Ovo Energy has agreed to pay more than £10m after Ofgem, the energy regulator for Great Britain, found that inadequate monitoring of vulnerable customers with prepayment meters (PPMs) could have exposed them to a 'clear risk of harm'. The investigation revealed that Ovo did not adequately monitor its PPM customers, including those on the priority services register, leading to breaches of rules designed to protect vulnerable customers.
The settlement includes a £7m payment to Ofgem's voluntary redress fund and a £3.4m package of credit and debt relief for some of the most vulnerable customers. Additionally, Ovo is in the process of paying £1.1m to customers in the Scottish Highlands and islands after compliance work found that some rural customers lacked appropriate access to engineer support for more than two years, from 1 January 2022 to 1 April 2024.
Ofgem's investigation looked into Ovo's treatment of existing PPM customers, not those who had meters installed without consent. During the probe, Ovo took some action, including welfare visits to customers disconnected for over 72 hours who had not responded to communications. However, in some cases, customers who ran out of credit were not contacted.
Cathryn Scott, Ofgem's director of market oversight and enforcement, said: '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.' Ovo accepted that some historic processes fell short and said it had significantly improved policies, systems, and training since 2024.
An Ovo spokesperson said: 'We accept that some of our historic processes fell short of expected standards, and we are sorry for that.' This settlement follows a £2.7m fine in January for failing to pass on government support payments during the energy cost crisis. Last month, German energy group E.ON agreed to buy Ovo, which would create Britain's biggest gas and electricity supplier by household numbers.
