Ovo Energy is getting hammered for a huge overbilling glitch. One of our customers just recently became saddled with an unanticipated charge of £1500. In November 2022, the customer called the electric company. Even more surprisingly, the users were alarmed by their unusually low monthly bills – averaging just £150 per month.
In December, Ovo wrote to the customer, apologising for the mistake and explaining the financial impact. The utility had first suggested increasing the direct debit to £370. The customer was unable to accommodate this change. Soon after, Ovo raised its suggestion to an eye-watering £600 per month, making the customer’s financial situation even more precarious.
Ovo did attempt to address the issue, providing a full goodwill gesture and canceling one-third of the debt. With the new payment plan came new challenges. The company’s first direct debit set at £215. This inadvertently led the customer to assume they were establishing or improving their credit score with every on-time payment. The long history of low bills followed by big rate hike put them in a deep hole.
Ovo’s billing error was a direct product of inaccuracy in calculating energy usage, which led to consumers receiving misleading statements on a monthly basis. Even after the very first customer complaint, Ovo was fast to see its blunder. Instead, they turned a potential loss into a win by bringing the customer an energy-saving EnergyScorecard program that provided lower energy bill options and better budget management.
In a public statement acknowledging the issue, Ovo said it was sorry for how it responded.
“We’re very sorry to KC for the delay in resolving her case and have offered a goodwill gesture to apologise.” – Ovo
Despite these assurances, the customer’s experience underscores deep-seated skepticism about the way energy companies handle billing and interacting with customers. The customer’s bills had stayed around the same amount, despite Ovo’s recommendations to raise them, causing confusion and financial hurt.