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Updated on 04/11/24 by Emmanuelle_OVO:

Need any extra support?
 

 

 

 For a visual guide to this Direct Debit calculation for a fixed rate plan check out the video below.

 

 

How do Direct Debits work?

 

A Direct Debit is an automatic monthly payment set up with your bank or building society. It means you can choose which day you want the payment to go out each month, and your bank will sort the rest.

Once a Direct Debit is set up, you don’t need to do anything else.

It’s often the best way to make regular payments, such as your energy bill.

 

Why paying by Direct Debit is the best way to pay

 

Direct Debit is usually the best way to pay bills because:

  • you get a cheaper rate if you’re on our variable Simpler Energy plan
  • you don’t have to think about it – it’s all done automatically each month
  • you don’t need to worry about forgetting or missing a payment
  • it can help you budget as you know how much is going out of your account each month and when
  • it spreads your energy costs evenly

 

How we work out your Direct Debit amount

 

To work out your monthly Direct Debit amount, we:

  • look at your energy use so far and estimate how much you’re likely to use by 31 March 2026. This includes any costs, such as standing charges and add-ons
  • take away your current balance, factoring in any credit or debt
  • divide the result by the number of payments left until 31 March 2026, which gives us your monthly amount

We aim to bring your balance to £0 by 31 March 2026. This way, you won't owe us anything, and we won't owe you anything, making it easier to manage your energy costs.

We regularly check your Direct Debit to make sure your balance is on track.

 

Why your Direct Debit amount might be different to your bill amount

 

Your energy use can vary from month to month, which means your actual bill may differ from your Direct Debit amount. 

To make sure you're paying the right amount, we spread your costs evenly, covering your total energy use until 31 March 2026.

 

Why meter readings are important

 

You can make sure your Direct Debit amount stays at the right level by giving us regular meter readings – once a month is best.

 

How we work out your Direct Debit amount when you join us

 

When you apply to switch to us, we’ll use your annual usage figures,  If you’re new to OVO, we work out your Direct Debit amount to cover your expected energy use until 31 March 2026. We base it on your past year’s energy use if you know it. If we don’t know it, we’ll ask you about your property and how many people live there, then we’ll base it on the average data for your type of household. After 1 month we check in to make sure the amount you’re paying is right for your actual energy use. Your Direct Debit amount might then need to go up or down.

 

How often we check you’re paying the right amount

 

We review your Direct Debit regularly to make sure you are paying the right amount for your energy use. 

We let you know if your Direct Debit amount needs to change to keep your balance on track to reach £0 by 31 March 2026.

 

When your payment amount might change

 

Your payments might need to go up or down if something changes, such as:

  • your energy use goes up or down
  • the price of energy goes up or down – if you’re on a standard variable tariff
  • you change which energy plan you’re on
  • you missed a payment or recently requested a refund
  • you’ve chosen an add-on, such as Greener Energy or OVO Foundation

If your Direct Debit is too high or too low, then we’ll let you know we’re going to have to change the amount.

 

If your balance is in credit

 

It’s normal for your balance to build up in summer when energy use is lower. This helps put extra money aside for higher winter bills, when most people use more energy to heat their homes.

We check you’re paying the right monthly amount so your balance stays on track to reach £0 by 31 March 2026.

Even if your balance is in credit, it might be that we still need to increase your monthly payments. This would be if we’ve worked out what your energy use is likely to be and that your balance is likely to go below £0 by 31 March 2026.

 

If your balance goes below zero

 

If your balance goes below zero, we’ll let you know if your monthly Direct Debit amount needs to go up.

If you’re struggling to pay your bills, we can work it out together – sign up to our 

payment support tool.

 

Setting up or changing a Direct Debit

 

You can set up, change the amount or date of your Direct Debit by logging into your online account and following these steps:

  • Go to Home
  • Select Set up your Direct Debit
  • Choose which day you’d like us to collect your payment each month. This can be any date from the 1st to the 28th
  • Enter your Direct Debit amount. You can use our Direct Debit calculator to get an accurate prediction of what you should pay each month
  • Put in your details, including your full name, sort code and bank account number
  • Select Next
  • Check the details you’ve entered are correct
  • Select Confirm payments

We’ll send you an email within 3 working days to let you know it’s all set up.

Find out how to set up or change a Direct Debit in the app.

 

 

Why meter readings are important

 

You can make sure your Direct Debit amount stays at the right level by giving us regular meter readings – once a month is best.

 

If you’re struggling to pay your bills, we can work it out together – sign up to our payment support tool.

 

What’s a Direct Debit Review?

 

As the amount or price of energy you use may change, we’ll regularly check that the payment amount is enough to cover your energy costs. There’s a breakdown of how we work this out on your Direct Debit calculator which can be found on the ‘Payments’ page of your online account or OVO app (download for Android or iOS).

 

Need more help?

 

We’ve got more details on understanding this Direct Debit calculator on the guide below,

 

 

 

Is there any support available if I’m struggling to pay for my energy?

 

There’s help available if you’re struggling to pay your energy bills – both from us here at OVO Energy and from government schemes and charities as well.

 

There are many ways we can help – such as setting up a payment plan for you, which spreads the cost of your energy to make it more manageable. If you want to find out about payment plans, you can request one online here – we’ll take you through what you need to do, and ask you for some details.

 

Our dedicated team is also specially trained to support you. They can make sure you’re receiving any financial assistance from the government that you’re eligible for, and take you through payment support schemes that are available. 

 

You can find out more about these schemes and where to seek free, independent advice right here.

I tried to call the like 3 times today even waiting for an answer on the live chat. I don t want to dd freeze i just want to pay the same amount without the increase.I don t use even in the winter £400 and i do have a smart meter for 2 years so i presume they can see that. 

In that case, the best time to call the Support Team is after 4pm, as things tend to be a bit calmer towards the end of the day.

@Jess_OVO 

many customers think their DD is too high and / or that they are maintaining excessive credit balances. Does OVO have statistics that show the average credit balance of customers, how many are in credit compared to Debit etc. You used I think to pay interest on credit balances, which was an excellent idea. But you don’t allow pay on receipt of bills by DD, whereas other suppliers do.

all adds up to an impression of a less than caring supplier. Please post answers to each point in turn.

Hi @meldrewreborn and can I just say that it’s nice to see a new and helpful face round these parts. There’s 5 or so forum members that have been essential in helping posters of this forum needing urgent help and advice, and you’re one of them. I’m sure everyone you’ve helped is just as grateful. 

 

Does OVO have statistics that show the average credit balance of customers, how many are in credit compared to Debit etc.

 

 

I can confirm I have no access to figures of this kind. Credit balances and payment amounts are managed by a software platform built by our sister company, Kaluza. The aim of this software is to keep customers out of debt, by their contract end date if they’re fixed in, or for 12 months if they're on the variable plan. The calculations for the variable plan uses available prices which in this case includes the October price cap. 

 

You used I think to pay interest on credit balances, which was an excellent idea. But you don’t allow pay on receipt of bills by DD, whereas other suppliers do.

all adds up to an impression of a less than caring supplier. Please post answers to each point in turn.

 

We still do offer interest rewards for some customers. I’ve asked for the latest around eligibility as I heard it suggested that it wouldn’t be scalable to offer the incentive to every new customer joining from other brands within OVO Group.

 

As I’m sure you appreciate I’m removed from strategic decisions around things like whether to offer this or that payment method, and therefore not able to comment with any facts. Just my own opinions if I think it would be helpful. I suspect it’s the same reasoning for Direct Debits on receipt of bills: it might not be scalable given winter spikes in usage and the increased risk of debt over that period. OVO needs to be a sustainable business to make the kind of decarbonizing changes we’re aiming to make for itself and its customers. 

 

In response to your suggestion that OVO is a less caring supplier, I’d point you to OVO’s 10 point plan to address the national energy crisis

Yes we know that prices have gone up, yes we know our bills will be bigger, we have turnmed the heating down, and or off completely some of the time, use the fire to heat one room mainly.

I have just looked at MyOvo and the algorithm is suggesting nearly £600pm in payments when I currently pay £150 and am nearly £500 in credit….

Let’s all have a laugh, what are they saying about your bills and DD?

I have a friend who’s supplier suggested an ibcrease from £180 to over £400 and he was £700 in creadit at that point..

I dare the mods @Jess_OVO et al to tell us their horror stories too...

Two can play at that game! :P

#worksfineforme :)

Yes we know that prices have gone up, yes we know our bills will be bigger, we have turnmed the heating down, and or off completely some of the time, use the fire to heat one room mainly.

I have just looked at MyOvo and the algorithm is suggesting nearly £600pm in payments when I currently pay £150 and am nearly £500 in credit….

Let’s all have a laugh, what are they saying about your bills and DD?

I have a friend who’s supplier suggested an ibcrease from £180 to over £400 and he was £700 in creadit at that point..

I dare the mods @Jess_OVO et al to tell us their horror stories too...

I pay  £269 per month dual fuel , im currently over three months D/D payments in credit to the tune of £818.28  , and i have just sent off an e mail complaining about the same ridiculous  overcharging  me based on an overestimation of what im using.

 

On your other recent post you’ve said you’ve had problems with your new smart meter so once that’s sorted and your regular use pattern is re-established the dd will settle down. I was on the Apollo legacy billing system too, if you mention that as soon as you get onto the OVO customer support it will help. I got through to the Sunderland team (that was a few months ago) and they got my account sorted out.

Yes we know that prices have gone up, yes we know our bills will be bigger, we have turnmed the heating down, and or off completely some of the time, use the fire to heat one room mainly.

  
Yep, I recognize this situation.

I was lucky enough to switch to a 2-year fixed rate tariff in early 2021, before prices started rising so alarmingly, so I haven’t felt the pain many users have been feeling recently. However, in a few months’ time, I expect to be moved on to the Standard Variable Tariff. Barring major changes in the January 2023 price cap, this will involve a £50 increase¹ in my monthly bill according to Switch your gas and electricity to OVO today. I would expect the Direct Debit (DD) calculator to take this into account, but it doesn’t.     

For the past five years , our benevolent government has blessed me with a Warm Home Discount to my electricity bill each November. I would expect the DD calculator to take this into account, too, but it doesn’t.

The calculator is just not good enough in its present incarnation. Users have to make their own careful calculations to work out how to arrive at a healthy credit in a year’s time, then try and persuade OVO to honour them. Good luck with that. 
  

 

 

 1.  … so long as I don’t ever turn the heating on, that is.
  

Yes we know that prices have gone up, yes we know our bills will be bigger, we have turnmed the heating down, and or off completely some of the time, use the fire to heat one room mainly.

  
Yep, I recognize this situation.

I was lucky enough to switch to a 2-year fixed rate tariff in early 2021, before prices started rising so alarmingly, so I haven’t felt the pain many users have been feeling recently. However, in a few months’ time, I expect to be moved on to the Standard Variable Tariff. Barring major changes in the January 2023 price cap, this will involve a £50 increase¹ in my monthly bill according to Switch your gas and electricity to OVO today. I would expect the Direct Debit (DD) calculator to take this into account, but it doesn’t.     

For the past five years , our benevolent government has blessed me with a Warm Home Discount to my electricity bill each November. I would expect the DD calculator to take this into account, too, but it doesn’t.

The calculator is just not good enough in its present incarnation. Users have to make their own careful calculations to work out how to arrive at a healthy credit in a year’s time, then try and persuade OVO to honour them. Good luck with that. 
  

 

 

 1.  … so long as I don’t ever turn the heating on, that is.
  

Fully agree with your post. I have been with ovo energy some 17 months now , and despite my 12 month contract coming to an end in May this year , then going onto the variable rate with price rises , as you say the calculator doesnt take into consideration many facts.

 

Using the comparison and checking my monthly bills over the period , i am way down in what we are using regarding to our dual fuel ( mild weather so far , cutting down )as well as receiving the government help.

 

To be three months plus worth of direct debits at the higher rate in credit in my personal situation is crazy. A flawed calculator overcharging us by direct debit racking up vast sums of our money in credit.

 

I want ovo energy to supply gas and electric. Not for them to be an interest free savings accout holding large sums of my money  .

I have sent off an e mail complaining to ovo. My next step if i get no response will be to rack things up and complain to ofgem. Simply isnt good enough.

I have sent off an e mail complaining to ovo. My next step if i get no response will be to rack things up and complain to ofgem. Simply isnt good enough.

Hi

In case it helps

Ofgem doesn't handle complaints. 

It is the Energy Ombudsman

https://www.ovoenergy.com/feedback

You need to wait 8 weeks or ask for a dead lock letter from ovo

I suggest it is best to phone OVO rather than email given the elapsed time to deal with emails, as 61% of complaints are resolved by the end of the next working day. You might find things are sorted very quickly that way.

Yes we know that prices have gone up, yes we know our bills will be bigger, we have turnmed the heating down, and or off completely some of the time, use the fire to heat one room mainly.

  
Yep, I recognize this situation.

I was lucky enough to switch to a 2-year fixed rate tariff in early 2021, before prices started rising so alarmingly, so I haven’t felt the pain many users have been feeling recently. However, in a few months’ time, I expect to be moved on to the Standard Variable Tariff. Barring major changes in the January 2023 price cap, this will involve a £50 increase¹ in my monthly bill according to Switch your gas and electricity to OVO today. I would expect the Direct Debit (DD) calculator to take this into account, but it doesn’t.     

For the past five years , our benevolent government has blessed me with a Warm Home Discount to my electricity bill each November. I would expect the DD calculator to take this into account, too, but it doesn’t.

The calculator is just not good enough in its present incarnation. Users have to make their own careful calculations to work out how to arrive at a healthy credit in a year’s time, then try and persuade OVO to honour them. Good luck with that. 
  

 

 

 1.  … so long as I don’t ever turn the heating on, that is.
  

Fully agree with your post. I have been with ovo energy some 17 months now , and despite my 12 month contract coming to an end in May this year , then going onto the variable rate with price rises , as you say the calculator doesnt take into consideration many facts.

 

Using the comparison and checking my monthly bills over the period , i am way down in what we are using regarding to our dual fuel ( mild weather so far , cutting down )as well as receiving the government help.

 

To be three months plus worth of direct debits at the higher rate in credit in my personal situation is crazy. A flawed calculator overcharging us by direct debit racking up vast sums of our money in credit.

 

I want ovo energy to supply gas and electric. Not for them to be an interest free savings accout holding large sums of my money  .

@craig mc In case it helps

You can phone up OVO and ask for a refund of some of your credit. It is only online that the system requires 3 month work of direct debits left in your account if you are on the variable tariff. 

I have done it in the past just fine. 

Hey @PF898,

 

Sorry for the issues you’re having.

 

The Online Account will tell you exactly how your direct debit is calculated. We’ve got a great guide about this topic here:

 

 

If you believe your direct debit review to be too high, it may be that your estimated annual consumption (EAC) is incorrect. This can be caused by a read dispute or us not having enough actual readings. 

 

The more readings we get, the more accurate the EAC will become because of our living billing system.:

 

 

You can contact our Support Team at any time and get a refund of the credit on your account, but if you’re on a fixed contract you will be required to leave one months direct debit in there, as you pay monthly in advance.

 

If you call our collections team they can put your account on a direct debit review suspension, meaning your direct debit will not be increased or reviewed for the next three months. 

 

Hope this helps. 

Ok thanks very much for your help .

@craig mc In case it helps

You can phone up OVO and ask for a refund of some of your credit. It is only online that the system requires 3 month work of direct debits left in your account if you are on the variable tariff. 

I have done it in the past just fine. 

Just an update mate.

 

Phoned ovo , and they were very helpfull. Refunded me £300 of my credit , and lowered the direct debit from £269 to £231 which is what i asked for.

 

Put me on a three month suspension of any direct debit increase.

 

result.

 

thanks again for your help and advice.

@craig mc good to hear it is sorted. 

Given that ovo have accurate daily meter reads provided by me backed with photographic evidence for both gas and electric. And I've been supplying daily E reads electronically as well as personal reads from the new not so smart meter that we had fitted recently (another thread) and that our account is £500 in credit with DD unchanged for over two years. My original post was focused on the fact that the suggested DD should 4x higher than current. I spoke to a service agent. Following this the DD recommendation reduced to current level. I checked again earlier this week and surprise surprise the DD recommended had once again been set at 4x the current rate.. Honestly I just treat it like a comedy of errors now... 

 

Despite the data both historical and upto date the system fails...

Hey @PF898,

 

Sorry for the issues you’re having.

 

As we don’t have access to your account, I can only speculate as to what may have happened here. 

 

Can you check the direct debit calculator on your Online Account, what part of the calculation looks incorrect? Could this be to do with an Estimated Annual Consumption (EAC) that is too high? 

 

 

 

As we have a live billing system the more readings we receive the more accurate the EAC will become. Unfortunately, for the time being your predicated direct debit will be based on this calculation.

 

 

You can contact our Collections Team to put your account on a three month hold, meaning your direct debit won't be reviewed or increased for this period. This should give enough time for the EAC to become more accurate. 

 

It’s likely because your meters not been in communication, which of course is frustrating and through no fault of your own, we’ve not had regular readings.

 

Or, if you’ve recently switched suppliers the industry has sent us an out of line EAC. Or the meter reading used to open your account was incorrect and a read dispute was required. 

 

 

Hope this helps. 

Honestly at this point I’m running a calculaion each month, getting a running total and checking our payment/balance. As long as Ovo keep to the terms/prices in my Ovo portal and consumption is within my payments and credit I’ll just let it be. I look in every couple of days just to amuse myself with system logic and update the reads.. 😄

You can’t make this up, I’ve just gone back in to check something and my electric consumption charts are not displaying!!!

and now after 9 refreshes it’s back...

Sounds more like your browser cache messed up than anything else. It happens sometimes. Not much OVO can do about that I’m afraid.

Yeah, that's what I figured but why it only seems to happen on the Ovo portal. 

Hard to say. Your corrupted cache will expire eventually though.

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