No worries, glad I could help. :)

We’ll be here if you need us for anything else.

Same thing.  My account has been consistently in credit, up to £2.5k recently (now drawn £1.5k out so £1k in credit). This is due to exporting from solar and EV, For the last three years I’ve been paying £98pm.  OVO have said the same to me, increase DD to £348 a month or they’ll do it for me on next payment.  I’ve asked about cancelling but they said they’ll cancel my fixed plan (they can at 49p/kWh!  Otherwise I’ll just have to apply for a refund every month tvo my DD. Ridiculous!  I asked them to take my export into account.  They say they can’t take future credits into account as they’re variable.  But they can take future imports into account even tho they’re variable!, 

If they are not being fair and reasonable in relation to your DD you should make a complaint. No doubt you’ll be in for a long fight and an eventual victory in about 6 months.  The 80% increase this time is placing customer services under immense strain. The workers there are caught between angry customers and uncaring management.

Hi @Bevlar,

I’m sorry for the issues you’ve had.

The direct debit review takes into consideration any credit balances on the account. 

If you’re on a fixed plan it will be worked out to ensure that by the end of the contract your account has a £0 balance. If you’re on the Simpler Variable  plan it will be worked out including the price increase in October, but not including any further increases, as we don’t yet know what these will be. 

Here are some great guides which you might find helpful:

We understand direct debit isn't for everyone and you can pay on receipt of the bill with the Simpler Variable on demand plan. 

If you’re on a fixed rate plan, or Simpler Variable direct debit, it is a condition of your contract to pay through direct debit. 

You can request a refund up to £500 at any time through your online account as long as the following are met:

• Have been billed within the last 28 days to an actual reading

• Have an active Direct Debit with at least one payment received from that bank account

• Request a refund of over £5

• Request a refund up to £500

• Leave a remaining balance of at least one month's Direct Debit

Refunds can be requested through your online account by following these steps:

• Go to the Payments tab and click 'Apply for a refund'

• Choose the amount you wish to have refunded

If you don't meet the criteria an error message will be displayed.

If your direct debit increase isn’t suitable you can call our collections team on 0800 0699 831. 

Here is some extra information about how OVO is supporting our customers in this difficult time.

Hope this helps.

Depending on the exact nature of the announcement tomorrow all these DD increases might have to be cancelled.  Even more confusion results!

I have offered for my DD to stay atv£200 and I will top up bills with one off extra payment, I am not stupid,but treated like I am. 

It seems energy companies are not sympathetic towards customers.. If I don't pay my bill you will eventually cut me off..  If I cancel DD it will cost more, if I continue my payments increase by £82 a month. Like I said yesterday you have us over a barrel..then the line went dead.. 

I guess you got bored..

@Bevlar 

It takes two to tango - OVO have their position (which apart from not allowing pay on receipt of bills by DD I find reasonable) and you have yours.  Nothing you say or do here is going to make one iota of difference.  Neither is contacting customer services going to make any difference as you’ve already discovered.

OVO is a commercial company, not an arm of social services or the benefit office.

Some people seem to enjoy banging their head against a brick wall - personally I don’t.

And if the Government announcement lives up to the advance billing tomorrow, your issue will completely vanish.

Same boat as us all there asking for way more money to sit on from us all. Then telling us to request a refund months later how long it will take them to fulfil it is any ones guess. It's pretty disgraceful or to go on top up meter and pay way way more for your energy ...... Like what the heck no way it's legal to hold customers bank accounts to there will and empty them as much as they want when ever they wish for some thing you clearly are not even close to using.

Refunds can be processed in around 10 working days. I’ve never known any refund via the usual processes take more than 20 days and even then, there’s usually a reason for it (most likely stuff like a ton of Bank Holidays all in a chain).

OVO can’t and won’t just randomly drain your bank account for no reason either. All money they take from you either has to relate to a bill (if you’re paying On-Demand) a Top-Up Payment that you initiate yourself or a Monthly Direct Debit payment as per the agreed schedule.

If you don’t want OVO to have “direct” access to your bank account, paying on-demand is an option at your disposal. However, be warned that failing to pay on time may cause your account to enter a debt management process and OVO is legally entitled to claim back costs if it comes to going deep into that process.

It is not easy to switch suppliers at the moment

If you really want to pay on receipt of bill and are on the price cap rate, then in normal times switch to a supplier that doesn't charge a higher tariff depending on how you choose to pay.

Octopus don't charge more for example. 

You have seen it on my post the fact they upped my monthly bill by 4 times the amount and my usage is consistent and always going up in credit. They refused to even change it back after being on 3 phone calls wasting 4 hours waiting trying to get basic information about why and to give a reason for it and got no where with them other than I won't change it and nothing we can do ....

OVO are contacting me roughly every other month to ask me to increase my DD despite me being £355 in credit in February my dd was £95.00 and now its £243 then yesterday I received an email to say my payments won't cover my bills for the rest of the year, I have reduced my usage dramatically since all this started, so how can they possibly know what I will use and in any case I'm £355in credit. They say to call them or use online chat, that is a waste of time because they can't discuss your bills and payments, you only find that out after waiting in a queue for a minimum of 30 minutes, so then they give you a number to call which I did, I spoke to a lady who was very unsympathetic, when I explained I'm pushed to the limit already so there's no way I can afford to pay more each month, she directs me to Stepchange, they are a debt management company ! I explained I'm not in debt, I just can't afford yet another increase, twice, I was put on hold, twice she came back and completely ignored what I was saying and again said to call Stepchange, I asked to speak to her manager, my call was disconnected!! How on earth is this helping and how do I get this sorted, I feel sick thinking about it all the time and all the implications, I just don't know which way to turn, does anyone have any suggestions, but please dont mention Stepchange again !!! 

If they are asking , then just say NO. Energy prices have been increasing rapidly and forecast to do the same for months ahead.

however the escalation in prices is likely to cease after the government announcement today 8 september. Prices will stabilise at still quite a high level, but much lower than previously forecast. 

Energy saving will still be recommended though. The more you use the more you pay.

Nobody knows today what will happen over the next year - or tomorrow at the moment.

Action helps though so I would suggest you:

Go back through your bills/myovo online for the last 18 months and write down how much you use in kWh (not pounds) each month. You should see the impact of your reductions in usage in the last six months which will be reassuring.

Then estimate how much you will use each month in the next year - start with the same as before and then modify by any behaviour changes.

Once you have these numbers you can estimate your annual bill for the year ahead based on either the rate you are paying now or whatever the government decree over the next few days.  Add up kWh x rate + days x p/day for each month.

Then you will know if OVO are right, know when to build up credit to smooth the high periods out and, if necessary, when and how much you need to cut back.

Hi @Lyns24,

I’m sorry for the issues you’ve been having. 

Great to see our community member @waiwurrie giving you some tip-top advice here.

If you are on the Simpler Energy Tariff your direct debit review will be taking into account the price increase in October but not any future price increases as we don’t know what these will be yet. Here are some helpful guides that show how we calculate direct debits:

We understand that this is a really difficult time and there are lots of resources about the Price Cap Increase and Support available.  

I’d advise getting back in touch with our financial support team as they should be able to put your direct debit on a three month suspension from any increases. 

We understand direct debits aren’t for everyone and you can opt to go onto our Simpler Variable Plan on demand. This means you’ll pay on receipt of your bill. It is more expensive that the Simpler on direct debit.

Keep us posted with how you get on.

Given the announcement of a new “price Guarantee” I expect OVO will need to reassess nearly all of its Direct Debit increase messages.  Sit tight and don’t agree for a couple of months.

Bevlar, I feel your pain as I have experienced exactly the same service.  I was advised my DD needed to go to £500…I am £780 in credit and said I wanted to keep my DD the same and pay extra if need be! I was told I had to go to the collections dept.  I then got cut off (they must use voip phones and the internet drops) a total of 4 times!!! I have never been so frustrated with the appalling service! I really do not feel Ovo are listening to us and this shows from the comments on Twitter 

Sorry to hear about that, @TeresaP - sounds really frustrating. 

I’d recommend waiting till OVO work out the details of the prize freeze that’s been announced by the government. It may have implications for the recommended Direct Debit. 

Why? Direct Debits for fixed customers aim to get you to £0 by your contract end date, using your future annual consumption figure and prices to work out a payment amount. You can check your future annual consumption and prices here: https://account.ovoenergy.com/plan 

Customers on the variable plan, Simpler, factor in October’s price rises but not any other. We use your future annual consumption figure and these prices to work out a payment amount for the next 12 months. You can check your future annual consumption and prices here: https://account.ovoenergy.com/plan 

OVO has created some fantastic resources so customers know what support is available to them. 

Top 13 ways to save electricity at home and reduce your bills

Price rises: we're here to support you

Here’s the latest information on rising energy prices, and how we can help 

Energy Bills Support Scheme

This page has all the information that we and our call centre team have on the Energy Bills Support Scheme right now. 

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.

Hope this helps,

Tim

So. I'm £300 in credit. That's my money earning another company interest. Then ovo send me today my increase from £100 to £131 a month. So I go onto my ovo account and I can increase my dd but not decrease it. I'm now thinking it will be cheaper long term to cancel my dd and pay for what I use. Thoughts..

No it won’t be cheaper ! @meldrewreborn has pointed out loads of times on this forum that paying by direct debit is cheaper by about £200 a year ! 

I do get interest on my credit balance as I’ve been with OVO for years, but £360 in credit gained me £1.45 in interest in a month. ie Not very much.

Martin Lewis has suggested to stop dd and pay the bill when requested. It might be worth reading what he says: it is quite interesting.

I agree they are making money on our accounts being in credit but I do request it back now and then which is your right. 

These are the EDF rates that @meldrewreborn has posted previously:

https://www.edfenergy.com/sites/default/files/government_energy_price_guarantee_prices._standard_variable_deemed_and_welcome._credit_meters.pdf

You can see that paying by Direct Debit is the cheapest rate, most energy retail companies will be the same, as DD is automatic once set up so lower cost to manage.

I’m sure Martin Lewis wouldn’t recommend something that’s more expensive than necessary. Can you post a link to his suggestion please @Maryska ?

@Maryska I'm pretty sure Martin Lewis has not promoted cancelling DDs as this is usually the cheapest way of paying (sometimes Economy 7 can be cheaper paying by other methods - don't ask me why!). If you want to post a link we can see if this is genuine or not.

From Martin Lewis

"The fact payment in receipt of bills is higher is why those thinking of "ditching direct debit to just pay what I owe" should be careful.

It may benefit you in immediate cash-flow terms, but weight that against the fact in the long-run the rates are higher so you will pay more in total."

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/energy-price-guarantee/

I watched the Martin Lewis programme and I took it that he was not promoting stopping DD,s. As he said you pay 9% more . Also I read all monies in credit with a energy company are kept in a separate account and do not receive interest as per Ofgem .