Ovo Energy makes charitable payment after missing customer appointments

The energy supplier has agreed with Ofgem to pay £54,000 in redress fees, along with an additional £4,000, to debt charity StepChange.

In 2014 between 600 and 700 Ovo Energy customers were affected after the firm's agents missed appointments. No compensation was forthcoming. This breached Ofgem's 'guaranteed standards', which require energy companies to meet minimum levels of customer service.

The regulator's guaranteed standards include keeping appointments with customers when visiting premises. When suppliers fall short of these standards they have to pay customers compensation.

Ofgem has agreed to allow Ovo Energy to pay the voluntary redress fee to StepChange, a charity which assists those in debt, as opposed to issuing formal enforcement action against the company.

This agreement coincides with the fact that the firm has taken measures to overhaul its customer services process.

A spokesperson for Ovo Energy says: "Ovoprides itself on exceptional customer service. Unfortunately, in this instance we did not meet our high standards, which is why we have agreed with Ofgem to donate our redress to debt management charity StepChange.

"We have since updated our processes to avoid this happening again and ensure we continue to deliver our high quality customer experience."

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