https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits/

Sorry @Maryska , I can't see where it suggests cancelling the direct debit, just that the DD needs to be fair.

From the page

Paying by direct debit is cheaper
While there are problems, there's one important fact in favour of setting up a monthly direct debit – it's usually about 6% cheaper than any other way of paying.

If you go into the tabs all suggestions are there. It is worth your time to go into everything, you can even make a complaint about your provider 

Hey @Daveandjack,

Welcome to the OVO Online Community.

I can see our community members have already given some really helpful advice here.

It’s cheaper to be on the Simpler Variable by direct debit, instead of on demand. 

Being on direct debit also ensures that you are paying an average throughout the year, which means you won’t have really large bills to pay over winter. The reason you have built up a credit balance is to offset your increased usage over the winter period.

We have a really great guide about how OVO calculates direct debits:

Check out this feature on your Online Account which will tell you exactly how we have calculated your direct debit including any credit balances:

Your direct debit increase would be because of the price increases in October which are in line with the Energy Price Guarantee. Which is in addition to the Energy Bills Support Scheme. 

Hope this helps. 

August 2022, OVO tried to increase my DD from £227 to £364 even though I am building up a credit of +£60 each month. I was fortunate to get this resolved and get my DD back to £227.

Today, I’ve received another email about my DD. They want to increase it from £227 to £339.

Currently, after my next bill I expect to be £250 in credit. My average monthly usage for the last 4 months has been £165.

How the hell can they justify a crazy increase of £112 a month? 

There’s Not a chance in hell am I going to allow them to increase my DD.

If you wish to request a Direct Debit Review Suspension, you can try calling 0800 069 9831 until 2pm today.

Please be advised that there’s a limit on how many times you can request one each year.

There’s also a support package available.

Details at https://www.ovoenergy.com/customer-support-package

Fastest sign up option at https://www.ovoenergy.com/winter-support-delivery/sign-up

Thanks for your reply, unfortunately I missed the 2pm deadline. I have logged a complaint online and will be calling them on Monday morning.

It's disgusting that they think they can dictate to us how much they can take out of our banks without our permission and without any sensible justification. I’m using nowhere near what they estimate. They need to fix this before anything else.

I don’t mind being in credit but being £355 in credit and demanding an increase of £112!!!

I don’t need a support package either, I am not struggling financially and can manage my bills quite well. It appears that Ovo want to use us all as a cashpoint, and I’m not having it.

Has anybody reported this activity to the Ombudsman and had any success?

Hi @daver66 

We would expect any account which hasn’t recently switched to OVO to be in credit at this point in the year. That’s because we try and calculate a payment that stays the same all year round. You pay more than you use in the summer, you build up credit, you use more than you pay in the winter, you eat into your credit. You end up with £0 by your contact end date. 

With higher prices this winter, those credit balances need to be higher than we’re all used to. £355 credit may end up not being enough. It sounds like that’s what our calculation is suggesting. Have a look a the monthly predictions here: https://account.ovoenergy.com/payments/direct-debit/calculator

As blastoise mentioned, if you think there’s been a mistake you are able to request a freeze to the payment review. 

Good news, I resolved my issue on the phone yesterday morning.

The main problem appears to be my estimated usage for the next 12 months is approx. double my actual usage. This would put me approx. £2000 in credit.

A ticket has been logged for someone to adjust my predicted usage to closely match my actual usage. Hope others find this helpful.

Since December 2022 I have been unable to alter the Direct Debit on my online account despite having a decent Credit.

I telephoned OVO and was told it would be reviewed in April and would decrease however the online Direct Debit function would STILL not work and I cannot get anyone to understand this

The ombudsman wrote to OVO on my behalf and yet the DD function still does not work.

I am not going to keep contacting OVO to wait on the phone and go through stressful conversations asking them to review my account every month.  I want to live peacefully with the option to alter the Direct Debit (as long as I am not owing). This is controlling my personal finances and affecting other suppliers that I have to pay and so I have had no other choice but to cancel the Direct Debit.  I prefer to pay more per year for personal autonomy than have OVO Big Brother tell me how much money I should give up front for service I have not yet received.

I now submit meter readings monthly and pay the amount due exactly a day later and keep the Credit in the account just in case.

I suspect I will receive a generic - ‘You can easily set up a Direct Debit by going to blah blah link’

I would prefer someone to fix the issue and allow the User to reduce their DD through their online account without having to wait over an hour on the phones (clearly OVO customer service are unable to handle all the calls) and then having a debate on how I should spend my own hard earned money with OVO instead of earning Interest on it in a bank!

Hi @MrM 

Sorry to hear about that

I am just a customer like you and no one on the forum can access your account.

Have you made the Ombudsman aware of your continuing issue?

What specifically did the Ombudsman ask ovo to do?

You may already know this.

If you cancel your DD you will end up paying more for your energy as the ofgem price cap is higher if you don't pay by DD. If you are happy paying more then that is fine.

At any time if you pay by DD you can request a refund of credit. You can request 100% if you are on a variable plan. You need to leave one month if on a fixed plan. Simply phone ovo collections 0800 069 9831

In case you haven't seen it 

As Jeffus says, it’s worth checking how much extra you’ll be paying after cancelling your Direct Debit. The standing charge alone for a dual fuel customer is around £45 a year more.

What do you see on the Change your Direct Debit amount page?

On the DD calculator page, how does the predicted balance at the end of March compare with your predicted monthly costs? 

On your Plan page, how does the Future Annual Consumption compare with your actual consumption over the past year? This is the basis for the DD calculation, so if it’s very inaccurate, you’ll have some persuading to do.

Thanks everyone for feedback and suggestions

It has been so stressful to deal with OVO that it made me ill at the time (Oct-Dec 22).  I was a SWALEC customer for over 20 years and they were fantastic.  Never a problem.

I received Ombudsman help with some of the issues resolved by OVO however they still did not address that the Direct Debit function (where you turn up or down the amount you wish to pay) does not work on my online account.  The Ombudsman can only do so much to help.

I checked how much more I am paying for manual payments and prefer to offset the small increase in comparison and earn interest on the amount saved instead.

My spend over the year was calculated and taken into consideration, (Customer Service advised it would decrease in April 23 - I still could not adjust it online).  I have kept the account in credit every month by £300 and my average monthly bills are £150.  The Direct Debit was set at £200 since Oct 22.

I am scared to return to Direct Debit as I will lose control again.  I prefer to save the money up front and earn interest for it especially if they cannot sort it out (or do they want to?)

All I want is to control the Direct Debit function up and down as it says you can ‘easily’ do.  But I kept getting a message that ‘this cannot be done at this time’

Thanks for listening.

@MrM if you are really are not happy then perhaps switch to a supplier that allows direct debits to be paid off in full each period. You simply pay for what you use.

That way you don't pay the significant penalty by not paying by direct debit.

For illustration for a typical dual fuel customer nationally

£1928 vs £2058 so £130 annually more expensive from 1st Jan

Obviously this varies based on usage and where you live.

You are never going to earn enough interest to cover the extra cost with ovo.

For example EON Next

https://www.eonnext.com/blog/135-How-Direct-Debits-are-calculated#:~:text=Variable%20Direct%20Debit.,and%20lower%20in%20the%20summer

Thanks Jeffus for the EON information - I am looking at this and the options as we speak.

Yes this looks like a much easier and cheaper option that trying to get OVO technicians to resolve the Direct Debit online system.

Thanks again everyone for your help.  Much appreciated.

There should have been four quarterly DD reviews since then. Did they not happen? If they did, what was the outcome?