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Is my Direct Debit increase accurate?

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Jeffus
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Agreed, the Gas estimate seems pretty much spot on.

 

Readings go back to what looks like the start of my SSE account, 8th July 2020.

The SSE ones (pre-Feb 2022) are a mixture of manual and smart.

Every one from the start of the OVO plan are smart, for both Gas and Electric (a reading for every day) additionally I see no spikes or dodgy readings))

 

I obviously expect increases, this is natural.

I just saw that massive DD increase and thought….nope….theres been a mistake.

At least….I really hope theres been a mistake.

 

I feel this wont get sorted until I spend some quality time on the phone, which is actually my least preferable form of contact these days.

I understand there will be a massive increase to OVO’s email and messaging traffic right now but its been 10 days and no reply.

But the automated emails informing me of Direct Debit increases get to me just fine lol.

 

Rest assured you guys have at least put me to ease a little because it seems obvious there is a mistake/issue that needs to be rectified.

 

If you have some advice on how to present this information to OVO, please feel free 👍

 

@Mallakye

 

OK so good to see the smart meter readings are good and some data has transferred from SSE

This link will take you to this thread if you want to share it with OVO

https://forum.ovoenergy.com/my-account-140/advice-from-community-needed-re-dd-increase-from-107ppm-to-255ppm-10719

I will do one more summary post

Personally i can't honestly recommend emailing OVO right now, too many examples of it taking too long or getting no reply. I don't like saying that as overall i do like OVO. 

I would try calling or personally i have had most success communicating via private message on the OVO twitter account. I only use twitter for contacting companies. I particularly like it as you will have a permanent date, time, name stamp of everything you and OVO say over time. You can attach screenshots to the messages. So nothing gets lost. 

 

Jeffus
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@Jess_OVO

 

This looks the same as the issue @Debbie Pearce had where the SSE to OVO migration didn't work correctly.. I think you helped her? 

1. The SSE bills haven't migrated

2. The SSE usage hasn't migrated

3. The OVO future annual consumption figure for electricity is wildly out and is not correcting itself since the migration in January unfortunately. 

This is incorrectly driving huge direct debit estimates. Worse than previous examples we have seen. The OVO estimate looks like it is a factor of 3 out for electricity based on OVO smart meter readings and previous SSE figures. An incorrect OVO estimate of over 9000kWh for electricity a year should clearly be some sort of red flag in the OVO system ideally i would have thought. That is over 3 times the Ofgem typical consumption values. 

This is driving huge direct debits and is not correcting itself. I fear simply freezing the direct debits isn't going to work. 

I don't know if you want to follow up with the same group in OVO again?

I can see other posters have also raised what look like similar issues although i don't have time to go through every one of them to check. Could do with a way a flagging them to OVO as i fear they may get lost in the support team first line support if they are not looked at in detail. Obviously up to you what to do and recommend. 

​​Hope this helps

​​​​​​I think it is important this thread isn't merged with any other for the time being at least so @Mallakye can make use of it. 

​​​​​​

​​​​

M
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Userlevel 1

@Jeffus 

Thank you so very much Jeffus.

Your help and time is very, very much appreciated 🙏

 

I have taken the precaution to save the forum post pages as an offline pdf….just in case.

 

@Blastoise186 

Thanks to you too for your input, you showed me how to retrieve information that I didn't even know was there for access 👌

@Jess_OVO 

And thanks to you also Jess for good, solid and clear signposting.

 

Your combined answers, suggestions and expertise have made me feel much better this evening.

Such a good community.

 

Many thanks to all of you once more.

 

Mallakye

Jeffus
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@Mallakye

 

There was an Ofgem press release about direct debits

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/press-release-ofgem-requires-improvements-energy-suppliers-customer-direct-debits

They have told suppliers to review all customers where direct debits have increased by more than 100%. This should include you so it is worth reminding OVO. 

Let us know how you get on. You will need some patience as these things can take time to resolve. 

Feel free to ask if you have any more questions. 

Finally just a reminder, i don't have access to your account, so i have done my best to diagnose the issue. Of course there could be another reason for the increase that we didn't notice. 

 

Tim_OVO
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Userlevel 7

Updated on 26/06/23 by Abby_OVO

I’ve just caught up on this thread, fantastic support on offer. 

 

@Mallakye thank you for your patience and the level of detail that you provided. Everyone has spent their own time helping and advising each other and now it’s our turn to back this up into some action. 

 

I agree with Jeffus that the Future annual consumption figure for electricity might be wrong. If it is, I think this is the likely cause of the over inflated Direct Debit recommendations.  Mine is 5489 kWh and I live with 4 others. We’ll be looking for and collecting examples of this on the forum and passing it on to the relevant team if we see more than one. 

 

What to do now?

 

  • Please discuss this with our Support team, as they are best placed to raise a ‘case’ to the billing platform teams that can fix any issues with the way this works. We'll be contacting them as well if we see more examples on the forum, but it won’t be linked to your account.
  • I can’t see an answer from you, @Mallakye, to whether you have a smart meter or not. if you do, ask our Support team to make sure the meters are set to send us your readings every half an hour.
  • I would also recommend that you request a Direct Debit review exemption be put in place on your account. This lasts for 3 months and will allow any issues that might be affecting your account to be resolved.

To save you having to explain all of this to our Support team, feel free to link them to my comment. I’ll copy the URL for this below once I’ve posted it. You can then share that URL with our online chat team and sit back whilst they read it and get up to speed. 

 

I hope this helps and that we can take it from here and get this sorted for you. 


Tim

 

URL for this comment is: 

 

 

Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there! My green tech: Aclara SGM 1411-B smart meter, Chameleon IHD6
M
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@Tim_OVO

Thank you Tim. 

Unfortunately the support message option is saying its not available, after I have put in my name, and account number. 

And unfortunately I can not use my phone whilst at work. 

I have tried emailing previously but have had no reply. 

I will have to try the helpline once I finish work. 

Oh and also yes my smart meters are sending what looks like a correct reading every day 👌 

Regards.

 

Jess_OVO
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Userlevel 7

I’m sorry to see that our web-chat team were unavailable when you tried to get in touch, @Mallakye.

 

At busy times we may need to prioritise answering calls. I’m hoping you’ve since managed to reach us, either by calling 0330 303 5063 or trying the Live Chat option at a quieter time.

 

Don’t forget to let us know the outcome, it really helps to hear when things get sorted. Not only for our community members who’ve already offered such great advice, but also to others finding this thread in future.

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M
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Just for my own record, I will update progress here, as and when.

The help centre messaging is still not receiving my request (tried around 5 times today)

Contacted OVO via twitter (14th July 2022), provided link to this thread with a brief outline of my issue.

Awaiting response.

Jess_OVO
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Userlevel 7

Sorry to hear the Live Chat option was still unavailable yesterday, @Mallakye.

 

Our Social team should respond to your twitter message today and linking to this thread will really help them understand the issue.

 

I hope the team is able to get things back on track but do let us know if you need any more advice here.

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M
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Update 

 

Reply recieved via Twitter fromOVO

"

Hi Leigh,

Thanks for your message, by looking a your smart readings since January the 5th I've worked out your estimated annual consumption to be 2715 kWh per year. I'll raise a case to our relevant team to get this amended for you.

Thanks,
Richard"

 

Hopefully this will all be sorted soon 👌 

Thank you so so much everyone

Jeffus
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Update 

 

Reply recieved via Twitter fromOVO

"

Hi Leigh,

Thanks for your message, by looking a your smart readings since January the 5th I've worked out your estimated annual consumption to be 2715 kWh per year. I'll raise a case to our relevant team to get this amended for you.

Thanks,
Richard"

 

Hopefully this will all be sorted soon 👌 

Thank you so so much everyone

@Mallakye good progress.

Did they confirm they will freeze your direct debit for three month at the lower £ figure? It is just it may take some time to get the forecast usage updated based on previous experience. 

M
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Userlevel 1

Update 

 

Reply recieved via Twitter fromOVO

"

Hi Leigh,

Thanks for your message, by looking a your smart readings since January the 5th I've worked out your estimated annual consumption to be 2715 kWh per year. I'll raise a case to our relevant team to get this amended for you.

Thanks,
Richard"

 

Hopefully this will all be sorted soon 👌 

Thank you so so much everyone

@Mallakye good progress.

Did they confirm they will freeze your direct debit for three month at the lower £ figure? It is just it may take some time to get the forecast usage updated based on previous experience. 

I will query this now Jeffus

Cheers 

M
Rank
Userlevel 1

Update 

 

Reply recieved via Twitter fromOVO

"

Hi Leigh,

Thanks for your message, by looking a your smart readings since January the 5th I've worked out your estimated annual consumption to be 2715 kWh per year. I'll raise a case to our relevant team to get this amended for you.

Thanks,
Richard"

 

Hopefully this will all be sorted soon 👌 

Thank you so so much everyone

@Mallakye good progress.

Did they confirm they will freeze your direct debit for three month at the lower £ figure? It is just it may take some time to get the forecast usage updated based on previous experience. 

Just had this reply:

Hi Leigh,

 

I've just set up a case to get you added to the Direct Debit exemption form now.

 

We'll let you know when its been allocated.

 

Thanks, 

Robbie

A
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Anyone else in a similar situation? I’ve been paying £128 a month for combined gas/electric.. Pre price reses/cost of living it was about £70… 

Just recieved notice recently that my DD has been increased to £165 a month as if not i’ll be over £400 in debit… 

I always thought the whole point of paying monthly over the whole year was that at some points you’d be in debit (winter/colder months) and others in credit.. Over all it evens out.. 

Well always did.. 

So why when we read that prices are meant to be coming down (finally !! ) is OVO putting my DD up?

I can barely afford the £128 never mind £165 they want to take.. 

Sooooo frustrated !!!!!!

Blastoise186
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You can request a three-month freeze by calling 0800 069 9831. That team can also discuss ways of helping to make your bills easier to manage as well.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
R
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Have been paying £210/month for my energy, am now about £300 in credit at end of year.

But Ovo are calculating next month my usage will go up 400%, and so my monthly payment needs to be £700/month.

They've written saying direct debit will go up to £500/month.

How can I contest this? I don't want to pay that much and I will never manage to use all that energy... their calculator is obviously wrong but don't seem to get anywhere when I call.

Any ideas? Would it be easiest just to change supplier?

Nukecad
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Userlevel 6

Are you currently in credit on the account?

Also do you have a smart meter?

Yours is the second post today about a doubling DD amount, but the other one currently has a debit balance and I have an explanation for why that may cause such a doubling at the moment.

Today I have zero energy, I plan on going back to bed.
R
Rank
Userlevel 1

Yes - account is in credit.

Yes - I have a smart meter.

 

The account was in debit a couple of weeks ago because they previously miscalculated my bill and paid a large refund which I then gave back to them once they noticed the miscalculation.

But the increased direct debit request is entirely off the basis of their calculator, which calculates I will spend ~£700-800/month for Jan/Feb/March… even though my December bill was £150 and I’ve never even spent half that in a month.

J
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Userlevel 3

I think if you go into debit, it triggers actions. I fell into £29 debt in July for reasons that aren’t important but were not because my DD wasn’t right. They immediately doubled my DD from £110 to £203. I created a big stink, and though I could never get them to understand what happened, they lowered it to £182 then £155. They also gave me £75 to shut up, which more than covered my August bill. Then I claimed a refund of £200 and changed the DD to £128. I keep dropping it, and  just now I changed it from £18 to £10. So all in all it worked out for me, though they did overcharge me and when I first looked at the page where you can change your DD, they were happily telling  me they were going to keep taking over £100 and expect my balance to be £375 in March!

If you haven’t found that page, https://account.ovoenergy.com/payments maybe you can sort out your DD yourself.

Nukecad
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Userlevel 6

Yes - account is in credit.

Yes - I have a smart meter.

 

The account was in debit a couple of weeks ago because they previously miscalculated my bill and paid a large refund which I then gave back to them once they noticed the miscalculation.

But the increased direct debit request is entirely off the basis of their calculator, which calculates I will spend ~£700-800/month for Jan/Feb/March… even though my December bill was £150 and I’ve never even spent half that in a month.

It may well be the same thing that I suspect in the other post then, it they have calculated yours as still including that debit balance.

OVO are attempting to have all Direct Debit accounts aligned to have a zero balance on 31st of March each year.
(Except for those on fixed tariffs who have their own end date).

Which means that for anyone who currently has a debit on their account the DD calculator is now going to suggest a high payment for the next 3 months to get it to zero by 31st March.

If they have used your previous debit balance when doing the calculation that will explain why they want to set it so high for the Jan/Feb/March payments, to recover the now non-existant debit by 31st March

The best I can suggest is to phone support and ask them to look again and recalculate it with the credit and not a debit balance.

Of course it could also be an over estimation of future use, those are know to happen (to say the least), but again the only way to talk it down is to, well, talk it down.

This current situation with trying to get to zero balance by 31st March is a one off as they try to get the accounts aligned to all have 31st March as the year end.
To my thinking they could have avoided it simply by aiming for 31st March 2025 rather than 2024, thus giving everyone more chance to get down to zero by then.

 

Today I have zero energy, I plan on going back to bed.
Firedog
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It may well be the same thing that I suspect in the other post then, it they have calculated yours as still including that debit balance.

 

I think you’ll find that the calculator works in real time, that is it’s the account balance at the time that is added to the projected costs to calculate the DD. It’s unlikely that the current suggestion will be anything like the one in the threatening letter if there’s been a large credit to the account in the interim. Support should be able to sort it out if this is the case.

 

Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA
J
Rank
Userlevel 3

It may well be the same thing that I suspect in the other post then, it they have calculated yours as still including that debit balance.

 

I think you’ll find that the calculator works in real time, that is it’s the account balance at the time that is added to the projected costs to calculate the DD. It’s unlikely that the current suggestion will be anything like the one in the threatening letter if there’s been a large credit to the account in the interim. Support should be able to sort it out if this is the case.

 

That’s not what I was told. I was told that because my account had been in debit, it meant my direct debit was not enough to cover and they insisted on increasing it even though I was now in credit, and (as I now understand) my DD was enough to cover my projected usage. That didn’t matter to anyone I spoke to; as it had been in debit, that was proof it wasn’t high enough.

In case anyone is curious how I ended up in debit. I was with SSE and just after I paid my last 3 month bill in May, I set up a direct debit, with first payment 3 weeks later. 5 days after setting it up before my first payment, my account migrated to Ovo, and I got a final bill of £29. I didn’t pay it because I had a DD set up, so they would obviously just take it from my bank, like all my other DD (eg mobile phone, internet etc). Once I finally understood it, I tried to explain that, yes my previous DD amount with SSE wasn’t high enough, but that’s because it was zero. None of the droids on the phone could grasp this, despite them saying “I hear you”. 

R
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Userlevel 1

Good news!

After talking to a few people who kept repeating they had done a careful calculation,  I got through to someone who could help and this nice South African sounding guy sorted it.

Direct debit will stay unchanged.

Nukecad
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@RayKk Good to hear that.

Did he say what had caused the increased DD in the first place?

Today I have zero energy, I plan on going back to bed.
Firedog
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I think you’ll find that the calculator works in real time, that is it’s the account balance at the time that is added to the projected costs to calculate the DD. 

 

That’s not what I was told. I was told …

 

Sorry, cross-purposes. I didn’t gather that you were talking to somebody; I was referring to the online calculator that can be used to adjust the DD if it gets out of line. How come you ended up talking to someone? Did they call you? Did you find out which department it was (there are so many, it’s a complete jungle)?

That said, mine has steadfastly refused to make a suggestion for months now. But its calculations are the same as they’ve always been, with the exception of the 31 March 2024 reset which may be confusing many customers who don’t bother to learn more. 

Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA

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