Hi ​@Corgimajor ,

This is a one-time sync to get all customers aligned with the same annual review date, whether they’re on Variable or Fixed Rate Tariffs. It basically makes for less of a shock when you swap between them.

IIRC what you’re seeing is a one-time thing purely to get that set up. It won’t occur after March 2026 if memory serves.

Hi ​@Blastoise186,  thank you for your prompt reply.  After posting I read a similar post from ​@MCH59 two months ago, which generated a lot of interest about the same DD “smoothing” issue.  

Perhaps the question I should have asked is if I renew with OVO at the end of my current Fixed Plan (i.e. 02/10/2025) with another 12 month Fixed Plan will the “Manage DD” end date be the end of March 2027??  

In other words are OVO always calculating the DD’s based on 2 Autumn/Winter periods and 1 Spring/Summer period  and by doing so weighting the DD payment calculation in their and not the customers favour?? 

And if not I wonder if someone can explain what OVO intend to do with this DD calculation method post March 2026, as customers like me may want to start considering their own cash flow and not just the price when selecting future energy suppliers.

I would imagine more details about that will be released soon if they haven’t already.

Worth remembering that if you left OVO, you’d get all spare credit back anyway, so arguably it’s a bit of a moot point in some ways.

Hi ​@Blastoise186,  I'd agree it would be a moot point if OVO gave customers 5% interest on their credit balances, but that particular OVO customer loyalty benefit disappeared a long time ago.

Personally I'd like to see a payment option attached to a competitive tariff and DD payment where you could pay what you owed each month by DD and remove all this budget smoothing BS. 

Far from being a simple means of payment, DD's have become a tool by which energy and other utility suppliers (OVO aren't alone) attempt to control their own cash flow in the name of customer support.

Unfortunately individual customers aren't big enough to change this and so many will continue to suffer unreasonable DD arrangements.  

Whether the Regulator is minded to change things for the better depends I imagine on how generally precarious energy suppliers financial positions are, which - given the energy customer debt mountain we keep hearing about - is probably pretty precarious.

In any event I'd still be interested to know what is going to happen with DD calculation periods post March 2026.

I’m afraid as mentioned many times here, OVO has no plans to bring back Variable DD for as long as doing so is optional.

Hi ​@Blastoise186,

Not sure I understand your reference to "optional" in your reply?  Are you talking about OVO having no plans to bring back a comparitively priced variable DD?  Or any variable DD. 

If you are unable to answer my question re what happens to DD smoothing after March 2026 and don't wish to get bogged down in answering a supplementary question on variable DD, then I'd be happy for you to link me to one of your more definitive answers re variable DD.

As far as Ofgem is concerned, offering Variable Direct Debit is totally optional on the basis of it being a business decision for each supplier to make freely and individually - Ofgem won’t punish a supplier for not offering them. OVO simply made the choice to stop doing them a few years ago in full compliance with said rules.

AFAIK the bill smoothing will continue after March 2026, most likely retaining the same target date for all customers.

Please remember that you can’t demand I give you answers - I give them at my discretion.

Hi ​@Blastoise186,  thanks for that.  Re demanding an answer - I appreciate your input, but I'm still keen to hear from anyone that may know what the period of DD smoothing will be post March 2026?  12 months, 18 months??

Maybe you know an OVO staff contributor to this forum that may know the answer?

I do, but I can’t access them until at least Monday

You are not the first to point out that this ‘one time’ readjustnent to the end of March 2026 does not make sense for those of us on fixed tariff contracts that end before that date.

Although in the long run it doesn't make any difference in the shorter 1-year term it does look that way on the “recommend” direct debits - which wiil be “recommend” higher for some.

The big debate here is if that at is a redefinition of  just what “fixed tariff’ means.

EDIT- I do appreciate that this does currently also affect those who are on DD but not on fixed contract-  best I can say there is stick it out  til end of March 2025 and then it should be back to 12 months again.

I wonder where the idea comes from that this is a ‘one-off’ arrangement, to be necessarily altered to something more reasonable at some date in the future.

The only favourable feature I can detect is that for those currently (or, say, at the beginning of the 2024-25 winter semester) in debt, their DD will be significantly lower than otherwise, because there are twelve more months allocated in which to amortize that debt. For anyone else, especially those with substantial credit balances at that juncture, the new arrangement is detrimental.

The fact that those on fixed-term contracts due to end before March 2026 are also sucked into the vortex is inexplicable. I calculate that even after reducing my DD as far as the online account allows, my balance at the end of my fixed-term contract would amount to almost six direct debits. One or two I could accept. Six, I can’t.

What can be the justification for this, ​@Bradley_OVO?

I can only agree with that. - I’m going from the similar change last year for those on non-fixed tariffs which caused the same kind of ruckus at the time.

Whilst aligning to the financial tax year may make sense to accountants it does not always make sense to customers, especially those customers who have opted to fix their tariff at a different time of year.

To put it in a nutshell, I believe that it’s driven by the accountants to make their financial year end job easier.
If so then someone needs to give them a kick up the backside and remind them that in a service industry the customer is who matters not the numbers.