OVO Energy to pay customers £8.9m over communication and billing breaches

National utilities firm OVO Energy has agreed to pay £8.9m to customers after Ofgem found the firm to have issued inaccurate and incomplete information.

The firm has set up a redress fund for customers after the regulator found it to have under and overcharged customers as a result of IT issues which it failed to fix in a timely fashion.

Ofgem’s investigation found that inaccurate annual statements were sent to over 500,000 customers between July 2015 to February 2018, with many not receiving annual statements at all.

Prepayment meter customers were also incorrectly charged, renewal statements were not sent to 10,000 customers, and the firm underestimated consumption one winter leading to under and overcharging.

Anthony Pygram, director of conduct and enforcement at Ofgem, commented: “Ovo Energy billed a number of its customers incorrectly and issued them with inaccurate information.

“The supplier did not prioritise putting these issues right whilst its business was expanding.

“Our enforcement action sends a strong message that suppliers must get basic services right for all their customers. Ovo Energy has accepted the breaches and put processes in place to comply with the rules in future.”

OVO commented on the news, saying: “Since the day we were founded, serving our customers has been our number one priority. We strive to give them the best experience by working hard to provide the latest digital innovations and excellent service.

“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.

“We will continue to be guided by the current and future needs of our customers and will keep innovating towards a zero carbon world.”