OVO has agreed to pay into Ofgem’s Voluntary Redress Fund, following an investigation into OVO’s historic policies for supporting prepayment customers between 2018 and 2024.
The settlement includes £7 million paid into the Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Fund and £3.4 million in goodwill payments to customers who may have been put at greater risk due to process weaknesses. OVO has already paid £1.1 million in compensation to customers affected by other compliance cases.
OVO accepts that some of its historic processes fell short of the expected standards and has agreed to settle the case through Ofgem’s Alternative Action process.
Since 2024, OVO has made significant improvements to its policies, systems and training, including implementing a new Safe and Reasonably Practicable (SARP) policy, strengthening how the company identifies and supports vulnerable customers, and improving the processes that ensure those policies are consistently followed.
An OVO spokesperson commented:
“Ofgem’s investigation examined how we supported prepayment meter customers between 2018 and 2024. We accept that some of our historic processes fell short of expected standards, and we are sorry for that.
“Keeping our customers safe and supported is hugely important to us and we recognise there were areas where we needed to do better.
“We have since worked to strengthen our policies and systems, including a new Safe and Reasonably Practicable (SARP) policy, strengthening how we identify and support our vulnerable customers. This settlement reflects both those historic issues and the improvements we have made.”
Customers who may be eligible for a goodwill payment will be contacted directly by OVO. Customers do not need to take any action in response to this announcement.
