Ovo Energy to reportedly make redundancies

According to Sky News, the move is part of a restructuring aimed at saving costs amid the deepening industry crisis. One of its sources said the voluntary redundancy programme would be accompanied by a commitment to increase minimum pay across the company to £12 an hour. 

It also plans to open a new academy in Glasgow, and to close a number of its sites as part of a consolidation to three locations in London, Bristol and Glasgow. 

The move, which could be made as soon as today (13 January), comes during what has been a difficult week for the company. On Monday (10 January) it said it was “embarrassed” after it advised customers to keep their heating bills low by “having a cuddle with your pets”, eating “hearty bowls of porridge” and “doing a few star jumps”. 

Sent out to customers of the Ovo Energy-owned SSE Energy Services, it listed 10 “simple and cost effective ways to keep warm this winter”, which also included “sticking to non-alcoholic drinks” and “doing household chores”. 

Ovo Energy, founded in 2009 by Stephen Fitzpatrick, has been transformed when it acquired SSE’s retail customer base two years ago. Since then, the integration plan has been accelerated and is now migrating 120,000 customers each week to its own operating platform - which, one industry insider told Sky News, means it requires fewer staff to run it. 

Fitzpartick has been a vocal critic of the government’s energy policy during the current crisis, which has led to 25 suppliers cease trading since August. He has said that ministers were showing “nowhere near enough urgency” in trying to tackle the crisis. 

The turmoil in the market has largely been sparked by soaring wholesale gas prices, surging beyond the records seen at the start of October 2021. This has been driven by ongoing supply concerns for electricity and gas, geopolitical pressures affecting the European gas market and colder weather associated with the winter season.