Hi I am constantly building up a large credit balance due to what seems to be a fault in the way the direct debit charge is calculated automatically.
Here is where the problem seems to be:
I am charged £172 a month
If you average the bill over the last 12 months it works out at £174 a month Excluding Charge anytime credit
The average Charge Anytime credit over the last 12 months is £28 a month meaning the average monthly bill is actually only £146 a month meaning a £28 a month direct debit overpayment which builds up a large credit quickly especially in the summer months.
I have tried taking refunds and adjusting the monthly direct debit amount but all that happens is the system adjusts the direct debit amount back up as it performs the wrong calculation again and think i’m under paying.
I cant be the only person with charge anytime seeing this issue, does anyone else see this or found a way to fix it.
Thanks
Paul
Best answer by Emmanuelle_OVO
Updated on 29/08/25 by Emmanuelle_OVO
Hey @paulandrewjones,
Following on from what Nukecad has said, I asked the team for feedback on this:
Charge Anytime credits can't be factored into our Direct Debit estimations - they're on separate systems. This affects a lot of customers but there's nothing we can do due to current technical limitations. We appreciate it's an inconvenience, but is outweighed by the savings made to ensure charging, and customers can always request a credit refund if the credit is building up.
The meter records all usage, and there’s no way to separate out what’s being used when, so the meter just clocks all usage and factors this alone into the Future Annual Consumption used to calculate Direct Debits.
I appreciate it’s less than convenient, my advice would be in the meantime, to get the surplus credit refunded.
I hope this advice has helped clarify. Let me know if you have any other questions 😊
Anyone else having issues with their DD and charge anytime? bit of a cross post this but it might be better here than in the DD section.
Just got off a VERY frustrating chat about my DD. I’m currently over £440 in credit and my DD has been increased AGAIN to £161 My average bill per month over the last 12 months is £115!!!!!!! According to the app I’ll be £148 in credit by the end of March 2026, RUBBISH I will be over £800 in credit at this rate! But I did get the reason confirmed, (that I suspected) the EV usage isn’t taken in to account when calculating the DD. This makes a MASSIVE difference if you’re using charge anytime. So as an example our last bill was for £183, ex VAT but we actually paid £112 because of the charge anytime credit of £75. But the DD calculation will be based on the Total cost and NOT the Total charges! I’m not sure if I can remain a OVO customer as we’re about to get another EV so our total cost will be even higher with 2 EV’s and I’ll be spanked even more. Its something that really need to be addressed its pretty simple!
I’m sorry to hear you’re impacted by this, you’re not the first to mention it, I’ve taken the advice below from a similar topic;
‘Charge Anytime credits can't be factored into our Direct Debit estimations - they're on separate systems. This affects a lot of customers but there's nothing we can do due to current technical limitations. We appreciate it's an inconvenience, but is outweighed by the savings made to ensure 7p/kwh charging and customers can always request a credit refund.’
We know it’s not ideal, hopefully it’s something the teams will be able to work on improving, but due to the technical limitations, it’s not something their able to consider in the calculations at this time.
If you’re starting to build up more credit than you’d like on the account, you can request a refund and the Support Team will be able to help process this for you.
I get the same problem, but not to that extent. So its not a major problem to me at present.
But if the system looks at the DD estimate using the total bill before CA reduction, then its an easy tweak to use the actual bill charge. Difficult to believe they can’t do this now. The numbers will be in the same database that generate the bill.
This will only make customers suspicious that OVO prefer to bank the higher amounts, which obviously work in their favour for earning interest and cashflow.
But if the system looks at the DD estimate using the total bill before CA reduction, then its an easy tweak to use the actual bill charge ... The numbers will be in the same database that generate the bill.
That’s not the way it’s done, I’m afraid. Previous bills don’t come into it.
The basis is the Future Annual Consumption (FAC) projection, which is derived from the previous year’s consumption (so long as meter readings have been retrieved regularly). The annual cost of this consumption is worked out using current rates (which is why earlier bills aren’t involved). Add 1/12 for the extra month’s credit at the end of winter to find the projected cost for a whole year; divide that by 12 to get the required DD. It gets a bit more complicated during the months following 1 April, because the projected cost is reduced each month by a seasonally-adjusted amount. Nevertheless, it’s quite possible to reproduce the calculation precisely.
To take regular credits into account, they could be added to the calculation as negative refunds. E.g. take the previous year’s total Charge Anytime credits, divide by 12 and apply the result as a negative refund each month. The Warm Home Discount could be applied in the same way as a negative £12.50 refund each month. The recommended DD changes each day as charges applied affect the account balance, so it’s an interesting quantity to keep track of. It all comes out in the wash eventually.
@Robbo4962 @Justin S Have you had a look at the DD Calculator to see where these increases are coming from? You will have to check your FAC to see whether that’s reasonable or not when compared with actual consumption over the past twelve months as revealed by meter readings.
While the price cap has gone up a bit since last month, that only affects customers on Simpler Energy plans, OVO’s name for the Standard Variable Tariff. A Direct Debit calculated today will use today’s unit rates and standing charges as shown on the Plan page.
@Robbo4962 @Justin S Have you had a look at the DD Calculator to see where these increases are coming from? You will have to check your FAC to see whether that’s reasonable or not when compared with actual consumption over the past twelve months as revealed by meter readings.
While the price cap has gone up a bit since last month, that only affects customers on Simpler Energy plans, OVO’s name for the Standard Variable Tariff. A Direct Debit calculated today will use today’s unit rates and standing charges as shown on the Plan page.
Yes it’s the first thing I looked at.
its the gross amount I used, which is the issue. The calculations should use the net amounts ie after the charge anyone credit as charging the cars is about 70% of my usage.
Thanks for your help with this @Firedog, and @Justin S do you also own an EV and use Charge Anytime? If so I’ll update your Forum account to display this.
@Robbo4962 I hear you loud and clear and have had this conversation with many customers. @Firedog is right in saying that our algorithms are based upon annual usage, without taking into account credits such as Charge Anytime and the Warm Home Discount etc, as these aren’t guaranteed.
At the end of the day, our Direct Debit review procedure is a one-size-fits-all approach which, of course, is not going to suit everyone at all times depending on certain factors. In these instances this is why our Support Team exists, so that customers can have these sort of discussions. Get in contact with them and explain the situation. They should be able to lower your Direct Debit accordingly, or refund a certain amount, whilst also putting your Direct Debit on suspension, meaning that it won’t get reviewed again until the new year.
Let us know how you get on - by all means reference this Forum topic when you speak to them.
@Robbo4962 @Justin S Have you had a look at the DD Calculator to see where these increases are coming from?
Yes it’s the first thing I looked at … its the gross amount I used, which is the issue … charging the cars is about 70% of my usage.
That is of course going to make a nonsense of the DD calculation. There is, however, a (single) precedent for special treatment in this sort of scenario. The DD system is pretty inflexible, but leaving it for another method of payment is usually costly. We know of one OVO Charge Anytime customer who managed to arrange to pay a reasonable amount by monthly standing order while retaining the DD tariff rates. If this would be of interest, I’ll try harder to find the reference …
We know of one OVO Charge Anytime customer who managed to arrange to pay a reasonable amount by monthly standing order while retaining the DD tariff rates. If this would be of interest, I’ll try harder to find the reference …
Thanks for your help with this @Firedog, and @Justin S do you also own an EV and use Charge Anytime? If so I’ll update your Forum account to display this.
@Robbo4962 I hear you loud and clear and have had this conversation with many customers. @Firedog is right in saying that our algorithms are based upon annual usage, without taking into account credits such as Charge Anytime and the Warm Home Discount etc, as these aren’t guaranteed.
At the end of the day, our Direct Debit review procedure is a one-size-fits-all approach which, of course, is not going to suit everyone at all times depending on certain factors. In these instances this is why our Support Team exists, so that customers can have these sort of discussions. Get in contact with them and explain the situation. They should be able to lower your Direct Debit accordingly, or refund a certain amount, whilst also putting your Direct Debit on suspension, meaning that it won’t get reviewed again until the new year.
Let us know how you get on - by all means reference this Forum topic when you speak to them.
Cheers!
I have sent them an email to see what they can do.
if lots of customers are saying the same, maybe it’s tell for OVO to start listening and looking at it.
@Robbo4962 @Justin S Have you had a look at the DD Calculator to see where these increases are coming from?
Yes it’s the first thing I looked at … its the gross amount I used, which is the issue … charging the cars is about 70% of my usage.
That is of course going to make a nonsense of the DD calculation. There is, however, a (single) precedent for special treatment in this sort of scenario. The DD system is pretty inflexible, but leaving it for another method of payment is usually costly. We know of one OVO Charge Anytime customer who managed to arrange to pay a reasonable amount by monthly standing order while retaining the DD tariff rates. If this would be of interest, I’ll try harder to find the reference …
I have sent them an email so let’s see what they come back with first. Cheers.
Let us know what they say @Robbo4962. I used to work customer accounts - there are some instances where human intervention is necessary with the Direct Debit - be it because of a technical error, or a scenario such as yours. Hopefully they’ll sort it quickly for you!
