Kettering couple's sleepless nights over 18-month fight with energy supplier

A Kettering couple say an 18-month fight with their gas supplier has left them having sleepless nights.

Lia Lovasz-Monostory and husband Zsolt Lovasz have had problems with their smart meter since May 2021 and have pleaded with SSE – part of the Ovo group – to replace it.

But despite making numerous complaints and spending countless hours on the phone to resolve the issue it has not been fixed, with engineer appointments cancelled at the last minute.

The pair, who live in Crown Street, took their case to the Ombudsman who have since ordered SSE to exchange the meter.

Zsolt, 38, said: "It's just comedic when you think about it. It's unbelievable that an energy supplier can operate like this."

An Ovo spokesman has apologised for their ‘shortfalls in service’.

The couple’s problems began when they had to add credit manually to their meter because they couldn’t do so online. They advised SSE of the problem 18 months ago but nothing happened and they complained.

An meter exchange appointment was eventually fixed for June 2022 but was cancelled. Another appointment was scheduled for September, but when the SSE engineer arrived he reset the meter as he had no instructions to fit a new one. The couple were told it would work once further payments had been made, but when they attempted to top it up it wouldn’t work. Last month another appointment was cancelled.

They were given £30 goodwill credit because the meter wasn’t exchanged. And for their wasted time – with the couple estimating that they had spent more than 100 hours on the phone – they were offered £50.

Lia, 45, said: "It's a slap in the face and it's insulting. These companies treat you like you are not a person and just an account number.

"We just want the meter changed. That's all we're asking.”

The couple later received a bill for more than £200 saying their account had been closed, even though they hadn’t closed it. They say they were told it was for charges they would have paid had their meter been changed as it had gone into ‘free vend’ mode.

This month they received a letter warning them that, if they did not stump up £226.62, a default could be registered against them, affecting their credit rating, or that their details could be passed to a debt collector.

And, because their meter doesn’t have signal and hasn’t been changed, they fear they could yet receive an unexpected bill as they are still paying 2021 prices – despite their attempts to have the issue resolved.

Lia said: “If they had been interested in changing it in the first place we wouldn't be in this situation.”

Zsolt added: "We wanted to get it resolved last May but if they don't give a flying pig what can we do? We have had sleepless nights.”

This week the Ombudsman ruled that SSE must issue a written apology, book a meter exchange appointment and apply goodwill credit of £100.

But Lia said that, because hundreds of customers have raised issues with SSE/OVO online, she ‘seriously doubts’ that her case will be sorted.

An Ovo spokesman said: “We’re very sorry to Lia Lovasz-Monostory and Zsolt Lovasz for the shortfalls in service they’ve experienced.”