Source: MoneySavingExpert, “Ovo energy customer? You'll be moved to E.on as a takeover deal has been agreed – here's what it means for you”, published 2 October 2026. Decision confirmed on the Competition and Markets Authority's own E.ON/OVO merger inquiry case page, cleared 1 October 2026. Exit fee rules from Ofgem's own switching your home energy supplier guidance.
Our view, before the detail
A merger getting cleared by a competition regulator sounds like background noise — the kind of story that affects shareholders, not households. This one is different because of its sheer size: Ovo's entire 4 million-customer base is being folded into E.on, making this one of the largest single changes of hands in the history of the UK energy market. Most of those 4 million households will see absolutely nothing happen for months, and that's exactly the problem — ‘nothing visible changes’ is also the condition under which people stop paying attention to their own tariff. The genuine action here isn't about the merger at all. It's that any corporate upheaval is a natural prompt to check what you're actually paying and whether it's still the best available price, which is worth doing on its own merits regardless of who owns the company sending the bill.
What's actually happened
E.on agreed to buy Ovo Energy in May 2026, in a deal reported to be worth as much as £600 million, though the official price hasn't been disclosed by either company. The CMA opened a formal merger inquiry on 2 September 2026, ran an initial invitation to comment between 8 and 23 July, and announced on 1 October 2026 that it would not refer the deal for a deeper Phase 2 investigation — in plain terms, a decision that the combined company wouldn't unfairly reduce competition in the energy market, not an approval of anyone's prices or service quality.
Once it completes, Ovo's roughly 4 million customers join E.on's existing 5.6 million, taking the combined business to about 9.6 million customer accounts. Until then, the CMA's own case page and MoneySavingExpert's reporting both confirm Ovo and E.on continue operating as entirely separate companies, with their own billing, apps and customer service — the takeover hasn't actually happened yet, only the regulatory permission for it to go ahead.
What stays the same for now
Four things are specifically protected, whether you're with Ovo or E.on: your current tariff runs on its existing terms until its agreed end date; your Direct Debit continues unchanged; your gas and electricity supply isn't interrupted; and Warm Home Discount eligibility, for anyone who qualifies, isn't affected by who owns the company. None of that requires you to do anything — it's simply what happens by default while the deal works through its remaining steps, which both companies expect to finish before the end of 2026.
One thing isn't automatically covered: if you hold an Ovo home services plan — boiler cover, appliance cover and similar — that part of the business was already sold separately to Hometree before this supply takeover was cleared. The detail of how existing home services policies are affected hasn't been published in full, so if that's you, it's worth a direct call to confirm rather than assuming it simply carries over with your energy account.
Illustrative figures only, built from Ofgem's confirmed October 2026 price cap and MoneySavingExpert's own reporting on this deal, to show the shape of the decision — your own tariff, usage and dates will differ.
- Typical Ovo standard variable dual-fuel bill: around £1,723 a year, the Ofgem price cap confirmed for 1 October to 31 December 2026.
- Switching to a cheaper deal now, per MoneySavingExpert's reporting on this story: up to 4.8% saving including cashback — roughly £83 a year on that typical bill.
- If you're on a fixed deal with months left to run: leaving early can trigger an exit fee that eats into or wipes out that £83, unless you're inside Ofgem's 49-day switching window before your fixed term ends — in which case suppliers are barred from charging one at all.
The arithmetic only works in your favour once you know which of those two situations you're actually in. A standard variable customer with no fixed term to break has nothing holding them back; a customer eight months into a one-year fix has a genuine fee to weigh against the saving first.
The one decision this actually creates
The takeover itself doesn't force a decision on anyone — staying put and letting your account transfer when it completes is a perfectly reasonable default, and it's what happens automatically if you do nothing. What the news genuinely does is remove any reason to assume Ovo's current price is still competitive just because it's always been your supplier. Checking a comparison site takes a few minutes and costs nothing, and MoneySavingExpert's reporting on this specific deal is explicit that some customers could save meaningfully by moving now rather than waiting for the takeover to complete and then deciding. Whether that applies to you depends on your tariff, not on the merger.
Three things worth doing this week
- Check what tariff you're actually on and when it ends. Log into your Ovo account and look for whether you're on a standard variable tariff (which tracks the Ofgem cap and has no exit fee) or a fixed deal with an end date. That single fact decides everything else below.
- If you're within 49 days of a fixed deal ending, you can switch free of any exit fee right now. Ofgem's own rules, explained on its switching your home energy supplier page, require suppliers to tell you this and to waive the fee inside that window — it's worth checking rather than assuming a fee applies.
- If you're not switching, just confirm your Direct Debit matches real usage rather than an old estimate. A corporate change of ownership is as good a prompt as any to submit a meter reading and check you're not quietly overpaying into a large credit balance, or underpaying into a bill shock later — our guide to cutting your bills without cutting your life covers this alongside every other recurring cost worth checking.
What is still uncertain
The CMA's clearance was published as a short decision notice, with the full reasoning described as being published shortly rather than available in full at the time of writing — worth a look once it lands if you want the regulator's actual competition analysis rather than the headline. Neither company has given a firm completion date beyond “before the end of 2026,” so the point at which Ovo accounts actually move onto E.on's systems isn't fixed yet. And what happens to Ovo's branding, app and customer service team after completion — whether Ovo disappears as a name or continues as a trading style under E.on — hasn't been announced either way. None of that changes what you can control this week: knowing your own tariff and whether switching, or simply staying and checking your Direct Debit, is the better move for your account specifically.
If this is one part of a wider look at what's leaving your account every month, our guide to budgeting with a system that actually works is the place to start, and if energy costs are part of a bigger money worry right now rather than a five-minute admin job, free, independent help is available today from MoneyHelper, StepChange and National Debtline.