How do you calculate my direct debit?

Welcome to the forum, @Edmund Byrne, it sounds like bad timing with your account being brought up to date inline with your reading and the Direct Debit check in being sent. 

I've popped your post here and added a bit of info above that may be handy, I'd recommend getting in touch with the team just to check things over.

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Received today an ‘urgent’ email warning me that my current £83 DD will leave me £72 in debit at the end of the tariff term.  (November, 10 month’s hence) 

Due to ‘unpredicted usage’ on my dual fuel readings of the 21st. It proposes I pay £91 in future. 

I checked the account. It recommends that I REDUCE the DD to £82. 

OVO continually plays games with its website and one-sided calculations.   This is my third year as a customer. For six/seven months of the year the installed solar system provides a considerable reduction in the monthly costs.  The OVO system fails to take this into account?

Suddenly, based only upon a variation between the first and second winter months of a re-newed contract at term, the system demands a higher rate.  Two months data is hardly a trend?

At one earlier stage to avoid the continual DD changes I set a generous rate. Subsequently I was warned on a phone call that ignoring the recommendation to lower the remittance might jeopardise the  quarterly rebate. 

And to add another OVO irritation.

In December I received an auto-email from the FIT department informing me that it will take up to four weeks to respond to my emailed admin question on alternative ways to submit FIT readings.   My subsequent telephone enquiry to the FIT department was met with dumb insolence and an extraordinary attempt to justify that this is a reasonable time scale. I have yet to receive a formal response. 

Is there anyone there who has a slight knowledge of queuing theory. It will point out one of the first consequences of peaks and troughs in an uncontrolled process?

And NO, for the umpteenth time, I don’t want a smart meter.

You suggest that four weeks is a reasonable timescale before the FIT team replies to an email?

Expectation?  OVO’s expectation? Apparently so.

My expectation? Absolutely not.

I received a call confirming the DD email was wrong.  The FIT issue remains outstanding  I still have not had a response, after 6 weeks!.

You are supporting the wrong team on this one. I’m leaving OVO. And very specifically due to the manner in which your FIT Customer Service (?)  operator behaved.

I have received a confusing email which says that my remaining payments will not cover my projected use, and I should increase my Direct Debit. 

The email came soon after my most recent payment was taken and it doesn’t make clear whether that payment is included in the calculations or not. The figure given for the credit in my account is the amount that was at the end of my January statement, which implies that the email is based on the status of my account before the February payment and charge.

However, the email says the number of payments remaining this year is 5, and my contract ends in August. If February was included in the payments remaining, then there should be 6 payments remaining. So, the money I have paid in February seems to be left out of both the calculations of how much I have already paid, and how much I have still to pay. 

Secondly, the projected use for the rest of the year is £381.29. The total amount I have used over the last 5 winter months (based on charges from the statements issued in October-February inclusive) is less than this. I certainly don’t expect to use that much over the next 5 spring/summer months (March- July inclusive), and have never used that much during the equivalent period in the previous 4 years.

If the projected use was based on how much I used last year during the 6 month period Feb - July, it would just about make sense. But in that case, the email is saying that 5 months of payments won’t cover 6 months of use, which is not particularly helpful information.

All of this would be easier to make sense of if the email actually specified which 5 payments it was referring to, and which months were included in the projected use.

Thanks for your reply. However that still doesn’t add up. Five months would be 
March

April

May 
June

July

Also that doesn’t explain why the projected use estimate is more than I ever pay for 5 months worth of energy use.

My mother’s electricity direct debit is being increased from £150pcm to £206pcm from June even though her account is frequently in credit at the time of her bill. Please can you tell me how I question this and ensure no increase is made until I have been able to discuss this with someone over the phone. To me this just feels like an excuse to print money at a time when most people are struggling financially.