But a variable debit versus a direct debit against the exact smart meter reading will cost OVO nothing extra. We are being ripped off with this billing system if you have a smart meter. Useless British Gas can do it so why can’t OVO?

Add an idea to the OVO pipeline and encourage people to vote for it. 

I have done that for a few ideas.

https://forum.ovoenergy.com/ideas

You may find you can encourage quite a few people to vote for it. 

I wouldn’t (didn’t) go to cash/cheque/BACS payment on receipt of bill - it’s just too expensive. When I was with SSE I payed for actual usage quarterly by DD and the tariff was the same as monthly. Never had an issue but when I was moved to Ovo they didn’t offer it.

Unless you really like Ovo, you might as well change to another company that offers a payment method you prefer - this is what I’m doing now (with a company that doesn’t just do Electricity but is in France ). Monthly variable DD paying for usage only. 

I agree, i think that is good advice. If you want to pay by variable DD, shop around and choose a supplier that does it. 

With the new industry wide faster switching service it is pretty quick to switch these days.

I suspect OVO will never offer a variable DD payment method unless they see a huge number of customers switching. 

Just been notified of direct debit increase, can’t afford to increase the direct debit, but I make an additional payment at a different time of the month, every month, my account is always in credit. I rang to say I can’t have my DD increased, I don’t get paid the same time every month, hence the additional payments. I was told it was my responsibility to ensure theres enough money in my account to pay the new amount! Or they can refer me to a debt advise service! I now just want to cancel my DD, and make payments when I can, does anyone know how I go about this please?

You can do that by cancelling the DD with the bank. But please be careful. By doing so, you lose any fix-rate deal and would be required to pay every bill in full every month without fail. While you could of course make Top-Up Payments between bills and the credit from those would be put towards them, you’d have to make sure they’re enough to clear the whole thing each month.

I strongly recommend that you talk with the Collections Team first as the options they can recommend are probably much more likely to help solve your problem than cancelling a DD would.

Hi @Joswan16

As @Blastoise186 mentioned, it is worth chatting to the collections team

0800 0699 831

This is a different phone number to the normal OVO phone number.

They have considerably more flexibility than the normal support number.

Try asking them to freeze your direct debit for 3 months at a lower level. They normally do this. 

In 3 months time you can then do it again. Just be careful not to build up too much, if any, debt and try and keep some credit to get through winter each year. 

You can cancel your Direct Debit, but your standing charges and unit rates will increase and you will end up paying more overall, I don't think that is a great option in your circumstances. 

https://plans.ovoenergy.com/