Ovo Energy fined ?9m for overcharging customers
By Abigail Townsend
Date: Wednesday 29 Jan 2020
(Sharecast News) - Ovo Energy has been forced to pay out nearly £9m by Ofgem, the energy regulator, after a series of failings in billings and customer communications.
The watchdog said that over a period of five years, failings in Ovo's IT systems and compliance processes meant "too many" customers received inaccurate or incomplete information.
It also found that Ovo had not reported most of the issues, "despite being aware of them, and was slow to put things right".
Anthony Pygram, director of conduct and enforcement at Ofgem, said: "Ovo Energy billed a number of its customers incorrectly and issued them with inaccurate information. The supplier did not prioritise putting these issues right while its business was expanding.
"Our enforcement actions sends a strong message that that suppliers must get basic services right for all customers."
Ofgem said that more than 500,000 Ovo customers had received inaccurate annual statements between July 2015 and February 2018, with many not receiving a statement at all.
Consumption was also under-estimated one winter, meaning customers were incorrectly charged; around 10,000 customers were not provided with statements on renewal terms when tariffs were coming to an end; and 17,500 prepayment meter customers were not initially charged at the correct regional level of the relevant price cap.
Ofgem said the company had now accepted and had corrected the breaches, including refunding customers who had been overcharged. It also agreed to pay £8.9m into a voluntary redress fund for vulnerable customers.
Ovo said: "Since the day we were founded, serving our customers has been our number one priority.
"Ovo Energy holds itself to high standards but we have not always got it right. We accept Ofgem's findings of issues regarding estimation processes, information formatting and pricing errors."
Bristol-based Ovo, which was founded in 2009, last year agreed to buy larger rival SSE's retail business in a £500m deal. The acquisition significantly ramped up its 1.5m customer based, and Ovo is now the UK's largest independent energy supplier, second only in size to British Gas.
Email this article to a friend
or share it with one of these popular networks:
You are here: news
10 Lower Thames St,
London EC3R 6EN