OVO Energy Terms and Conditions
Welcome to OVO!
Hello. These core terms and conditions cover the supply of our energy to your property, and form part of the contract between us – so please take care to read them carefully.
They tell you who we are, how we’ll supply your energy, how you need to pay, how you and we may change or end the contract, plus lots of other important information.
It’s worth noting that certain energy plans, upgrades, or offers, come with extra terms and conditions, but we’ll make sure you see these before you agree to the energy plan, upgrade or offer. These extra terms will also form part of your contract with us.
We may update these terms from time to time, but the most up-to-date version will always be shown on our website at ovoenergy.com/terms. You can also call us on 0330 303 5063 for a copy of them, plus any policies we may refer to in them.
Contents
- Definitions
- Your contract with us
- Joining us
- Our energy plans
- Our charges
- Account management and communications
- Paying us
- Meters and access to your property
- Changing your contract
- Leaving us
- Our rights to end your contract
- What happens when your contract ends
- Extra terms if you have a prepayment meter
- Extra terms if you have a smart meter
- Extra terms for upgrades & offers
- When we can stop supplying you
- Complaints
- National terms of connection
- General terms
- OVO Foundation
- Green Deal
1. Definitions
Please refer to this section for our definitions of the terms used throughout this document.
Contract - the contract that’s been agreed (or the deemed contract that’s been made) between you and us for the supply of energy to your property. This is made up of:
- these terms and conditions.
- your plan confirmation letter.
- any terms and conditions that apply to your energy plan.
- any other terms and conditions that we agree with you.
Contract start date - the date your contract starts with us. See section 3.1 ‘When your contract will start’ for further details.
Cooling off period - the period of 14 calendar days from the day following your contract start date. During the cooling-off period you have a legal right to change your mind.
Deemed contract -this is when we supply energy to you without you actively agreeing to enter into a contract with us for that supply. See section 3.2 ‘When your contract will start’ for further details.
Direct debit rules - this means the rules for paying by Direct Debit as set out in section 7.11 ‘Direct Debit rules’.
Electricity network operator - the company that operates the local electricity distribution network (the cables and towers) that bring electricity to your property.
Energy - the gas and/or electricity that we supply to your property under our contract.
Energy plan - means one of our home energy plans. You can see a list of the energy plans we offer at ovoenergy.com/home-energy-plans
Energy plan specific terms - any extra terms and conditions specific to your energy plan.
Fixed energy plan - see Section 4.2 ‘What’s a fixed energy plan?’ for more details.
Gas transporter - the company that operates the local gas distribution network (the pipelines) and who pipes the gas to your property.
Meter - a meter (which may include an associated smart energy display unit, communications hub and ancillary equipment) that records the amount of energy you use.
Payment due date - is the date you need to pay, in line with section 7.9 ‘When you need to pay’.
Plan confirmation letter - the letter, email or other form of communication issued by us which outlines the details of your contract, including your energy plan and charges. This will be issued shortly after you enter into a contract with us (or shortly after a deemed contract is made between you and us).
Prepayment meter - a meter which is used to pay for energy and other charges in advance. This may be either a prepayment meter or a smart meter that’s set to prepayment mode.
Property - the building or space we supply energy to. That’s usually your home but it could be a property you’re responsible for (for example, if you have more than one property or if you’re a landlord and are responsible for paying energy bills between tenancies).
Upgrades and offers - means any add-on, upgrade, discount, bundle or reward that we may offer and that relates to the energy we supply you.
Variable energy plan - see Section 4.4 ‘What’s a variable energy plan?’ for more details.
We/us - OVO Electricity Limited (when we’re selling you electricity) and OVO Gas Limited (when we’re selling you gas). Our address is 1 Rivergate, Temple Quay, Bristol BS1 6ED. These are the companies that supply energy to your
property, unless we transfer your supply to another company in line with these terms.
Working day - any day except Saturday, Sunday and any bank holidays in the country your property is in (England, Wales or Scotland).
You - you are the person (or people) we’ve entered into or made the contract with. This may be the person (or people) who:
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signed up to take a supply from us; or
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is taking supply from us under a deemed contract.
2. Your contract with us
2.1 This contract is between you and us and covers the supply by us of energy to your property.
Your promises
2.2 By entering into this contract with us you agree that:
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You’re 18 or over.
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You either own or live in the property.
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You’re allowed to sign up to this contract.
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The property is connected to mains energy.
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You’ll use the supply for domestic purposes only.
3. Joining us
When your contract will start
3.1 Your contract with us will start on the date:
- we agree over the phone that you would like us to supply you;
- when you sign your contract in front of one of our representatives;
- when you correctly fill in the form that we give you and we receive this form; or
- if applying online (either directly through our website, or via an online agent, or other third party website), when you click to agree that you accept these terms and conditions.
3.2 If you haven’t entered into a contract with us under any of the circumstances listed in section 3.1 above, you can still be on what’s known as a deemed contract which will start when:
- your lease starts (if you’re the tenant of the property);
- you took ownership of the property (if you’re the owner of the property);
- your tenant moves out of a property (if you’re the landlord of the property); or
- you become responsible for a property we supply.
If you’re on a deemed contract you’ll be placed onto a variable energy plan.
Switching to us from another supplier
3.3 When you switch to us from another supplier, you agree that:
- we’re allowed to tell your existing supplier to end your contract with them and switch the supply of your energy to us; and
- you’re responsible for all outstanding debt or other charges that you owe to your last supplier, unless we’ve expressly agreed to take on these amounts (in which case you’ll have to pay us for them instead).
Changing your mind – how to cancel
3.4 If you enter into a contract with us via any of the methods described in section 3.1, a cooling-off period automatically applies (whether you’re a new or existing member). In that case you have 14 calendar days from your contract start date to tell us that you want to cancel it. This is your ‘cooling-off’ period. This cooling-off period will expire after 14 calendar days from your contract start date. If you change your mind, tell us before the end of the cooling-off period and we’ll take reasonable measures to stop your switch.
If you have chosen to start being supplied by us during your cooling-off period, then you will be responsible for all costs associated with the energy you use and any other services provided to you during your cooling-off period and you may be asked to make your first payment during this time. You will still be able to leave us during your cooling-off period without paying an early exit fee, but you will have to pay for the energy you have used and for any other services provided to you up until you arrange for a new supplier to supply the property and that supplier has started to supply the property.
3.5 if:
- we currently supply the property and you cancel during the cooling off period; or
- if you’ve changed your mind during your cooling-off period but we aren’t able to stop your switch,
We’ll continue to supply and bill you for the energy you used under a deemed contract until you arrange for a new supplier to supply the property.
When we’ll start supplying you
3.6 If we don’t already supply energy to the property on your contract start date, we’ll start supplying you in accordance with our Faster Switching Policy which can be found here.
We’ll write to you to tell you the date your supply will start.
Things we might do before we agree to supply you
Run some credit checks
3.7 Before we agree to take on your supply, and sometimes during your contract, we’ll carry out a credit check on you. We do this for a number of reasons:
- to check that you can afford to pay your bills;
- to confirm your identity;
- to prevent crime, fraud and money laundering;
- to trace your whereabouts and recover debts that you owe;
- for any other purposes set out in our Privacy Policy.
Our credit checks will leave a “footprint” on your credit history whether or not you join us and may affect your credit rating.
We may carry out credit checks on any person named as an account holder on your account. You must make sure that anyone named as an account holder knows that they may have to have a credit check. For further information on how we carry out credit checks, please see ovoenergy.com/help/credit-checks
Ask you to pay a security deposit
What is a security deposit?
3.8 Sometimes we’ll ask you to pay a reasonable amount upfront – a security deposit – before we agree to supply you. This deposit is used as security against payment for your energy and other charges you may incur. We may do this to protect us against losses that we could suffer if you fail to act in line with the terms of this contract.
If you’re an existing member we can ask you to pay a security deposit at any time if it’s reasonable for us to do so (for example, if you don’t pay charges to us by the date they’re due or if you steal energy).
How much will you have to pay as a security deposit?
3.9 The amount you pay as a security deposit will depend on your individual circumstances and the likely value of your monthly bill.
We’ll give you a reasonable time to pay your security deposit, but you’ll have to pay it by the date we ask you to.
Your security deposit won’t count towards your bill payments and will be held separately from your energy account (although we can use it to pay off any money you owe us if you fall behind with your payments, see section 7.16 ‘What happens if you don’t pay your bill?’). As your security deposit will not be held in your energy account, you won’t be entitled to interest under the OVO Interest Reward or any other such scheme we may run.
Getting your security deposit back
3.10 If you don’t owe us any money it’ll be returned to you at the end of your contract after we’ve sent you your final bill.
For more information on security deposits, please see ovoenergy.com/help/credit-checks or get in touch with us for a copy.
Extra terms and conditions may apply to any security deposit we ask for, but if so they’ll be given to you when we ask for the security deposit.
What if you refuse to pay a security deposit?
3.11 If we ask for a security deposit and you don’t pay it, we may be able to:
- refuse to supply energy to you; or
- cut off your energy until you pay the deposit in line with section 16 ‘When we can stop supplying you’.
You may be able to pay using a prepayment meter, but we may need to make a change to your energy plan or charges (or both), and you may need to pay a fee for installing the prepayment meter.
If you’re switching to us from another supplier and we ask you to pay us a security deposit, we won’t be able to continue with the switch until you’ve paid it. If you don’t pay the security deposit within the timeframes we give you, the switch may be cancelled and you’ll have to start the process again.
4. Our energy plans
4.1 Your contract with us will either be for:
- a fixed energy plan; or
- a variable energy plan.
You can see a list of the energy plans we offer at ovoenergy.com/home-energy-plans
What’s a fixed energy plan?
4.2 A fixed energy plan means:
- you pay a fixed rate per unit and/or a fixed standing charge for the energy you use for a fixed length of time
- if you’re on a time of use energy plan (which means you pay a different price for energy depending on the time of day), you’ll have different unit rates depending on when you use your energy.
Getting a fixed rate energy plan doesn’t mean you’ll pay a fixed amount per month.
Your actual monthly charges can still change (for instance, you’ll probably use more energy over winter than you will in summer, so your energy use goes up and down). It’s helpful to think of unit rates like the price you pay for petrol. Even when the cost per litre stays the same, the amount of fuel you buy each time might change.
What happens at the end of your fixed energy plan?
4.3 If your fixed energy plan ends and you haven’t asked us for a new energy plan:
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we’ll automatically transfer you to the cheapest variable energy plan available for your meter type and payment method;
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you might pay higher unit prices and standing charges on a variable energy plan and these could change at any time.
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If within 20 working days of the end of your fixed energy plan you:
- decide to leave us and your new supplier notifies us that you’re switching and that switch takes place within a reasonable period; or
- you enter into a new energy plan with us,
we’ll keep your charges the same until you switch to your new supplier or start your new energy plan.
What’s a variable energy plan?
4.4 A variable energy plan means:
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you pay a variable per unit rate and/or a variable standing charge for the energy you use;
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this means we might increase or decrease the prices you pay under a variable energy plan. But we’ll always give you notice (see section 9 ‘Changing your Contract’);
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the energy plan doesn’t have an end date. Instead, it’ll roll on until it’s cancelled by either you or us in line with these terms;
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if you’re on a time of use energy plan (which means you pay a different price for energy depending on the time of day), you’ll have different variable unit rates depending on the times you use your energy;
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you can cancel your contract with us anytime without paying an exit fee. See section 10.4 ‘Exit Fees’.
5. Our charges
5.1 ‘Charges’ describes the prices you’ll need to pay us for supplying energy. Your charges will be set out in your bill. They’re made up of:
- A standing charge – a daily charge that goes towards the cost of supplying energy to your address (a bit like line rental for your broadband). It includes the cost of the pipes and power lines, and maintenance of your meters. You pay your standing charge no matter how much energy you use – even if you have a smart meter; and
- A per unit charge – for the amount of energy you use measured in kilowatt hours (kWh). For gas, we convert the amount you use into kilowatt hours using its ‘calorific value’ – which means the amount of energy released when the gas burns. This per unit charge is based on meter readings or estimates – please see sections 8.1-8.8 ‘Meter Readings’.
What other charges might you have to pay?
5.2 On top of the charges for your energy use, you may have to pay for other things which are not included in our energy supply charges, which can include costs arising from:
(a) any home visits we make to your home
- to inspect or work on your meter if you ask us to but there’s no problem with it, including testing the accuracy of your meter;
- to disconnect or reconnect your supply either because you’ve asked us to or if the reason for doing it is your fault. For example, if you haven’t paid your bills or if you’ve damaged the meter;
- to move your meter to a convenient position, unless the unsuitable position was our fault;
- to remove any obstructions that prevent safe access to your meter;
- where a new connection to the network is required, or where mains, pipes or other equipment needs to be installed, replaced, enlarged, extended or renewed in order to supply you;
- to carry out a meter reading if you haven’t provided us with one;
- if you’ve failed to do what we’ve asked you to do to meet your responsibilities under your contract and we’ve offered or tried to contact you by letter, phone, or email;
(b) when you haven’t kept an agreed appointment with us or our agents. If you make an appointment and can’t keep it, you must let us know 24 hours before the appointment, or you may have to pay a fee for the appointment;
(c) if you’ve been interfering with your meter, or stealing energy, costs we incur to visit the property and to get access to the property, for any work that we carry out to rectify the damage you have caused and for any stolen energy;
(d) if we’re trying to retrieve money that you owe us, including:
- our reasonable administration costs;
- the cost of trying to contact you or visiting you;
- costs of any third party agents that we appoint to try and recover money owed to us;
- costs we incur in getting a warrant to enter your home, enforcing that warrant and installing a prepayment meter;
- the costs of tracing you if you’ve moved and not given us a forwarding address;
- bank charges we’ve paid as a result of any missed payments by you;
- any other costs to us in line with section 7.16 ‘What happens if you don’t pay your bill?’;
(e) replacing any card, key or token that you lose or damage;
(f) leaving your contract early in line with section 10.4 ‘Exit Fees’;
(g) sending paper copies of documents like bills or statements in line with section 6.2 ‘Account management and communications’;
(h) charges for paying your bill late in line with section 7.16 ‘What happens if you don’t pay your bill?’;
(i) processing your credit-card payment, if you choose to pay your bill by credit card;
(j) if you live in a recently built residential development, charges we have to pay for using the electricity and gas network;
(k) if your property shares an unmetered energy supply with other premises (for example, electricity used in shared parts of a building divided into flats). In that case, we may estimate the amount of energy used and charge you an appropriate share;
(l) any costs that we or our representatives may have as a result of you failing to keep to your responsibilities under the contract.
Each of the above may include the charges that our agents charge us in connection with these activities.
Upgrades and offers
5.3 We may from time to time offer:
- a discount on your charges;
- discounts for bundles (where another product or service is included on top of the supply of energy); and
- other upgrades, rewards and incentives.
For instance, we may offer a discount for paying via Direct Debit.
We’ll set out extra terms and conditions that relate to each upgrade or offer, so check these carefully. You may lose your upgrade or offer if you don’t comply with them.
Eligibility criteria for certain energy plans
5.4 We may offer energy plans that are only available for members who meet certain criteria. For example, we might offer energy plans that are only available to members with smart meters or members who pay by Direct Debit. We’ll set out the special conditions that apply to a plan like this in its energy plan specific terms. By signing up to or switching to one of these energy plans, you’re agreeing to comply with that plan's specific terms.
6. Account management and communications
6.1 You agree to receive all communications from us electronically, including bills, price changes and other information about your account, and any other notices we need to send you. We may send this information to you via your online account dashboard, within our mobile app or to your nominated email address. This includes documents relating to your core energy supply, such as changes to terms and conditions, bills and statements, price change and contract end notices and tariff information labels. You waive your rights to receive our communications by any other means.
This won’t apply:
- where you’re on the Priority Services Register (see ovoenergy.com/help/priority-services-register) for more information); or
- if we agree that digital communications are not appropriate to you due to circumstances beyond your control.
6.2 Unless the exceptions above apply, we may charge you an administration fee for postal communications in line with our Charges List here ovoenergy.com/energy-charge-list
6.3 You agree to give us accurate personal details, including your nominated email address, and to keep these details up to date. You’re responsible for the continued accuracy and validity of the email address you supply.
6.4 We may occasionally still send mail to you by post, including follow-up correspondence for outstanding balances and other literature in line with our Privacy Policy. So please make sure you tell us of any changes to these details as soon as possible.
7. Paying us
Agreeing to pay
7.1 You agree to pay us for the supply of energy and for any other fees that apply under our contract (including those in any extra conditions we’ve agreed with you). This includes any charges or debts you’ve built up which remain outstanding after your contract ends. You must pay all charges in full. Part payment will not release you from your obligation to pay any outstanding charges.
Other fees you might have to pay
7.2 You agree to pay us for other amounts that aren’t included in your energy plan. See section 5.2 'What other charges might you have to pay?' for more details.
Taxes
7.3 You agree to pay VAT and any other taxes or duties at the applicable rate. We’ll also charge you any amount that we have to include on your bill (for example, if the government establishes a scheme for members to pay for energy-efficiency measures through energy bills).
Bills and statements
7.4 You’ll receive a bill (usually monthly, but sometimes at a different frequency of our choice) detailing how much you owe and how much energy you’ve used. It’s based on actual meter readings – or our estimates.
7.5 If, for any reason, your meter doesn’t register any gas or electricity used, you agree to pay the amount that we reasonably estimate you’ve used.
7.6 You may receive your energy bill from any company that’s in the same group of companies as OVO Electricity Limited or OVO Gas Limited. Any OVO Group company may ask for, or collect payment from you, for any other OVO Group company.
How will you receive bills and statements?
7.7 You agree to receive all communications from us electronically – see section 6 ‘Account management and communications’. (This won’t be the case if you’re on the Priority Services Register or we’ve agreed to communicate with you by post in line with that section). We’ll use reasonable efforts to send email notifications to you when new bills are available for you to view online but you’ll remain liable for bills if those aren’t received for any reason, including because your email inbox is full, it’s been bounced by your firewall or spam filter, or your email address has been closed or is otherwise not operative.
More information on bills and statements can be found at: ovoenergy.com/help/statement-history
Estimated bills and statements
7.8 When we produce your bill, we’ll use a meter reading, if possible. If we don’t have a meter reading for you, or the reading we have doesn’t seem to be right, we’ll send you a bill based on an estimated amount. We calculate these using any data we have for your home energy use – or we’ll use industry standard methods. See section 8.5 ‘Meter Readings’ for details of how we estimate bills.
You agree to pay the estimated amount. If you don’t think our estimate is correct, you need to send us a meter reading. If, in our reasonable opinion, the meter reading you’ve given isn’t accurate, we won’t use it. We’ll try to contact you and get a new meter reading instead.
If you send us an accurate meter read which shows us that estimates we used to prepare your bills may have been over or underestimated, we’ll adjust your next bill to reflect that meter reading.
When you need to pay
7.9 Unless you pay via:
- Direct Debit in line with the Direct Debit rules;
- a prepayment meter in line with section 13 ‘Extra terms if have a prepayment meter’; or
- we have agreed a payment plan with you in line with section 7.18 ‘Payment plans’,
then your payment is due on the payment due date shown on the bill, so you need to pay in full by that date.
If there’s no due date on the bill, your payment is due when we bill you – but we’ll give you 14 calendar days from the date the bill was issued to pay.
How you can pay
7.10 Payment methods that may be available are:
- Direct Debit, which means paying in line with the Direct Debit rules; or
- standard credit, which means paying in arrears by cash, cheque, card (online) or postal order; or
- via your prepayment meter if you’re on a prepayment energy plan (see section 13 ‘Extra terms if have a prepayment meter’).
But please note, your actual payment method will depend on the payment terms of:
- your energy plan (which can be found in that plan’s specific terms); or
- any upgrade or offer that applies to you (which can be found in the relevant extra terms and conditions for that upgrade or offer).
Direct Debit rules
7.11 Please see How do I pay (see ovoenergy.com/help/how-to-pay) for more details on paying by Direct Debit. When you agree to pay us by Direct Debit you agree that:
- correct amount - you’ll pay the amount due at the time set out in your Direct Debit instruction;
- account in credit - you’ll keep your energy account in credit by paying for the supply in advance;
- failed Direct Debits - you’ll make sure there’s enough money in your bank account so that the Direct Debit is successfully taken on the due date. If not, we may: (i) add any amounts owing to your Direct Debit the following month and/or (ii) need you to pay the outstanding amount by another means and/or (iii) add any bank fees that we’re charged as a result of failed Direct Debits to your bill. Please note, you may also be charged by your bank for any failed Direct Debit.
- Direct Debit review - we can review your Direct Debit anytime during your contract to make sure you’re paying enough to cover the energy you’re using.
- We can ask you to increase your Direct Debit amount anytime if prices change (in line with this contract) or you’re using more energy than we estimated. If you don’t do this by the date we give you, we can automatically increase your Direct Debit to an amount that means your account won't end up in debt by the date of your contract anniversary.
- We may reduce your Direct Debit if prices decrease (in line with this contract) or if you’re using less energy than we’ve estimated. We’ll only agree to reduce your Direct Debit payments if we have up-to-date meter readings for your account in line with section 8.2 ‘Meter Readings’ and we’re satisfied that your account won't end up in debt by the date of your contract anniversary.
- If there are any changes to the amount, date or frequency of your Direct Debit we’ll notify you in advance of your account being debited.
- We can stop your switch to another supplier if your account is in debt in line with section 10.2 ‘Switching to a new supplier’. If you notify us that you wish to switch away, your last bill or statement will be deemed a ‘demand for payment’ and you will need to pay off the balance in order to switch.
What happens if you don’t comply with the Direct Debit rules
7.12 If you’ve agreed to pay by Direct Debit but don’t comply with the Direct Debit rules, we may:
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bill you - send you an ad hoc bill with the outstanding balance that’s due for payment. You’ll need to pay that bill in line with section 7.9 ‘When you need to pay’.
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remove your upgrades or offers - remove your upgrade or offer.
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change your plan - transfer you to a different energy plan that is appropriate to your payment method and meter type. This may be to the non-Direct Debit version of your energy plan (if we offer one). If your energy plan does not have a non-Direct Debit version, we may transfer you to the non-Direct Debit version of our standard energy plan. In either case, if we have to transfer you to a non-Direct Debit energy plan:
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your charges may be higher because:
- the price per unit you pay for your energy and/or standing charges could be higher under the new energy plan; and/or
- you may also lose any discount, bundle or reward you previously received because you were paying by Direct Debit.
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we’ll give you at least 7 working days notice if we’re going to do this, so you have a chance to put things right.
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Paying by other means
7.13 If you’re a member who’s chosen to pay by credit (so long as the payment terms of your energy plan or your upgrade or offer allows you to), you’ll be billed in line with section 7.4 ‘Bills and statements’. You must pay the amount you owe on the bill in line with section 7.9 ‘When you need to pay’.
Which energy plans will we switch you to?
7.14 Where we have the right to move you to a different energy plan under this contract, we may move you to any suitable energy plan provided by OVO Electricity Limited (when we’re selling you electricity) or OVO Gas Limited (when we’re selling you gas), which may include brands other than OVO Energy.
Who needs to pay?
7.15 If you’re entering into this contract with other people (like your flatmate), you’re each responsible for paying all amounts until they’re paid in full. We can claim any money owed to us from any of the account holders. This could mean claiming it all from just one person.
What happens if you don’t pay your bill?
7.16 Please let us know if you’re having difficulty paying your bill so we can try and help you. For example we may be able to tell you about alternative payment methods or plans, discuss your options for paying any debt, and provide energy-efficiency advice to help you use less energy.You can also see ovoenergy.com/help/debt-and-energy-assistance for further information about what to do if you’re experiencing money worries.
If you don’t pay your bills or any other amounts owing under your contract by the payment due date, then we may:
- ask you to pay a security deposit (see section 3.9 ‘Ask you to pay a security deposit’);
- install a prepayment meter in your property (or switch your smart meter to prepayment mode) and bill you to install the prepayment meter in line with our Charges List at ovoenergy.com/energy-charge-list
This will involve moving you to a different energy plan for prepayment meters and may mean you pay higher charges for your energy.
- use any money we owe you, any security deposit you’ve paid to us, or any money you’ve paid into a different account you hold with us to pay off any money you owe us (even if that account is for a different property);
- add the amount of debt to your next bill;
- report any non-payment to credit referencing agencies which may affect your credit rating and/or fraud prevention agencies;
- charge you interest at 4% per year above the current Bank of England base rate, which will be charged on the overdue amount you owe. Interest will build up from the payment due date and continue until you pay the overdue amount, plus interest;
- bill you with additional costs incurred in line with our Charges List at ovoenergy.com/energy-charge-list;
- change your payment method;
This may involve moving you to a different energy plan that allows for that payment type and may mean that you pay higher charges for your energy.
It may also mean you no longer benefit from upgrades and offers that may apply for a specific payment method (for example, a Direct Debit discount).
- withdraw any upgrades or offers available to you;
- object to you transferring to another supplier until you’ve paid your account in full;
- change how often we send you bills;
- stop your supply if the circumstances mean that it isn’t reasonable for us to carry on supplying you. For example, you’ve refused when we’ve asked you to either pay a security deposit, or have a prepayment meter installed;
- offer you a payment plan – see section 7.18 ‘payment plans’ below;
- apply to the Department of Work and Pensions for payments towards your energy bills directly from your benefit payments under the ‘Fuel Direct Scheme’;
- engage the services of third party debt collection agencies in order to recover the debt;
- take action against you through the courts to recover the debt; and/or
- recover the costs we incur in trying to recover the money you owe us in line with section 5.2 ‘What other charges might you have to pay?’.
How we’ll use the amounts you pay
7.17 We’ll use the amounts you pay us to pay off any charges you owe us as we see fit. For example, we may put the amounts you pay towards your oldest outstanding charges first or pay off any other costs you owe us. If you have a credit balance on your account, you are entitled to choose to apply that credit balance to reduce any amount that you may owe to us (whether or not we continue to hold a licence which entitles us to supply energy to the property).
Payment plans
7.18 If you’re in debt or having trouble paying your bill, we may agree a payment plan with you. This could either be a plan which:
- pays us an agreed amount which is lower than your actual bill for a specific period of time; or
- allows you to spread the money you owe us over a period of time and at a rate that should be affordable for you and taking into account relevant information provided by third parties that is available to us. If you have a prepayment meter, we may ask you to make top-ups that more than cover the cost of the energy you’re using, so you pay the debt back gradually.
The following conditions will apply to any payment plan we agree with you:
- you’ll agree to a payment plan to pay for your energy use;
- you can pay off the full amount you owe anytime before the payment plan ends;
- while you still owe us money under the payment plan you can’t change supplier – unless we agree to transfer your debt to your new supplier in line with section 10.3 ‘Transferring debt to a new supplier’;
- if you move home, you’ll have to pay us the full amount you still owe under the payment plan, unless you ask to transfer the amount over to your new address and we agree to continue to supply you. We may set up a new payment plan for your new address;
- if you’re paying off the money you owe us through a prepayment meter you must make the repayments we’ve agreed with you. You’ll need to add more credit to your meter over and above the repayment we’ve agreed with you to pay for your ongoing energy use;
- if you fail to make any payment due under the payment plan, we can ask you to pay us the full amount straight away, pay us back faster, pay us in a different way, or take action against you through the courts to recover the debt (in addition to our other rights in section 7.16 ‘What happens if you don’t pay your bill?’);
- if we agree to let you pay less than the amount that’s due to us for a period of time, this does not mean that we accept your payment in full and final settlement of the relevant amount. You’re still responsible for paying the outstanding balance to us in line with the terms of the contract;
- we reserve the right to review the payment plan at regular intervals.
Charges over 12 months old
7.19 We won’t bill you or seek to recover costs from you for energy we’ve supplied to you where those charges are over 12 months old, except where:
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we’ve previously issued a bill and are seeking payment for previously billed charges;
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you’ve acted unlawfully or unreasonably, including:
- if you haven’t allowed us to access your meter to take a meter reading and provide you with an accurate bill;
- if you’ve stopped us from billing you the correct amount because of your obstructive behaviour. This includes giving us incorrect information – like contact details or meter readings;
- if you’ve tampered with your meter;
- if your meter isn’t operating correctly and you won’t let us fix it;
- if you’ve unreasonably avoided payment;
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we’ve reason to believe that you’ve made any fraudulent payments (see section 7.20 ‘fraud’