It was founded by Stephen Fitzpatrick and began trading energy in September 2009, buying and selling electricity and gas to supply domestic properties throughout the UK.

By June 2017 OVO had 680,000 customers, an increase of 10,000 over the previous year, representing a 2.5% domestic market share.

[9] The majority of the UK's gas is sourced from the North Sea; the rest comes from Norway, Continental Europe and some from further afield.

This offered customers solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, batteries, inverters and a Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) rate.

[16] The 2018 acquisition of Spark Energy included a subsidiary, Home Telecom Limited, which specialises in providing telephone and broadband services to tenants of private landlords.

[21] This made OVO the UK's second-largest energy supply company (after British Gas) with around 5 million customers.

EV drivers can locate, use and pay for public charge points without switching between different cards or logins.

She holds other directorships including at Savills, Genpact and the Football Association, and was deputy chair at retailer Harvey Nichols.

[36][37] Since 2020, OVO Energy has remained susceptible to regulatory action, largely due to issues such as unlawful overcharging and sub-par customer service.

[38] Head of Ofgem enforcement, Anthony Pygram, said "The supplier did not prioritise putting these issues right whilst its business was expanding.

"[39] In March 2021, as part of a wider investigation into price protection failings by energy suppliers, OVO's practices were found to have caused detriment to 240,563 customers totalling over £2m, and the company was required to pay redress of over £2.8m – the highest amount of compensation among the 18 companies investigated.

[41][42][43] In May 2023, Ofgem found that OVO had charged almost 11,000 customers more than the maximum allowed under the Energy Price Guarantee scheme.

[46] In 2024, multiple widespread reports of customers not getting any cash back when asking for credit refunds prompted Martin Lewis to sound off a public warning on OVO Energy.