Rank 12

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Government levy fixed rate changes now showing on online account?

Forum|Forum|5 months ago
March 19, 2026
51 replies
963 views

I noticed on my Plan Page of my online account that some changes have been made. I understand WHY they have been made, but I have not had any input on these changes.

“Thanks for staying with us” is a bit presumptuous when I have a) not received any details about this new One Year Fixed Rate Plan which is going to start on April 1st and b) not been asked to accept the changes.

The Fixed Rate Plan I did accept was due to end on August 6th 2026.

I am surprised this has been done before any details have been received by me.

Best answer by Abby_OVO

Updated on 02/04/26 by Ben_OVO

Hey @Bendog

This change is part of the government levy changes, and will have no impact change to the end date of the fixed contract you agreed to and is not being cancelled early.

The current rates you pay will change as of 1 April, the teams are currently working in the background to make sure everyone’s correct, new rates are ready to be applied from 1 April which means we do have to change the contract, so we can queue up the new rates with the discount, which will have your original end date applied. You’ll receive an email or letter soon explaining more about including terms and contract end date which will remain the same as before.

Sorry for any confusion this may have caused, I hope this helps clear that up.

You can find out more about the Government levy on our website here, and in this previous Forum topic:

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Abby_OVO

Community Manager

Hey @Johnchisholm @daleheaton

Sorry to hear this has impacted both of you, I did check in with the team who’ve said this should now be resolved, like @Bendog’s did.

If you could check and let us know if it’s resolved itself as it should have, do pop back and let us know.

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Johnchisholm

Rank 4

Hi Thanks for the input, all is well except the Smart Meter monitor is showing 79.23 pence per day when it should be 75.46 pence per day according to my plan.

Chris_OVO

Community Manager

Hey @Johnchisholm,

It might be a good idea to take a look at the settings on your in-home display to see if there’s a reset option available. Usually, it should automatically update with any changes in rates, but if you’d like to speed things up, doing a quick reset can help! I’ll share some links to helpful guides for different in-home displays below.

Renewable energy jokes never get old.

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Paul4AA

Rank 2

I’ve just had an email from Ovo saying that my direct debit has just increased by 11% today despite going into the summer when we use slightly less electricity and much less gas so one can be suspect that they’re planning for the future price cap increase. They claim:

These are the possible reasons for why your payments need to go up.

Your home is using more energy than predicted
Your energy prices have changed or they will soon, to stay in line with the price cap
You’ve moved to a different tariff
You're likely to have less than a month's credit in your energy account by 31 March
You've missed a monthly payment, lowered your Direct Debit, or got a refund recently

I have my energy recorded for the past fifteen years or so and consumption hasn’t changed dramatically but a general downwards trend with improvements made to the house. My current credit however seems a bit lower than normal.

Paul

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BendogAuthor

Rank 12

These are the possible reasons for why your payments need to go up.

Your home is using more energy than predicted
Your energy prices have changed or they will soon, to stay in line with the price cap
You’ve moved to a different tariff
You're likely to have less than a month's credit in your energy account by 31 March
You've missed a monthly payment, lowered your Direct Debit, or got a refund recently

Do any of these things apply?

For instance, when the next DD review will happen for me, it will be just after the new price cap change for July and about a month before the end of my current fixed rate. This will probably mean for me that any change to my Direct Debit will be calculated using the standard variable rate tariff for July. I suspect that this will mean an increase in my DD will happen. However, I am hoping that I will be able to minimise this increase by continuing to pay my present DD although it is more than OVO suggested I should lower it to. On each bill you receive, there is a statement about your energy use for the same month last year. Perhaps looking at these might help too?

Firedog

Super User

… when the next DD review will happen for me, it will be just after the new price cap change for July and about a month before the end of my current fixed rate. This will probably mean for me that any change to my Direct Debit will be calculated using the standard variable rate tariff for July.

I don’t think this is true. From what I’ve managed to glean over many years is that the DD is calculated solely on the basis of the rates currently applying for the tariff in force*. Applying these rates to the Future Annual Consumption figures will reveal the projected annual cost.

* I’m not sure if this happened at the end of last month (March 2026), but for the past couple of years we’ve seen the DD calculator get a bit smarter: in the last couple of weeks before a change in the price cap, the projected cost has taken the forthcoming increase into account from the start of the new price-cap period.

Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA | It may look as if I know what I’m talking about, but don’t let that fool you. |

Ben_OVO

Community Manager

Thanks for your help here @Bendog / @Firedog. Let’s hope that any increase in July won’t be too substantial. As usual, we’ll contact all customers on the variable plan to let them know about the new rates, when we know them.

@Paul4AA I’m not sure where you’re based but I know where I am we’ve had a far colder than expected start to April and also March, bar the odd nice day. My usage has been a lot higher than it was this time last year, due to my heating being on etc. It might be the case that the increase to the Direct Debit is only temporary, and it’ll come down again after you build some more credit over the coming warmer months.

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BendogAuthor

Rank 12

@Paul4AA I’m not sure where you’re based but I know where I am we’ve had a far colder than expected start to April and also March, bar the odd nice day. My usage has been a lot higher than it was this time last year, due to my heating being on etc. It might be the case that the increase to the Direct Debit is only temporary, and it’ll come down again after you build some more credit over the coming warmer months.

I am a data nerd and have, for a long time, kept records about daily cost, usage and lowest temperature where I live. These are my results, so far, for this year. Where I live (Eastern Region),the temperatures in February were much higher than normal.