Currently it is not possible to request quarterly billing and payments.
It would be useful to gauge interest in how many posters would be interesting in having this feature, particularly those transferred from SSE who use to have this option.
Some people find it very difficult to manage monthly cycles, particularly if they are use to quarterly.
+1As far as I’m aware, OVO has never considered supporting quarterly bills before and it seems that a lot of other suppliers are starting to move towards monthly only as it is better for cashflow and can make things cheaper.
What would be a reason to counter that? Just curious!
+2I have posted the idea, as there are quite a few posters on this forum and the other social media channels honestly struggling with the switch from quarterly to monthly for a variety of reasons. There are lots of elderly for example happily taking readings 4 times a year and paying their bill 4 times a year. It is very simple. It is very simple, 4 readings, 4 bills, never having to log into anything.
Compare that to huge amount of detail and options on the OVO website. I like detail but for many it can be completely overwhelming. I can really appreciate that.
+1True, but in some cases it’s not so much about not being used to things, but in actual fact being stubborn and actively fighting against change or going against consensus.
You do also have to think of it from the energy supplier’s side. Many of their bills have to be paid monthly or yearly and I don’t think OVO has any suppliers that accept quarterly payments from OVO to them. Paying out to those suppliers monthly but only getting cash in from all your customers every three months can really mess up and play havoc with your own cashflow, especially if a bunch of them don’t pay on time.
If a pay monthly customer forgets to pay one month, you just temporarily miss out on one months worth of payment, but a quarterly customer not paying has even more impact because you’ve taken an entire seasons worth of hit to your balances - but you still have to pay your suppliers who won’t take excuses for not paying up.
This is partly where smart meters and direct debits can help. It automates not only taking meter readings but also payments so that you can let everything run on autopilot. Personally, I’d say that’s an easier solution to implement than trying to reprogram the billing platforms of lots of suppliers to understand quarterly bills again.
+2Like i said i am not the target market.
I do find some of your reply quite offensive towards this cohort of people, so i am going to stop posting on this thread now.
I’d also like to point out that I can understand the point from
It’s a tricky one for an idea as it’s not a feature of the online account, the app, or our other digital tools. So it’s not something those product teams can add to their roadmap.
For that reason, I’m going to mark this one as ‘can’t be done’, but leave it as an idea so we can gauge just how many people want to see it as an option that’s available for everybody. Perhaps we can get some insight into the reasons why they prefer it to monthly billing.
Thanks for posting this!
For me personally,” Cant be done yet” is a poor excuse. I was switched from SSE. I was not given a welcome pack, only on the account did it explain anything and that was bills would be rolled into one. That is perfectly fine.
BUT, and this is a big but, for me personally monthly is not an option. To be asked to pay each and every month is not practical in my situation.
I understand this is too gauge why people want quarterly and I think asking that is a bit invasive about peoples finances.
But for the purpose of this thread, here are my reasons.
My bills have always been quarterly. There is a reason for this. My finances are set up to pay things like my car service, Water bills, Tax, vets, etc etc on different months. I have 2 months money to sort these things out and a little left for saving for things for emergencies. Then the 3rd months money was always put aside for my energy bills. I never had an unpaid bill, no meter fitted, no ccjs. Always paid. So its not a case of cant pay, its a case of cant pay each month.
My finaces work because I plan for them to work. I save, and pay my bills. Always have. Im disabled so very little income. So having 2 months money to pay extras, as above, along with clothes, bulk food shopping, birthdays etc then one month living on very little has helped me save and live sort of okish. But now being asked to pay every month, means Im broke every month and no extras for other bills as expalined above.
I simply cant do it. I have just paid nearly £700 for car service, MOT and Insurance. This month. I CANT NOT PAY MY OVO BILL this month, I can no problem next month, even if its £700/800/900 . This is available every 12 weeks for my bills.
To say energy companies need to pay their bills each month is NOT OUR PROBLEM! you are not putting customer need first. You send out emails saying ring us, we will do all we can to help, but then do not.
I rang OVO, Migration and even started a twitter to see if quarterly would be acceptable. All I got was NO. I can not move energy suppliers yet as none are taking new customers. So what does OVO expect people like me to do? Get a meter, go hungry, have no car, limited food, etc ect. When someone CAN PAY, just not as OVO want, that is distressing and stressful. Yet emails say you dont want us to have to worry. Well I am stressed and worried. I coped perfectly well before and prepared for these increases by clearing anything that normally would be paid every 3 months, so my 3rd lot of money each quarter was wholey for OVO. I expect this response will do nothing. As big companies do not care about us little people. Next move is complaint I guess, then the ombusman.
Hi
I’ve replied to your same comment that you posted on this thread:
I am desperate to move away from Ovo. I was with SSE. What a massive mistake I made moving to them. OVO bills are shambolic and unreadable. I cannot understand why I am constantly in debt with them. I pay a bill and a few days later I have another !! . I was paying quarterly too, and suited me financially.
For me personally,” Cant be done yet” is a poor excuse. I was switched from SSE. I was not given a welcome pack, only on the account did it explain anything and that was bills would be rolled into one. That is perfectly fine.
BUT, and this is a big but, for me personally monthly is not an option. To be asked to pay each and every month is not practical in my situation.
I understand this is too gauge why people want quarterly and I think asking that is a bit invasive about peoples finances.
But for the purpose of this thread, here are my reasons.
My bills have always been quarterly. There is a reason for this. My finances are set up to pay things like my car service, Water bills, Tax, vets, etc etc on different months. I have 2 months money to sort these things out and a little left for saving for things for emergencies. Then the 3rd months money was always put aside for my energy bills. I never had an unpaid bill, no meter fitted, no ccjs. Always paid. So its not a case of cant pay, its a case of cant pay each month.
My finaces work because I plan for them to work. I save, and pay my bills. Always have. Im disabled so very little income. So having 2 months money to pay extras, as above, along with clothes, bulk food shopping, birthdays etc then one month living on very little has helped me save and live sort of okish. But now being asked to pay every month, means Im broke every month and no extras for other bills as expalined above.
I simply cant do it. I have just paid nearly £700 for car service, MOT and Insurance. This month. I CANT NOT PAY MY OVO BILL this month, I can no problem next month, even if its £700/800/900 . This is available every 12 weeks for my bills.
To say energy companies need to pay their bills each month is NOT OUR PROBLEM! you are not putting customer need first. You send out emails saying ring us, we will do all we can to help, but then do not.
I rang OVO, Migration and even started a twitter to see if quarterly would be acceptable. All I got was NO. I can not move energy suppliers yet as none are taking new customers. So what does OVO expect people like me to do? Get a meter, go hungry, have no car, limited food, etc ect. When someone CAN PAY, just not as OVO want, that is distressing and stressful. Yet emails say you dont want us to have to worry. Well I am stressed and worried. I coped perfectly well before and prepared for these increases by clearing anything that normally would be paid every 3 months, so my 3rd lot of money each quarter was wholey for OVO. I expect this response will do nothing. As big companies do not care about us little people. Next move is complaint I guess, then the ombusman.
I am desperate to move away from Ovo. I was with SSE. What a massive mistake I made moving to them. OVO bills are shambolic and unreadable. I cannot understand why I am constantly in debt with them. I pay a bill and a few days later I have another !! . I was paying quarterly too, and suited me financially.
Likewise. Exactly the same situation here . Enforced monthly dd and huge debit balance. Pants !
Likewise here . Always paid bills quarter dd with SSE , now enforced monthly which hasn't run smoothly and gone from credit to huge debit balance. No email customer service available with OVO and phone lines only open weekdays 9-5. The whole thing is pants !🤬
+1You can’t get quarterly bills with OVO, but quarterly payments might be allowed via a Payment Plan. Try 0800 069 9831 as the Collections Team can discuss this with you.
Yet another unhappy former SSE customer who was happy with the quarterly billing. Now on monthly OVO bills, never explained and shambles.
+1Yet another unhappy former SSE customer who was happy with the quarterly billing. Now on monthly OVO bills, never explained and shambles.
To be honest… Quarterly Billing appears to be slowly fading away from the UK market. I’m seeing fewer and fewer suppliers offering it and I suspect it won’t stick around for much longer. There’s no guarantee that any supplier will continue to offer it in the future...
+1If you are desperate for the ability to pay quarterly, please call the Collections Team on 0800 069 9831 and they can discuss that with you. The billing however, will remain monthly.
My view is that a less big shock at monthly intervals is less traumatic than a great one every quarter, and makes for easier budgeting. But I’m all in favour of as much customer choice as possible in every situation, so this is getting my vote too.
+2I missed that another company dropped quarterly billing for new and existing customers over the summer.
Just posting for completeness on the thread
+2Just for completeness on the forum.
At the time of posting, I have only noticed British Gas still has a quarterly bill option on their online switch tool for some of the non DD payment methods.
Currently it is not possible to request quarterly billing and payments.
It would be useful to gauge interest in how many posters would be interesting in having this feature, particularly those transferred from SSE who use to have this option.
Some people find it very difficult to manage monthly cycles, particularly if they are use to quarterly.
Of course it's possible. OVO might not like to encourage it but there are customers come across from SSE still being billed quarterly.
+1Currently it is not possible to request quarterly billing and payments.
It would be useful to gauge interest in how many posters would be interesting in having this feature, particularly those transferred from SSE who use to have this option.
Some people find it very difficult to manage monthly cycles, particularly if they are use to quarterly.
Of course it's possible. OVO might not like to encourage it but there are customers come across from SSE still being billed quarterly.
Those customers are running purely on a Grandfather Rule. If they leave OVO for any reason or make certain changes to their payment method, they’ll no longer get it even if they return.
Currently it is not possible to request quarterly billing and payments.
It would be useful to gauge interest in how many posters would be interesting in having this feature, particularly those transferred from SSE who use to have this option.
Some people find it very difficult to manage monthly cycles, particularly if they are use to quarterly.
Of course it's possible. OVO might not like to encourage it but there are customers come across from SSE still being billed quarterly.
Those customers are running purely on a Grandfather Rule. If they leave OVO for any reason or make certain changes to their payment method, they’ll no longer get it even if they return.
That's interesting. Where does this term Grandfather Rule 😅 come from? I’d heard it was because they didn't have E-mail.
If they wanted to make certain changes to their payment method then, which I suppose might include taking a fixed tariff, they'd be as well changing supplier?
+1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandfather_clause
But as mentioned, fewer and fewer suppliers offer Quarterly Bills/Payments these days. They’re ultimately dying out.
As far as I’m aware, OVO has never considered supporting quarterly bills before and it seems that a lot of other suppliers are starting to move towards monthly only as it is better for cashflow and can make things cheaper.
What would be a reason to counter that? Just curious!
Turning attention to Energy billing matters 4 times a year instead of 12 seems as good a reason as any, like eg. the price cap changes that are still quarterly.
+1Except the Price Cap used to be six-monthly. It was changed purely to help alleviate unrelated issues.
There is only ONE valid reason, use case and/or benefit for Quarterly Billing these days - as a legacy Grandfather Rule/Grandfather Clause for those who insist on not letting go.
The benefits of Monthly Billing are much greater:
And a bunch more.
You’d need a seriously compelling use case if you wanted to campaign for Quarterly Billing to stick around long term. I just… Can’t see it happening when Monthly is superior - and used for basically everything else under the sun.
Additionally, I’m gonna be brutally honest with you here. We put this Idea up as a tracker two years ago to gauge interest in how many Forum users would want this. To date, only six upvotes have been cast (this Forum does not permit Downvotes) would suggest that there’s possibly very little interest in bringing this into fruition. As a Forum Volunteer, I also read literally everything that gets posted here and based on my records, there has been very few users posting comments or threads demanding the return of Quarterly Bills, or even discussing them. It would appear that - based on what we see on the Forum at least - it’s a thing that most people don’t seem to want.
+2As far as I’m aware, OVO has never considered supporting quarterly bills before and it seems that a lot of other suppliers are starting to move towards monthly only as it is better for cashflow and can make things cheaper.
What would be a reason to counter that? Just curious!
Turning attention to Energy billing matters 4 times a year instead of 12 seems as good a reason as any, like eg. the price cap changes that are still quarterly.
If you feel strongly, you are better off lobbying ofgem or keeping an eye out for one of the many ofgem consultations that might reference billing in any way.
I can't see any supplier ever going back to quarterly billing unless told to do so. The industry is moving in completely the other direction, local time of use tariff are likely to dominate with increased near real time data on billing as heat pumps and Electric vehicles become the norm in the next few decades.
I started this thread not because I personally thought quarterly billing was a good idea but because I valued choice for consumers.
However the sector has moved on and even British Gas don't give the option of quarterly billing when switching now, unlike one of the previous posts in this thread that I added.
We need to get people more interested in energy, when and how much they use, anything quarterly makes that difficult.
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