Energy firm told to pay £2.4 million by Ofgem

Ofgem has told the energy firm to pay £2.4 million after finding the company had not dealt with customer complaint in the proper manner.

Ofgem said that some 1,395 customers had issues and long delays by Ovo dealing with complaints, and in some instances, cases took a staggering 18 months.

The affected customers will receive around £271 in compensation and Ovo will have to pay £2 million to the Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme.

“Energy is an essential service. When things go wrong, it can cause consumers a lot of distress,” said Jacqui Gehrmann, deputy director of retail compliance at Ofgem.

“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.”

In a statement, Ovo said, “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.”