GREAT BRITAIN — Ovo Energy has agreed to pay more than £10 million in redress and customer relief after Ofgem found the company failed to adequately monitor vulnerable customers using prepayment meters between 2018 and 2024. The energy regulator determined that Ovo did not sufficiently oversee its prepayment meter customers, including those on the priority services register, resulting in breaches of rules meant to protect vulnerable consumers.
The settlement includes a £7 million payment to Ofgem’s voluntary redress fund and a £3.4 million package of credit and debt relief for some of Ovo’s most vulnerable customers, in lieu of direct compensation. Additionally, Ovo will pay £1.1 million to customers in the Scottish Highlands and islands after Ofgem found that some rural customers lacked appropriate access to engineer support from 1 January 2022 to 1 April 2024.
Ofgem stated that affected customers due to receive credit or debt write-off payments will be contacted directly by Ovo and do not need to take any action. During its investigation, Ovo Energy conducted welfare visits to customers who had been disconnected for more than 72 hours and had not responded to communications during that period.
“It is clear that Ovo fell short in its support of vulnerable PPM customers, and it’s right that they’ve taken action to improve their processes.” said Cathryn Scott, the director of market oversight and enforcement for Ofgem. She added, “Prepayment meters are a positive choice for many customers, helping them stay in control of their energy use and reporting high levels of satisfaction – but it’s not suitable for everyone and strong monitoring must be in place to protect vulnerable consumers.”
Ovo Energy acknowledged shortcomings in its past practices. “Ofgem’s investigation examined how we supported prepayment meter customers between 2018 and 2024. We accept that some of our historic processes fell short of expected standards, and we are sorry for that.” a company spokesperson said. The spokesperson added, “Keeping our customers safe and supported is hugely important to us and we recognise there were areas where we needed to do better.”
Ovo said it has improved its policies, systems, training, and implementation regarding the identification and support of vulnerable customers since 2024. The company was also fined £2.7 million in January for failing to pass on government support payments for winter energy bills to thousands of vulnerable customers during the energy cost crisis.