price is currently 27% down on a year ago - surely retail gas prices have to fall sharply and soon?

Adam Tripp ● 441d

I see they are advertising offering a £50 credit if you switch - with terms and conditions.https://www.ovoenergy.com/home-energy-plans/welcome-reward?utm_campaign=welcome_reward_ppc&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkM-fj8WD_QIVZ4BQBh3C7Av4EAAYAiAAEgLdp_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Philippa Bond ● 444d

Hi Martine.Just realised the comment”This company are a bunch of cowboys run by bandits” was the review.

Neil Milkins ● 446d

There are dozens of new ones without the vast majority making negative comments. Which one do you refer to please? Below is just 1 of the negatives:"I rate contact with you at 1/5. Chat is hard to find on the site and once you connect you are 256 in line. When you finally connect in the middle of the conversation, the consultant hangs up. The hours on the phone don't work for me. On fb or whatsapp you reply after 3 days or not at all. Tragedy. Finally a simple matter has been settled after a month of trying to contact you. I have no other choice to be with you."

Neil Milkins ● 446d

Neil, here’s a new review of OVO Energy on Trustpilot I thought you might enjoy: ”This company are a bunch of cowboys run by bandits”

Martine Guy ● 446d