A man has been left not knowing which way to turn after his energy supplier sent him confirmation that his monthly bill is increasing six-fold and rising to almost £750 a month – despite what he claims is a mistake they made with his meter reading. Mike Davies, from Aberdare, switched his energy supplier at the beginning of the year after shopping around for a better deal when he and his wife moved home.
They signed up with SSE (which is part of the Ovo Energy group) on a 24-month contract paying £122 a month. To start with they were more than happy with the service and over the spring and summer Mike and his wife, both aged 60, were able to build up a credit of more than £140. However a statement received from the company told them that all of a sudden they owed them more than £500 – a figure which has now risen to almost £1,400.
To make matters worse the company has estimated that over the rest of their contract – until January 2024 – Mr and Mrs Davies will use more than £10,000 worth of energy and as a result their monthly direct debit has been increased to a whopping £738. This, Mr Davies claims, is due to an incorrect meter reading. You can get the latest WalesOnline newsletters emailed to you directly for free by signing up here.
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“I noticed that the electricity meter reading was wrong and notified them of the discrepancy immediately,” said Mr Davies. “Three emails later and I was told that this was going to be sorted. There were no issues at all between February and August – we built up some credit and had a letter saying the direct debit was changing from SSE to Ovo Energy.
"I then get an email from Ovo in August saying I owed £540. I immediately queried this and they said it was wrong and based on an incorrect meter reading from February. I appreciate mistakes happen but the problem is they don’t seem to want to rectify it when it’s all based on an incorrect reading.”
Mr Davies took a photo of the correct meter reading and has sent it to the company. He suspects Ovo’s calculations must be based on a standard reading that is used when setting up a new account. But he is now in limbo – despite the company admitting in correspondence that those calculations are “clearly inaccurate” and that the figures “nowhere near match up with your provided meter readings”.
Mr Davies, who suffers from chronic arthritis and is currently waiting for two hip replacements, has now made contact with the energy ombudsman, his local MP, and the CEO of Ovo because he says he can’t afford to pay what the company is asking him to. “I can’t afford it, I don’t owe it anyway, and I have no control over it,” he said Mr Davies. “I’m putting in complaints with Ovo almost on a daily basis. I had an email back on Friday apologising about the issue and saying that they hope it will be rectified. Well I want more than hope.
“I’ve been told before that it should be rectified within eight days – well that’s been and gone. I had another email saying it should be sorted within 12 weeks so I just have no idea at the moment. If this was a one-off it would be something but looking online – there’s a Facebook group called Ovo Energy customer service victims support group – it can’t be a one-off.
"The question is – am I one of thousands that this is happening to? How many people are in the same boat? Potentially I could be more than £10,000 out of pocket and I think the public need to be aware of it. I’m going round in ever-decreasing circles. If I owed them that money I would pay it but I don’t.”
In an email sent to Mr Davies on Friday Ovo apologised and confirmed the estimate they have calculated is inaccurate. They also said that the “relevant departments are now aware of the situation and there should be no further excuses”. However the email added that it might take up to 47 days for a resolution to be found.
WalesOnline contacted Ovo Energy on Sunday and on Monday the company confirmed Mr Davies’ bill was inaccurate and based on an incorrect meter reading, and that they have now adjusted his monthly direct debit accordingly. A spokeswoman for OVO said: “We’ve apologised to Mr Davies for the inconvenience the incorrect reading on his account caused. We’ve corrected the meter reading and his account is up to date.”
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