Patience is required here. Everybody seems to think their issue is the most important and needs immediate action.  Chill a bit, relax, this is a very complicated change for the energy companies and it will be fixed.

The government announcement was on 8 September and the detail of how it would work took at least another 10 days to work out.  So there hasn’t been a lot of time for the companies to get this properly sorted.  Just be grateful for the largess.

PS Eon Next is even worse!

Got through on OVO web Chat this morning (number 11 in the queue on joining) and have agreed to be moved to the Govt EPG via OVO’s Standard Variable Tariff (SVT).  Advised charges (all electricity) to be applied (inc VAT) are Tariff = 33.85 ppkWh, Standing Charge = 52.64 pence per day.  This has already been adjusted in my OVO plan and has been updated in my smart meter / IHD.  No charge applied for coming off the Fixed Price Contract and I will now be able to reduce my DD in line with these new charges and my anticipated annual consumption.  The Customer Service representative advised that all customers in a similar situation to me (that hadn’t already arranged with OVO customer services directly) would be similarly moved to the SVT within the next seven days.  I wasn’t sure why my Fixed to Variable plan change date was set as 2nd October and not the 1st October in my account, but I’ll not worry about that until the end of the next billing period.  NB. I live in Cornwall so not sure how representative my own Standing Charge is to other parts of the UK.  I understand OFGEM aren’t publishing the agreed Standing Charge cap for all UK regions until next week.

Got an email today from Ovo with my bill saying that I could  save on my bill - see bit cut and paste from it below.  But I just don’t understand.  My current rates on a fix that runs to March 2024 are

Electricity

Unit rate

31.15p per Kilowatt hourkWh

Standing charge

36.89p a day

Contract start date

31st March 2022

Contract end date

30th March 2024

Unit rate

8.32p per Kilowatt hourkWh

Standing charge

26.18p a day

Contract start date

31st March 2022

Contract end date

30th March 2024

As far as I can tell the EPG rates are in excess of  the fixed rates so how does that work??  I am also a little suspicious of a tariff name that contains 20211001 which is clearly intended to reflect a date that is issued on 2022 - 10 - 01!

I am guessing that this is because the EPG tariff is guaranteed beyond the end of the fix but since that is being implemented as a change the Standard variable rate I presume I would pall back to it at the end of the fix?  No a big issue for me but if your fix is ending sooner then what.  Clarity please OVO

Hi @waiwurrie and @Electric_Twit,

Please see my advice on this similar thread:

If you are on a fixed tariff and are affected by the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG), OVO will contact you directly about your new rates and move you to the Simpler Variable Plan. Please keep an eye on your emails. There is no need to contact customer support about this, it will be done automatically.

If they haven’t contacted you yet, they will. We are making sure we review every customers account to check if they would benefit from switching plans, or if they are best staying on their current tariff. We are also contacting every customer on the variable tariff with their new rates. 

@waiwurrie what you are seeing on your bill, is on every OVO statement. It is OFGEM regulation to advise customers when they’d benefit from switching plans. If it’s promoting the Simpler Variable plan then that suggests you will be a customer affected by the EPG and we will be in touch!

Hold tight!

I’d keep an eye on that @waiwurrie Your tariff is lower than the gov rate and it shouldn’t be changed until it runs out. OVO may have carpetbombed fixed rate customers with this email without noticing the rate you’re on. 

Hi @Emmanuelle_OVO I know where it comes from.  I am not expecting the EPG to benefit me - if only I could find out what the rates being offered by OVO for my region are I could add them to my spreadsheet and I would know.  However there is a common theme her of other companies publishing them and not OVO.

I appreciate the moderators are volunteers and even those that work for OVO don’t have access to the systems (officially). Thank you.

But I don’t want to be switched automatically I just want someone to tell me what the correct (accurate) rates are for my property!

Where do you live ?

i got my region rates sent yesterday after speaking to someone from ovo on whats app

So after a mamoth, and glacial, interaction via Web Chat I have established that the tariffs mentioned in the email were “sent in error and updated prior to the government announcement on the energy price cap and have since been removed”.

The correct tariff for my corner of N Essex are Electricity 36.792p/kWh 40.8765p/day; and Gas 10.815p/kWh 29.904p/day.   Note I believe I was given them ex VAT so have added 5% so some rounding will apply I guess.

Here are the price tables for electricity and gas derived from the OFGEM announcement of 29 August which allowed new price caps from 1 October 2022 for variable price tariffs, and then how these rates are amended to take account of the Government’s Energy Price Guarantee (EPG).  These are for Direct Debit customers.  As OFGEM do not publish unit or daily rates, they have to be calculated.  Plus OFGEM set price caps only for certain benchmark levels of usage, so one has to work back by taking the amount allowed for the standing charge away from the figures for the benchmark consumption, and then divide by the benchmark usage level.  It has to be noted that suppliers can charge lower than the maximum allowed standing charge which would allow a higher unit rate to be charged instead.  Few actually do this.  In applying the EPG, only unit prices are affected, and so the increase in standing charges authorised by OFGEM goes ahead unaltered.  The prices calculated after the EPG reductions have been applied also represent the “floor rates” for customers on fixed price tariffs, thus they are the prices to which the EPG will lower prices using the 17p reduction on Electricity and 4.2p reduction on gas.  The EPG will not bring rates below this floor  level.  Some customers on recent fix tariffs might find that even after applying these reductions their rates remain above the EPG variable rates (or the EPG floor rates – they are the same).  These customers should refer to supplier statements on what needs to be done- it looks as though they will be switched to the standard variable rates.

See next post for the rates.

https://community.eonnext.com/threads/5486-Standard-Variable-and-Fixed-Tariff-Information-(October-22)?p=17490#post17490

Sorry folks this forum will not accept my table its too many characters apparently - but you can read it on the E.On Next forum!

I got the dreaded email last night:

---------

Hello,

We wanted to let you know that there will be some changes to your energy prices.

Our attachment explains what's happening and how this affects you. Please read it carefully, as it includes options for what you can do next.

----------

...but the attached pdf is completely blank. Have tried to call but the phones say its for emergency customers only. No messaging available on site so this seems the only way to contact.

As its blank am assuming there is no change and that no action is required, otherwise can someone from OVO get back to me here?

I’m planning on using gov money + top up payments if/when necessary and will cancel the DD if necessary.

Thanks

Live Chat worked for me just now. Give it another try!

If your prices weren’t changing, the email would have told you yours are staying as is. Here’s an example of that.

Thanks for reply .... All I see though is ‘messaging unavailable right now’, and i’m unable to ‘….read it carefully and decide what to do next’ as the attachment is blank.

What web browser are you using, and are you using any browser extensions?

What for? the PDF? I’ve tried it on Chrome, Edge and both mac and pc Mobile Android and  Mobile Iphone. The PDF attachment is definitely blank :) 

Hmm… That doesn’t sound right… I’ll let a moderator know about this. Bear with me!

My recommend direct debit hasn't change this month according to the proce cap, its has gone higher from £312 to £422.  When will I see the price cap on my account as my bill is already unaffordable?

@Dalvid What tariff are you on?

You can see on this page if you are not sure

https://account.ovoenergy.com/plan

Here is mine for example, from the website not the app. 

Moderators have been notified and this thread has been acknowledged. Please wait and they’ll stop by when they can!

Simpler energy variable.  

@Dalvid unfortunately all the price cap has done for you is limited the increase that would have occurred. Unit costs and standing charges will still have increased i am sorry to say. Hence your direct debits will have increased.

You will be getting some support via the energy bill support support scheme. More details can be found here. 

https://www.ovoenergy.com/energy-bills-support-scheme

This scheme gives you £400 over 6 months which isn't included in the direct debit calculations

I was paying £131pm pre April and now £422? That's 220% increase this doesn't seem legit at all.

@Dalvid

Unfortunately rates also went up in April so you are seeing the results of at least 2 increases in that comparison, maybe more if you were on a fixed rate tariff at any time.  I and many others are also seeing large increases vs last winter unfortunately. 

You can check your direct debit figures.

On the link i provided you can see you unit rates, standing charges and something called Future Annual Consumption.

This is what OVO estimate you will use over a year. The system automatically adjusts this figure as you vary your usage. 

You can work out your estimated annual cost and hence direct debit from this. Or feel free to post your unit cost, standing charge and Future Annual Consumption from the page and someone can calculate and double check if you like. Up to you obviously. 

Do you have a smart meter and did you transfer to OVO any time recently? 

Update - I ended up finding chat and getting through to someone on it (heads up OVO - the ‘help’ page says ‘messaging is unavailable now’ but then if you just click on the box, it works)

Someone very helpful who confirmed that no action was required :) 

Only thing for OVO to be aware of is that they appear to sending our messages about the recent rates changes with an instruction to review the attached pdf, which is in fact blank.