Hi there @Reptar001 ,

This might be possible to do via Live Chat, which you can access here and click the green Message Us button at the bottom of the page. It will appear anytime the office is open and usually gets hidden at other times. You may get through to a bot initially, but it will transfer you to a human pretty quickly if the bot determines that it can’t help you - especially if it fails to understand you three times.

Give that a try and see how it works out. You might still need to phone in, but it’s worth giving live chat a go first. Hope this helps

Hi Blastoise186 ,

Thanks for the reply. I’ll try that.

Thanks again.

Glad to hear you’re able to get in touch with the Support Team via our Live chat, @Reptar001.

It’s worth mentioning here that whilst your Direct Debit amount is calculated based on your future annual consumption figure (you can check this figure here), we’ll always bill you for what you’ve actually used. We also regularly check your Direct Debit amount to make sure it aligns to what you’re using each month.

If you’d prefer to make manual payments, our Support Team will be able to cancel your current payment arrangement but will also need to update your plan to our Simpler Energy On Demand plan which allows for this payment method. You can also cancel the Direct Debit with your bank, and the plan would be updated automatically.

Ways to get financial support

If you’re struggling financially or you’re worried about your energy bills, we’re here to support you. Find out about the different ways we can help here.

Hi, Jess_OVO,

Thanks for your reply. There’s one thing I don’t understand in your reply…. “ whilst your Direct Debit amount is calculated based on your projected usage costs, we’ll always bill you for what you’ve actually used. “ If this is so how come my Direct Debits are always the same each month?

My Smart Meter Monitor has been telling me, for at least 6 months, I am “under budget” for both my Gas and Electric usage (I set the budget amounts for slightly more than I am paying (now the  Monitor is not so useful because OVO decided, in their ‘wisdom’ to lump Gas and Electric into ONE payment, which the monitor doesn’t support apparently.)

Dave.

Great question, @Reptar001.

As your Direct Debit amount is based on your yearly usage it doesn’t necessarily match the amount that’s charged on each monthly summary. Usually we’d expect your usage to decrease in the summer and increase in the winter when you use more energy to heat your home. In order to spread your costs out we calculate the average monthly cost and this is the amount we recommend for your Direct Debit. 

Your Direct Debit amount should be higher than the average cost of energy over summer, so we’d expect you to build up a credit balance on your account which then helps to cover the increased costs over winter. We’ll still calculate your actual costs, based on the meter readings we’ve received and this is the amount we deduct from your balance that month. 

There’s a great visualisation of this process on the Direct Debit calculator which you can find on your online account or OVO app (download for Android or iOS).