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

Hey @swstein,

Sorry for the issues you’re having. 

The credit balance is worked into the calculation. If you think the recommended direct debit is wrong, then it is likely because your estimated annual consumption is incorrect. 

If you disagree with the recommended direct debit you can contact our collections team as advised by @Jeffus.

You can use the direct debit calculator on the Online Account to find out how your direct debit is calculated:

Hope this helps. 

Hi @Mjrigg1 there would be a few considerations. First if you’ve recently swapped there might not be enough historical detail to map your projected costs accurately. Second we are entering a few months of the year when use is typically much higher and so there will be an element of that to consider probably 

Hi again. You’ve not been with ‘me’, I’m just a customer like you. 
It is normal to build up a credit level but after a while you should be able to make changes to suit

Hey @Mjrigg1,

Welcome to the OVO Online Community,

Prices increased in April and again in October which could be why your direct debit has increased if you’re on a standard variable tariff. If you’ve recently fixed in, it’s likely your fixed rates are significantly higher than your previous unit rates. 

We are also approaching the winter months, and prices are set to increase again when the cap increases on the 31st March next year. Your direct debit for the variable tariff is worked out on a yearly basis and for fixed- until the end of your contract. We have some great guides about this topic you might find helpful:

If you are building a large credit balance you can request a refund, however it is worth bearing in mind your usage will increase over the winter period so it’s a good idea to build a credit balance to offset this extra usage. 

The best way of having an accurate direct debit calculation is by submitting regular readings or getting a smart meter fitted. Otherwise the figure will be based on estimates.

Hope this helps. 

I am having similar issues, albeit not at the excessive level. My direct debit was forecast to need increasing to 170 (from 160) per month as allegedly I would be in debit by the end of my current contract (in 2024, mind). However, what this calculator completely ignores is that I am currently in credit with £700 and increasing steadily, as I travel regularly for work and have smart thermostat and managing my heating fairly efficiently. So despite being in credit, the DD increase was announced, and after spending over an hour waiting in line for a customer service client in the chat, who was then very helpful and agreed to reduce my DD to slowly melt off the substantial credit I had built up, I have today (only a couple of days after the service agent agreed to reduce) received an automated email message informing me of the DD having been increased to £170. OVO, could you please (1) sort out the calculator to take credit into account adequately and (2) make sure your customer service and systems recognise when changes to an account are made. At this point, it will need to be either you decrease my DD again to the level agreed with the customer service agent, OR transfer my existing credit to my account promptly and leave the higher DD. Not impressed at all so far with the switch over from SSE, where I had no issues for >16 years. 

Similar to above. My credit has grown every month. Yet OVO oblige ever greater direct debits . 

They state they will pay 3%on credit balances after 5 years. When?

The calculator is flawed/ rigged? It does not:

- know what economies I am practising relative to last year.

- it does not factor in energy grant or winter fuel payment.

- it does not know future cap or grant levels.

- it does not know future prices not full effects of govt.or world policies/ events.

Meanwhile with a smart meter and the excellent OVO App I can watch and adjust expenditure day to day. I can also top up and manage credit. 

So what happens now is that I am arbitrarily forced to higher credit balance that I don't need.

So OVO paying me no visible monthly interest, pay the £ 66 Govt grant back to me out of my money! Presumably they then keep the government grant on a high interest rate and make profit on the grant that doesn't come to me other than by illusion.

Is this too cynical? 

All I can say is that plus14 days they have not as yet answered a letter with some of these points. Also I can see no reason at all why I cannot responsibly agree my direct debit level. Fortunately I can afford this. Many can't. I don',t want hypocritically to plead poverty and have OVO disingenuously spare 10% for a one off three months.

I just want to be rid of the feeling that I and all of you are being either patronised or ripped off. 

Lurking somewhere also is a question re why with petrol cheaper and gas prices falling apparently this does not lead to price falls

@Andyl answering a couple of your points: the interest is paid to customers who were with OVO before October 2021. 

Any interest OVO accrues from handling the government Energy Bills Support Scheme has to be returned to the government.

Your EBSS should appear on your bill each month, look where the VAT is added on the Charges Detail, it should be there as -£66 ie a negative charge.

You could just pay your bill on demand and not by direct debit. Costs more but you’d only pay for what you use. 

Nope, DD remains the cheapest method because it exposes OVO to the least risk of non-payment and the lowest level of admin costs.

Most people find OVO’s calculations work. But if not, try 0800 069 9831.

Ultimately, you only pay for what you actually use regardless of payment method. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater - it’ll come back to haunt you later.

Interesting comments above. Just to take issue with Emmanuelle above.

1. You say that the dd calculator works on historic consumption, but on the website it juxtaposes this with an analysis of smart meter returns. And that’s my point- smart meter returns are going to be more accurate because they show usage NOW when we are all economising. You can easily project Feb March on the basis of Oct Nov actuals.
2. You claim to know what future prices will be----but this is impossible. War, wholesale prices, Brexit, Political Decisions and a range of other factors as yet unknown e.g political change, future pandemic/.epidemic can all affect. It could well be that as petrol/oil prices fluctuate energy costs will fluctuate up and down with the market--as they probably should. You cannot know what government grants may or may not be available and to whom. In a nutshell it’s one massive crock of uncertainty
3. Yes, I or anyone else could just cancel the dd. But prices are higher so why would we?
4. I cannot see that the governments energy grants are factored into the dd calculations
5. The upshot of all of this is that on known usage and standing charges less grant once again for Nov I will come in paying less than the dd even before Ovo arbitrarily raised it last week. So, my credit balance will rise again
6. I could apply for part or all of this growing credit balances to be refunded. So no doubt then the dd would rise even further to offset on the basis of OVO’s calculations

Ultimately, as others have pointed out, it does all remain my money. I could even choose to be banking with you at 3%.

What absolutely sticks with me and what irritates me the most though is that OVO are taking it to themselves to abuse the direct debit system, arbitrarily raising them with little notice on the  basis of a very dubious and rigged calculation which is wrong because it does not factor in a customer’s planned actions.

If a customer in credit by more than one month’s average payment over 12 months tells you that on the basis of their calculations that the direct debit at a given point of time should be lower, you should listen and make it possible. As customers we can make top ups if we wish. You should only even consider making a change to a higher direct debit if a customer goes into debit and even then after discussion. The onus should not be all the time on the customer to wait around in call centre queues or write letters for no answers. 

A few years ago when I first switched to OVO everything was noticeably friendlier and more responsive than in my case Scottish Power. Noy any more it seems.

I am routinely over £500 in credit each time my DD is paid. None of my bills this year have been anywhere near my monthly payment and I managed to get £650 returned to me earlier. We have reduced our gas consumption by 90% since May last year. Yes, you read that right, 90%. We did this by switching off our Aga and converting to electric oven and induction hob. I’ve spent £2000 to do this, which is probably mad in hindsight, but fear of rises is in my mind all the time.

 I am having constant battles with OVO every time they ‘estimate’ my bills and try to raise my DD ever further. Every month they present me with estimates of consumption and every time they are ridiculously over-estimated. For example they estimate I will use £292 of gas in December, So far we have used £21.

I phoned and was assured on 28th November that my DD would remain the same. On Monday 5th December I received an email to say that because i hadn’t responded to requests to raise it, it was going up to £275 from December. I had spent ages on the phone speaking to OVO to discuss it for goodness sake! I called back and went through the whole thing again and was made to feel as if I’d won something when the operator told me my DD was staying at £230 and would do so for 3 months. She then told me that in order to ‘qualify’ I had to reduce consumption by 15%!!! ‘Qualify?’ to manage my own payments?

My account page still shows my DD needs to be £276 even though I now have an email confirming the DD amount. Left hand/right hand or what?

This system of ‘reviews’ is a joke. No account has been taken of the reductions in my energy consumption. I have a smart meter, so OVO can see what I’m using and so can I. What’s the point?

What more do I need to do to convince OVO that we no longer use 25000KW/h of gas per year? And why does the account show ‘you’ll be £500 in debit in  12 months’ with a rolling 12 months? I’m not on a fixed contract anymore so there is no 12 month period in play

I will seriously consider cancelling my DD if this happens again, but do you think I can find out from OVO what the change will cost me? Of course not. There’s no information on the internet at all.

I tried making a complaint and the email came back as ‘this address is not monitored, please call us’ on the one and only 0800 number available! Customer services is also in the same 0800 number and when put through to a foreign call centre I am confronted with a very poor and noisy line with difficulty hearing what is being said.

There’s nothing I can do. I can’t move suppliers, there are no deals and OVO have me by the whatsits. Absolute scandal.

Thanks, but the 0330 number when I called it is specifically for vulnerable and elderly customers and I’m in neither group. Casting a vote is pointless - we are dealing with deeply entrenched markets and company ethos and no amount of voting will change anything. The whole system is broken and not in the least customer-focused. I am appalled at how bad tings have become. Bring back nationalised energy supply.