Currently we are over £1000.00 in credit.

We pay £318.00 per month currently.

We appreciate that the credit helps with the Winter payments and acknowledge this.

Despite being with OVO from SSE we still are told that when we've been with you for 8 weeks you will be able to give a more detailed payment projection for the upcoming increase. It is far in excess of 8 weeks since the changeover.

Some light shed upon this would be great. 

IF you can tell me what supply region you are in I can advise the likely prices you’ll face.  Better still here are the DD prices for all regions and both fuels.  With a forecast of your consumption you can work out your likely costs at these rates for the next 12 months and decide if your DD is fair and reasonable or not.  Remember though that these prices hold till January 2023 when another increase is likely.

I live on my own and had agreed at the start of the plan that I would be paying £35 direct debit for the electricity, I have recently noticed that I had an outstanding balance of £900+, this week my direct debit changed to £219. The outstanding balance went down to £600, yesterday I spent 3 hours on the phone trying to sort this out and understand how it is so high, the 2 women I spoke were not able to help me but trying to get me to pay the outstanding balance off, I explain that I had already paid £219 and can not afford to pay anymore atm, there was a language barrier when both attempting explain. When I gave my meter reading the women put me on hold & then I was cut off, I noticed again that it had now gone down to £483. After ringing again the women explain that I would have to pay £219 a month and a excess fee until I pay my outstanding balance off. 

Hi @allysonp13 ,

Sounds like a bit of a tricky one there to be honest. I’m going to start by giving you a link to one of my guides, which also has a bunch of resources that might help you out.

It sounds like you were being billed using estimated meter readings. Could you show me what you’re seeing under https://account.ovoenergy.com/meter-readings/history/electricity and https://account.ovoenergy.com/meter-readings/history/gas please?

If you submitted an actual reading that turned out to prove your usage has been lower than what the estimates suggested, this would have wiped out some of the outstanding balance automatically and you would no longer owe that portion.

There is also a recently announced Customer Support Package that OVO is planning to offer to anyone who needs it and I would encourage you to apply for it once it’s available. There’s more details at https://www.ovoenergy.com/customer-support-package if you’d like to take a look.

Basically your original Direct Debit was set too low (how long ago?). So you were not paying enough for your consumption plus prices rose in April and will rise again in October.. It will take many months to clear the outstanding balance given much of your payment will go to meet current  consumption. Stick with it!

Thank you for your reply. I will have a look at these and do some computations.

As with most people we will be making savings with energy usage where possible. I mentioned we are already over £1000.00 in credit also. 

A standing order for our current payment can replace a DD. The additional amount can then be made via BACS credit monthly if applicable AFTER our credit has been used.

Sorry, but Standing Orders won’t work I’m afraid. Most energy suppliers don’t support them and you can’t use one in place of a Direct Debit. If you still try to use one anyway, it might get rejected.

If you don’t want to pay by Direct Debit, then your only option is to pay on-demand/on-receipt which will on average cost you an extra £200 a year. You would also lose the ability to keep any fixed rate deals.

Thank you again for that. 

We are not on fixed rate. 

If £200 per year means we control our own finances and budgets then we are happy with that.

I think you can pay actual bills by DD. 

Apatently though they are not variable DD'S so I have read.

It now remains to try to get hold of an OVO representative to change to pay on demand/receipt

I am trying to contact OVO by telephone by all their lines seem to be overloaded have tried waiting for more than 30 minutes. Any ideas - no the online system does not allow me to change the DD or get a rebate ….

I certainly do not want to end up with a huge credit £ with OVO …. 

The phone wait message says that OVO is doing everything it can …. mmmm

David

Hi @dspinks41 ,

Right now, it’s probably best to leave things as they are if you can. As a forum volunteer I can’t access your account so there’s no way for me to make the changes on your behalf. You may find the advice in my guide useful though.

If you still need to speak to OVO, try Live Chat instead of the phones. It’s likely to be faster!

Social media is often touted as the best option.  If you have a substantial credit you have an absolute right to have it refunded, and move onto a new DD.

Prices though will rise substantially in October 22 and January 23 (assuming you are on a variable tariff).  Prices for paying after the event are higher £215 extra for the average customer @ oct 22 prices so DD is the best way to pay.

DD is a sound system but it does rely heavily on getting the forecast of consumption reasonably correct.  If the DD is set too high you can get the developing credit balance back, if its set too low you will have to pay more later on.  It is though virtually impossible to get the DD absolutely correct given the variables involved.

Recognise too that rising prices might require a DD uplift later on.

I am happy to pay Ovo for the energy I use however I do not see why Ovo should increase my direct debit to cover FUTURE usage ….  my main complaint is that you cannot speak to a human being in order to discuss this …. waiting on the phone for hours is unacceptable …. Ovo clearly has a staff shortage in their call centres to deal with the level of calls … we never ever got this problem with SSE!

I'm £300 in credit but ovo want to raise d/d to 82 from 62 ?

A fixed Direct Debit amount must be fair and reasonable.

The idea is simple.  Energy bills tend to be lower in the summer and much higher in winter. To help customers, suppliers can calculate what you bills will be, typically over a 12 month period, but this relies on an accurate forecast of consumption and the prices of the fuels that you use. Your direct debit amount doesn’t cap your liability irrespective of usage – if you use more fuel you will have to pay more, if you use less then you will build up a credit.

In practice the forecast of consumption is either too high or too low, and prices can change.  Recently, the price cap has changed 6 monthly, now it’s going to change 3 monthly.  And then there is the question of whether the customer’s account is currently in credit or debit, because that has to be factored in as well.

With prices of energy rising rapidly in the past 18 months, its unsurprising that changes to direct debit amount will be a substantial increase.  The average customer faces an increase of 80% from October in their prices, but that’s the average, some might face a lower figure, others, particularly heavy gas users, could face even higher increases.

So while the initial reaction is one of shock and horror at what is being requested for a new Direct Debit, that isn’t a sound or logical way to dispute the proposal.  What is needed is an accurate forecast of consumption for 12 months times the prices of the fuels that you use, plus /minus your current account balance, then divide that total by 12.  If prices are going up soon (like now) then using the October 22 prices would be entirely logical, even though that will in reality understate the required Direct Debit, as prices will likely rise again in January 23, although the amount isn’t yet known.

Your energy supplier doesn’t know that much about you, and changes in your household size, occupants, working practices and use of devices will affect your forecast of consumption that you can and should factor in but your supplier can’t.   Prices and account balances should be matters of fact.  Challenge your supplier on this logical basis if their assessment is markedly different from yours.  But what your Direct Debit was in the past compared to the current request is not really a relevant factor.  Social media is often touted as the best method of contacting your supplier – phone lines are always very busy.

What if you prefer not to pay by Direct Debit?  Prices for energy if you pay by Standard Credit rather than Direct Debit work out at £215 per annum more for the average user @ October 2022 prices.  And paying by standard credit could mean paying a very high energy bill in the depth of winter when the bills from Christmas also land in your inbox or on your doormat.  Most people will not find that an attractive proposition.

I’m trying to speak to someone also as I’ve just received an email to say my DD will go up.

do I assume this will include the October increase and there won’t be another one next month? Like everyone else I’m in credit and managing my account just fine

It really doesn’t make sense does it, you are in credit but they still increase the direct debt???

We are forced to take what the Energy company thinks our direct debt should be and that what we pay  will not cover the increase. Don’t they think we can think for ourselves if we are in credit surely using that credit first would be better and then increase if needed. I’m in credit but my bill has increased by £73, I use less than £2 for both fuels a day, I monitor my usage daily. I, I appreciate standing charges VAT etc needs to be added but it still doesn’t reach the amount I pay by direct debit. I’m not on a fixed rate as it would’ve tripled my monthly payment. 
 

Hi @Vickitee ,

As I understand things, the increase probably does factor in the next price cap, but you’ll be notified 10 days in advance if things change.

By the way, there appears to be some comments in this thread that are currently awaiting pre-moderation. If you got a message from the forum software stating your post will be published after review by a moderator, please be patient as they’re working flat out to get through everything.

@Blastoise186 great thanks. I’m still waiting on the phone for them to confirm. I’ll update when I know more

No worries.

The phone lines are incredibly busy at the moment, in actual fact ALL of the contact channels are being hammered due to tons of things happening all at once.

While the OVO Forum is patrolled by a group of forum volunteers (and two amazing moderators!) rather than OVO employees, we can’t give account specific solutions here. But hopefully we’re able to help take on some of that load for general questions. And believe me, we’ve been absolutely smashing it in that regard!

If you have any ideas to help improve the online services, feel free to post an Idea too. :)

The current things in scope are this forum (naturally!), MyOVO, the OVO Energy mobile apps and the OVO Help system.

Can @meldrewreborn ‘s answer be posted somewhere where it can easily be found by everyone who is trying to deal with their Direct Debit increases. It clearly explains the reasons for the increases and importantly the implications of not sticking with a DD. So many forum threads are about the same thing at the the moment - not everyone will be looking at the forum, can it go in a FAQ answer ?

Definitely an option!

If it’s posted as a new thread, then it can potentially be tagged as a forum article by moderators. :)

You’ll need to do it in one shot though. The 60 minute edit limit timer can be brutal if you’re trying to make lots of edits and don’t have unlimited edit time.

If the guide is really good, it might even get posted to OVO’s official blog. I’ve known that happen a few times.

I have this morning received an E-mail from OVO telling me I must increase my direct debit to cover increasing costs, but they haven't told me what these are!!!!

They further tell me if I don't increase it they will just take more anyway, is this legal, or even morally just???

Further to watching BBC's Panorama last night, I find they lied to me recently saying that my electricity costs were due to OVO buying my "100% renewable electricity " on the open market, when according to Panorama the electricity price is just coupled to the gas price, nothing to do with production costs or availability. 

Cheers, Ali, (rant over)

I have this morning received an E-mail from OVO telling me I must increase my direct debit to cover increasing costs, but they haven't told me what these are!!!!

They further tell me if I don't increase it they will just take more anyway, is this legal, or even morally just???

Further to watching BBC's Panorama last night, I find they lied to me recently saying that my electricity costs were due to OVO buying my "100% renewable electricity " on the open market, when according to Panorama the electricity price is just coupled to the gas price, nothing to do with production costs or availability. 

Cheers, Ali, (rant over)