OVO Energy, one of the UK’s largest energy suppliers has agreed to pay £2.37 million after numerous failures in its customer complaints processes were identified.
The UK’s energy regulator, Ofgem, noted that 1,395 OVO customers had been impacted by the supplier’s poor customer service, including delays of as long as 18 months in handling complaints and further delays in actioning decisions made by the Energy Ombudsman.
Of the total payout, OVO will give £378,512 directly to customers impacted by its poor complaints handling and, due to the severity of the supplier’s failures, £2 million to the Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme.
According to Ofgem, OVO Energy has improved its complaint-handling process since the regulator intervened, including expanding its complaint team and improving its case management processes to ensure senior colleagues oversee complaints.
Jacqui Gehrmann, deputy director of retail compliance at Ofgem, said: “Energy is an essential service. When things go wrong, it can cause consumers a lot of distress. In this case OVO failed to adequately protect and respond to their customers when it was needed most. This is not acceptable.
“Consumers deserve a clear and timely response when they make a complaint, and that’s why we stepped in quickly when we identified that OVO’s performance was falling below acceptable standards.
“We are committed to driving up standards for consumers across the board, and this action serves as a reminder to all energy companies that we will not hesitate to take swift and definitive action when they fail to comply with the rules.”
An OVO spokesperson commented on the fine, saying: “…We recognise that a particular group of our customers in 2023 waited longer than we’d like for a resolution and were overdue a response from us, so we’ve sent them a letter of apology and compensation to help.”
Customer satisfaction broadly on the rise
While OVO Energy has set a poor example, UK consumers overall are more satisfied with their energy supplier now than they were in autumn 2023.
Customer satisfaction among UK energy consumers sits at 73%, while satisfaction with customer service sits at 66%. Despite these both being an improvement on September 2023 reporting, these both sit below peak satisfaction rates seen in April 2020.
Supplier specific satisfaction data saw Octopus Energy come out on top in both overall satisfaction and satisfaction with customer service, with 87% and 78% reporting being satisfied respectively. Perhaps unsurprisingly, OVO Energy was the lowest rated among the UK’s nine leading energy suppliers, with a 63% overall satisfaction rating and just a 55% customer service satisfaction rating.
