No email bill received yet - do I make payment?

--- Just to clarify that my question is whether I should pay the amount shown under “Bill available” in my account now, even if I didn’t receive the usual email with the bill. Previously (with quarterly billing), I only paid after receiving the bill email. Needless to say that the whole billing system is unnecessarily confusing.

Hey ​@Ovo_user 

Sorry to hear you’ve not had the email for your most recent bill, it sounds like there might be a delay with that if you can see the pdf version of the bill in the app.

If you can see that on the account, you can pay what’s stated on the pdf while you await the email prompt. 

If you’ve got any concerns about awaiting for the email, I’d get in touch with the Support Team who’d be able to check if there’s something causing a delay other than it maybe being due over the Christmas/New Year period.

Do let us know how you get on.

Thanks, I know that I can pay any amount regardless of having received the bill in the email, but when I checked before they confirmed that I do not have to pay anything until I receive the email. Also, when I log in to my account after receiving the bill email, it shows the exact billed amount to pay (rather than the current balance), but this has not changed at the moment, and the current balance is still shown. If there’s a delay in sending the email, I do hope that my following payment won’t be considered a delayed payment.

--- another problem with paying before receiving the bill email is that the amounts shown in the billing history keep changing every day, so I don’t even know if the amount shown for the latest bill now is the correct one to pay. And should I pay the “Closing balance” or “Total charges” amount (they’re not the same!)? Confusing. At least the email shows the exact amount to pay.

My billing period ended on 3rd January 2026, so any charges after this bill was prepared will appear on my next bill. Today my account shows that I have already spent £35.21 since my last bill. I can ignore this until the end of the billing period or, if I felt like it, I could, of course, pay it now as you can pay any amount into your account at any time. 

You can also check your bill amount by going to the Billing history page.

Thanks for your help here ​@Bendog!

If your bill is delayed by more than three of four days then there may be an issue. Get in touch with our Support Team and they’ll look into this for you.

​@Ovo_user you can make a payment of any amount at any time, but when it comes to paying the bill each month we expect payment for the ‘Closing balance’ displayed on page 1 of the statement. The following screenshot displays the closing balance, albeit in credit rather than arrears:

This is a common source of confusion for customers that pay on demand, due to the fact that our billing platform is designed for smart meters and Direct Debits. The OVO account balance is a live balance that changes each day, so the online balance will often be different from the ‘closing balance’ displayed on the statement. We only ever expect payment for the ‘closing balance’. For example, if your online account balance is -£100, but the closing balance on the latest bill is -£98, then we expect a payment for £98.

I hope this answers everything - please let us know if you have any more questions.

Cheers!

Thank you everyone. The problem is that the closing balance (on the billing end date) changes slightly depending on when I download the bill, even if the biling end date is the same - that is, the same bill for last month generated today shows a different closing balance (on the same billing end date) from that generated a week ago, for instance. Which is why it is useful to get an email explicitly quoting the amount due, and then seeing the same amount clearly shown as the payment due in My OVO. I have received no email bill yet, and I was previously told that I only have to pay after getting this email notification, so I really do not want to pay a certain amount now and then maybe receiving an email showing a slightly different amount to pay.    

​@Ovo_user I’d recommend getting in touch with our Support Team. Tell them that you haven’t received the usual email this month, and ask them whether there is a proper statement generated for this month. I’d also recommend asking them to check whether there are any billing holds on the account, or any ‘managed exceptions’ (they’ll know what this means). 

Please do keep us updated as to how you get on, and by all means reference this Forum thread when you speak to them. This guide should help you decide the best way to get in contact:

Thank you for the suggestion. I’d like to know what a billing hold or a managed exceptions may be, though. As I mentioned, I can see that the bill has been generated and is available to download, it’s just the usual email with the payment request that hasn’t reached me.

Holds and exceptions are flags on ovo accounts that note when there are know issues with your account that ovo are aware of and they are in the process of fixing. So it would be useful to know if these are there. 

You can give ovo a link to this thread as it may help them with the background and what you have already said.

https://forum.ovoenergy.com/my-account-140/no-email-bill-received-last-month-20745

My understanding (based on a previous chat with the support team) remains that, while I can pay any amount any time, I do not have to pay the balance until I receive the actual email notification with the bill. Getting in touch with the support team did not clarify the exact reason why I have not received that email last time.

Hey ​@Ovo_user 

I’m sorry to hear you’re still awaiting the email summary of the bill, this is a smaller, simplified version of the bill - exactly the same as the one available to download. I would recommend getting back in touch with the Support Team as, if you can view the bill in your account, that means the bill has been produced and there could just be a technical issue with the email being stuck or an error with the email. 

Without access to accounts here at the Forum it can be tricky to tell what’s causing the email to get stuck, so I’d have the Support Team check this for you. 

If it's past the billing date, and the bill is available for download, that means the bill is available to be paid and if past the date payment date, overdue. However, if the bill isn't available, then there may be a delay or issue with the email that the team might not be aware of.

The Support Team should be able to tell why an email wasn’t sent or if it failed, they can also email you out that most recent bill if you feel that’s necessary - though it will be the same as the one you can view to download in the app. I would also mention, any bill left unpaid will be added onto the next bill and you will have two usage periods to pay for.