We’re updating some of our Charge Anytime T&Cs

very very disappointed in this change. I am on a good tariff and only fixed for a year due to the charge anytime for the two cars. We have been using around 700 kwh per month at the moment I am at or the near the cap but once my deal ends I will well over the top (current saving 0.15p kwh so allows 666khw usage which means I will be paying another £50 a month for the same electricity) I will be leaving to another provider. With the other 4 big brands they provide cheap energy for the whole house but I thought this was a good system but clearly two car house holds will be penalised!! there should be a bit or tolerance given we have two cars and also spend a lot as a household. Also I see Ovo happy to give away 30000 miles to some customers. Maybe just keep the ones you have!

Hi ​@leebobbycastle,

Thanks for your post, and sorry to hear that the new terms will have a negative effect for you. If you reach out to chargeanytime@ovo.com they’ll be able to give you further advice on how the changes will affect your set up going forward.

Good evening. This is very disappointing as I have recently signed up to a fixed tariff on the basis of this ev tariff.  OVO have now changed the terms and conditions and monthly costs. Im assuming I can switch suppliers now without paying any fees? 

Hello,

Charge Anytime is NOT a tariff and is not a Fixed Rate deal either. It’s an Add-On that comes with it’s own set of terms and conditions which runs independently of your supply contract.

As such, objecting to these changes would not be considered valid grounds for an exit fee waiver for your supply contract. If you leave because of this, you WILL be charged the standard Early Exit Fee.

To be honest though, this will only hamper you if you do an extreme amount of home charging anyway. 99% of folks won’t be affected by the fair use policy.

Disgusting how you’ve done this! Waiting until a good majority had fixed their tariff over 2 weeks ago and then add this fair use policy to charge anytime so you get a £50 cancellation fee. Well another supplier is now going to get my custom.
 

Before you took over SSE were brilliant always answered calls, asked if we wanted to change our direct debit etc….OVO no stuff that for a laugh!! dd has suddenly gone up 50% because we based your direct debit on your charges before the credit for charge anytime which in my case is over the new stupid fair use policy I’m not an excessively high user and only a one ev household but I always go over the new £100 cap. Well what happens if I can’t afford it?? Don’t care about that do you? And strangely enough everytime one of these increase emails gets sent you suddenly don’t answer! Strange that isn’t it?? 

As mentioned: Charge Anytime IS NOT linked directly to your supply contract and doesn’t form part of any tariff - it’s an Add-On that runs independently across all of them. If you leave OVO, you’ll get charged any exit fees that apply regardless of your reason unless it’s within the free exit window. That’s always been the case and has nothing to do with these changes.

Not everything is a conspiracy. Not everything is out to get you. Sometimes it’s better to not try to spin up those stories because you’re reading into stuff that’s not there…

As we have ALWAYS said on the Forum, you can ask for a Direct Debit Review if you feel it’s wrong or you need to reduce it for affordability reasons - and financial support is available if you’re struggling, you just have to ask.

It is also only the CA credits that count under the Fair Use Policy, not what you spent prior to the credits. That’ll make the £100 go further than you might think.

As for the SSE → OVO thing? That has been discussed on the Forum many times over the years. But that ship has sailed and those discussions have already ended.

your right it was an addon but given whether I have one or 5 cars to charge or 5 different houses have one car that does lots of miles it seems odd as the 0.07p figure just means customer will not sign up 500kwh at the price is not that many miles and when octopus and eon allow hours at night and discount all the usage at that time. Ovo clearly think its more hassle than its worth. I sent them an email and had a reply asking send us your details and that's was 5 days ago. customer service non existent. Not sure its very good customer service to ask me to sign up and then cap it and not allow someone to leave as its an addon to a tariff so OVO know I'm on a fixed tariff let me change something as an addon to make me stay and then change the t and c right away. I have asked Ofgem for their thoughts on the wording and implementation of such addons. 

You are free to leave OVO if you want. But I cannot waive any exit fee because I’m not allowed to do so - Forum Volunteers can’t access your account. The only way to waive them outside of the free exit periods are if you’re moving house or you’re renewing/extending early (some contracts will waive the fee for that reason). You knew what you were signing up to. But alas, most people don’t read the rules first.

Either way, it works out at about 2,000 miles a month which is plenty for most folks. If you’re doing more than that, you’re probably also using public chargers anyway - which won’t count towards the cap.

But the rules/terms are clear and I doubt Ofgem would side with you.

You’re thinking of more Economy 7 stuff which is completely different to Charge Anytime.

I didn't ask you to access my account or waive the fee that's for OVO to do. But its obvious as a volunteer forum moderate you get sometime as you have no empathy with the fact I signed up over the phone asked about the tariff that I was fixed on and they said the the charge anytime wouldn't be changing when clearly they planned to introduce a cap, that only penalises individuals who use two cars or one that does a lot of miles.  Verses multiple customers who between them could actually use more electricity. I am a high usage customer but wont be staying with a provider that wants to keep moving the goal posts. I'm sure you will defend it as unlike actual OVO customer service who never reply seem to reply you carry the company torch well!

There is no conspiracy theory magic trickery here. It would just be a case that whoever you spoke to gave you the latest available information as it was at the time you signed up. It’s normal for rules for just about anything to change over time. It’s your expectations that must adapt along with them. It doesn’t matter where you go - the rule changes WILL follow you across the market.

Leave if you want, stay if you want. It makes no difference to me. But I won’t change my answers regardless because I’m giving the answer that makes the most sense.