I feel like my Direct Debit Check In is totally unfair, why has it increased?

I’m used to increases each year, but this time around my Direct Debit is more than doubling.

What is going on and how can anyone possibly justify this?

Have you just finished a Fixed Plan?
That can often come as a shock when the new tariffs are much higher than what you had fixed at, as they are currently.

If you haven’t just come off a fix then it sounds like you may have an inflated (much too high) Future Assessed Consumption figure (FAC).

We’ve seen that a few times, and I’ve had it myself a few years ago with my FAC  for gas being 3x what it should have been.

You should contact support and ask them to check your FAC against your previous 12 months usage.
If there is a big difference then they should lower the DD, however you may have to contact them every 3-months when the computer does a new DD calculation and puts it up again.

You might want to do that check yourself  first, you can find your FAC on the “Plan” page of the online account, and of course your last 12 months usage can be seen from your bills.

I recently received a message that my direct debit is going from £141 per month to £242! is this normal?

Your direct debit is worked out over 12 payments a year to cover the estimated annual bill. This is reviewed regularly so there is always enough in your account to cover bills until the end of March each year. It is likely your usage has gone up recently and hence the increase in the monthly charge. If you have a smart meter check your usage to see how much it has changed. If not check with customer services to see why you have had an increase.

There can be a few reasons for a sudden jump in the recommended DD.

Have you recently come off a fixed rate plan?
The current prices can be a shock compared to what they were if you fixed 1 or 2 years ago.

Are you charging an EV with OVO Charge Anytime?
Although  CA prices are less than standard prices the DD calculator can’t take that into account and so calculates all the electricity used as being full price.
(So CA customers can get a lot in credit and then have to ask for it to be refunded)

Also go to your online account and look at the “Plan” page for your FAC (Future assessed consumption) and compare it to your last 12-months usage.
The FAC  can sometimes be much higher than it should be, which increases what the required DD is calculated as.

There are a few good pointers from Nukecad so hopefully you will be able to see why an increase in your Direct Debit has been requested. For me I still continue to pay my bill monthly on demand to avoid this scenario that we hear a lot about on the forum. Unfortunately this method cannot at present be paid for with a variable Direct Debit. How you pay is a choice and while on demand has its downsides there are a few positives too. Avoiding this situation is one of them. 

At the moment, my FAC on My Plan states 2881 kWh for electricity and 5038 kWh for gas. Using my personal usage for 2024 and 2025, I used an average of 2843 kWh of electricity and 5110 kWh of gas in each year. 

Currently, I pay £100 DD. My DD box on the Home Page says that my minimum payment should be £97 per month. This takes into account the fact that I am £280 in credit. My next DD is due on the 28th of this month and my next bill is due on November 3rd.

As someone who has always been on a fixed income, I have always chosen to pay via DD since it first became available. Even if paying this way was not cheaper, I would still choose to do so. I prefer to contribute as little as possible to the profits of the energy company supplying me!

In the last few years, I have only twice had to argue my case regarding the DD OVO has wanted to charge. The first time was when all that madness happened in 2022 before the government stepped in, They wanted to increase my DD to a crazy amount!! The second time was when I had received a number of “Goodwill” payments as result of some poor customer service on different matters. They then wanted to decrease my DD to a low amount that would have, before the next review, put me into a  Debit situation. On both occasions my argument was accepted. I have been paying £100 per month since January 2024. 

Bendog, You probably have not looked at it this way but by paying by Direct Debit you are indeed contributing to the profits of the energy company. Over the summer months its likely your bills are much less than the Direct Debit giving a healthy profit on the interest to the energy company. Its one of the main reasons this method of payment is so heavily pushed. Its good for suppliers and banks too as you need to keep more in a current account to pay the bills. The banks make interest here too.

As Bendog points out there are many considerations when deciding how to pay and with a direct Debit payment plan how much. While it is likely over the year I pay more the summer savings mitigate this as I put away the money saved to earn interest. Conversely the winter bills in Dec/Jan/Feb can be high but for pensioners this can be covered by the winter fuel payment. 

One of the good things I can see out of this thread are different options suit different people and different circumstances. From my side I have variable outgoings with variable income so payment in full options work better for me than budget plans. Anyway lets hope Chalky’s payments are sorted.