Energy provider OVO to pay nearly £2.4m penalty for customer complaint failures

Supplier to pay £2.39m penalty and £165,795 redress to customers after Ofgem investigation

OVO Energy has been ordered to pay a £2.39 million penalty and £165,795 redress to customers after an investigation by Ofgem found that the supplier failed to handle customer complaints properly and within the required timescales.

Ofgem’s investigation found that OVO failed to resolve complaints within the required timescales on 16,253 occasions, with complaints not being resolved for an average of 46 days beyond the deadline.

The energy regulator also found that OVO failed to provide customers with a copy of their complaint handling procedure or a final response to their complaint on 15,600 occasions, and failed to escalate complaints to a manager when requested by the customer on 9,680 occasions.

Ofgem’s Director of Enforcement and Emerging Issues, Cathryn Scott, said: “OVO failed to meet the standards expected of it when handling complaints from its customers.

“Companies must have robust and effective complaint-handling processes in place that comply with the rules and Ofgem will not hesitate to take enforcement action against those who fail to do so.”

OVO Energy has since apologized for its failings and said that it has taken steps to improve its complaints handling procedures.

The supplier said in a statement: “We are very sorry for the poor level of service that we provided to some of our customers in the handling of their complaints.

“We have taken a number of steps to improve our complaints handling procedures, including increasing the number of staff in our complaints team and reviewing our processes to make sure that we are meeting the required standards.

“We are committed to providing a high level of customer service and we will continue to work hard to improve our performance in this area.”

Customers who believe that they have been affected by OVO Energy’s complaint handling failures can contact the supplier’s customer service team or Ofgem.