My 86 year old Mum moved down south to live near me in November last year. She moved from a large house with GCH to a much smaller flat with those yukky storage heaters. But she has managed with them over the winter okay. I sent off the opening meter reading to OVO who she 'moved with', and although I tried was unable to set up a direct debit for her at the time, and then I moved house, which was HORRIFIC and so that fell by the board. However in February she was sent a bill for £30.42 which she paid, thinking that was very reasonable ..... Roll on May and I was sent a text from SSE asking for a meter reading, so went to the meter and took a picture and came home to send it in (she has no online presence at all so have set it all up via my email and phone number.) So unsure as to why we were being asked for a reading from SSE anyway, it said online SSE part of the OVO family, fair enough ..... BUT it then asked me for 2 other meter numbers, which I had no idea we actually had, so went back to scroll through the meter and added those too. 24 hours later she had a bill for £2166.62 and they wanted £349 a month just to pay the debt off never mind pay for the heating she was using!! I tried to deal with it but they wouldn't let me as I wasn't the account holder or named as a contact (despite it being set up with my email and phone number) so had to go back to speak to them when I was with her. She had already said she wasn't paying it and would go to prison instead!
After holding for around 45 minutes trying to get through, I eventually got hold of someone, told our tale but was through to the wrong dept, as you always are, so went round in circles for another 30 minutes and eventually found someone who added me to the account. I was just explaining - again - the issue and the call bloody dropped!! I was so surprised though when the phone rang and bless her she had called me back! By the end of the call the DD had been set up for £78 a month and the bill reduced to £217 .... not sure how, but she worked a miracle, so in the end it was definitely worth the hassle ..... I hope she gets on okay sorting it out.