Our complaints performance

We’re on a mission to make energy better, and we pride ourselves in offering great customer service. We’re proud that 8 out of 10 customers who have contacted us in 2023 were ‘satisfied’ or ‘extremely satisfied’ with the service they received. And over 80% of our reviews on Trustpilot are 4 or 5 stars.

But there’s always room to do more. That’s why we regularly review the feedback we get from customers about how we’re doing – and where we can improve. Here are some of the areas we’ve recently heard could be improved, and what we’re doing about it.

Complaints received

Complaints resolved

Time to resolve complaints

In 2020, OVO Energy bought SSE Energy Services from SSE plc. Since then OVO has supplied energy and related services to all SSE Energy Services customers.

To make sure all our customers enjoy the benefits of OVO, we’ve been gradually moving our SSE Energy Services customers to the OVO brand.

We understand that this process has been the reason for many customers getting in touch. While a big move like this is incredibly complex, this is no excuse for any experiences that fell below expectations.

We're sorry if this has happened. Our team has fed back details of any instances like these to make sure we're learning and improving for you. We hope that customers who have recently moved to the OVO brand will soon start to experience the benefits.

It’s important to us that customers see how and where we’re looking to improve. So, each quarter, we publish some of the reasons for the complaints we've received, and what we're doing to make things better.

1. Customer Service

Reasons for complaints

Customer service related complaints can range across a number of issues. From wait times, to how quickly our teams are able to put things right when they go wrong. We know that we can't always stop things going wrong, but the customer’s experience while we get them back on track is what counts. We’ve noticed that being referred between different departments has sometimes caused frustration.

What we're doing to make things better

We appreciate it's frustrating for customers when a complaint is passed to a different team. We’re investing in in-depth training to help our teams deal better with the various issues customers contact us about. And we’re providing extra training to help them to decide when it’s best to refer more complex issues to a specialist team.

We’re also looking at more ways to help our advisors call on specialist knowledge on live calls. This helps reduce the need to pass customers around different teams to get answers. When a customer does need to be referred to another team, we’re introducing a system to make sure issues are sorted within a specific timeframe.

Finally, we’ve introduced ways for customers to get support with more issues through our website and app. Where this isn’t possible, we’ve introduced new tech to help us spot the most common problems faced by customers. This lets us proactively identify and fix these issues quickly, without the need for customers to tell us about it first.

2. Billing and meter readings for customers on traditional meters

Reasons for complaints

Submitting regular meter readings is how we make sure you’re being billed accurately for the energy you use. We recommend that if you’re able to, you switch to a smart meter. These send automatic readings for you, meaning more accurate bills.

Some customers without smart meters, or those who aren’t able to get one installed, have had issues relating to estimated bills. These include disputes over how much they’re using, or problems with a recent supplier switch.

What we're doing to make things better

We’re working hard to make the information about meter readings and energy use clearer on customers’ bills.

We’re giving more help to advisors to explain why bills are on hold, or how the customer's final balance has been worked out.

And we’re introducing more ways to help customers without smart meters to read and submit their regular readings themselves.

3. Payment issues

Reasons for complaints

We aim to make it as easy as possible for customers to manage and pay their bills using whichever method suits them. The simplest way to pay monthly is by Direct Debit.

But, we realise this isn’t always suitable for everyone. Payment-related complaints have included our Direct Debit policy, choice of alternative payment methods and ability to top up for Pay As You Go (PAYG) customers.

Many customers are also continuing to struggle with the high cost of energy.

What we're doing to make things better

We recognise that the ongoing high price of energy is making it very difficult for many people to pay part or all of their energy bills. At the start of winter 2022, we committed to a £50m support package to help as many customers as possible. This covered an assistance fund, payment holidays and discounted services. It also included specialist support for our most vulnerable customers. We also offer help to people struggling with their bills.

This winter, we’re continuing to support our customers with an extensive package of support worth nearly £40m. The package will be open from 16 October 2023 and will provide financial and practical support to eligible customers who are struggling as a result of high energy prices.

Although the cost of our standing charge is increasing from 1 October 2023 for customers who have a credit meter, we’re not passing this permitted increase onto any of our customers. The cost of living crisis is affecting so many people, so it’s important to us that we protect our customers from price increases where we can.

Our Pay As You Go customers will receive an additional discount on their gas and electricity standing charges through the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG). This means they’ll most likely pay no more than pay monthly customers.

And we’re working with external partners to help customers with affordability and debt management. This will help us improve how we assess what support customers need, and put together repayment plans that are more affordable and sustainable. We’re also constantly reviewing our processes to improve our advisors’ knowledge. This will help them resolve payment issues quickly, to put our customer’s minds at rest.