THOUSANDS of energy customers are furious after discovering that they’re locked out of their accounts until the end of the year.
Some Ovo Energy customers have said that they can’t log in to their online accounts to view their energy usage or access their bills.
GettyThousands of Ovo Energy customers can’t access their online accounts[/caption]
Several affected customers have taken to Twitter to air their frustrations.
They’ve complained that their accounts have become unavailable and that they will have to wait until the end of the year to regain access.
One customer said: “Ovo Energy why can I no longer access my account and it claims I won’t be able to until of this year?”
“Anyone struggling to log in to Ovo Energy account,” said another.
A third customer said: “Ovo Energy what is this all about? Seven months to migrate my account? Is this a joke? You realise this is 2023 not 1923!”
“I’ve worked in IT for 35 years and I’ve never heard of a company removing their website for eight months in preparation for a new one,” said another.
On visiting the login page used by affected customers – a message is displayed highlighting the issue.
The message reads: “We’re working on a new website for you.
“We’re in the process of migrating groups of customers to our new website so access to your online account won’t be available until the end of 2023.
“If you’ve got any other questions please contact us via one of the methods available on our contact us page and we’ll be happy to help.”
Ovo Energy told The Sun that customers affected by the issue won’t be able to access their online accounts during this period.
Instead, customers will be expected to contact the Ovo Energy support team to submit meter readings.
Customers can do this via the online chat on the energy supplier’s website or by calling 0330 175 9676.
But it said that customers will continue to receive their statements via email or post as usual.
An Ovo Energy spokesperson said: “We’re migrating a small number of customers to a new website.
“We’re aiming to move all customers as soon as possible and will keep them updated.”
Ovo Energy was founded by Stephen Fitzpatrick in September 2009 and by 2017 provided energy tariffs to over 700,000 households.
In September 2017, the company launched Boost as a dedicated brand for its prepayment meter customers.
In November 2018, Ovo Energy acquired Spark Energy and in January 2020 it bought the domestic arm of SSE which catapulted the brand to become part of the “Big Six”.
Ovo Energy now supplies 4.5million households with gas and electricity across the UK.
Over 200,000 Boost customers will move to Ovo at the end of the year when it will wind down its services.
Boost’s customers do not need to do anything as their accounts will be migrated over to Ovo Energy automatically.
In the meantime, Boost will remove any debts applied to the accounts of customers affected by a prepayment meter glitch.
Ovo Energy told The Sun over the weekend that it will no longer ask customers to pay the company back after being undercharged for their electricity usage.