Price cap increases- To fix or not to fix?

Not really. Am not trying to be awkward 

It would be better if the plan page clearly stated the exit fees.

Else customers don't know what they don't know.

Expecting them to contact customer services.…

Blimey I thought we were trying to make things more self service 

I would call this a bug personally 

Thanks for that clarification @ChristopherS_OVO , it is helpful for me.

I do like the distinction between "Tariff Hopping" within OVO and "Switching" to another supplier, using those makes it clearer to understand which is being talked about.

I had noticed that the T&C's say "we may apply" which is not the same as "we shall apply", and so leaves OVO some discretion on whether to charge an Early Exit Fee or not.

So if the 'Early Exit Fee tool' is only available to Support then a customer considering 'tariff hopping' would have to ring support to check what fee might apply and then decide if it is a move that they want to make?
(Other than actually 'hopping' and seeing what happens of course).

PS. I personally don't regard 'tariff hopping' as falling into the same category as “available to new customers only” - because you are not starting from the same place as a new customer - in a tariff hop you had already signed for a fixed tariff that was supposed to be for a set term.

It looks like this is all a bit new, so perhaps the change from Exit fee: to Exit fee if you change supplier: for new 1-year fixed rate plans hasn’t quite percolated to all corners of the site. I can imagine that it doesn’t apply to 2-year fixes. 

Meanwhile, I’m happy so far with my new 1-year fix, especially since the standing charge is so much lower (£190 instead of £205). I just hope Ofgem don’t get round to reforming it before May 2025 …

Oops! I seem to have a bigger issue just at the moment.

I just logged into my account to get my usage figures from yesterday for my Power Move calculations, only to be greeted by this:

Whilst I had been looking at the quotes page I didn’t click the button to sign up for a new tariff, at least I’m 99.99% sure that I didn’t.
I certainly didn’t submit any meter readings like it is saying there, and I’m already on supply, not 3 days from now.

It’s interesting that it does say it’s a switch and not a tariff change, it’s also interesting that those dates are in the future.
The last line there suggests that they are treating this as a new supply to a property that they are not already supplying.

I guess that I need to ring support and find out what is going on.

I’d give support a call, just to make sure this isn’t an erroneous transfer. 

Keep us posted!

@Emmanuelle_OVO I’ve just finished on the phone with support and the agent I was talking to can’t see any reason for it, accounts can’t see any reason either.

it doesn’t look like an erroneous transfer.
An erroneous transfer to OVO wouldn’t have my existing account number to appear on my account page when I login.
If it were a transfer from OVO then it wouldn’t say they were putting me on supply on the 18th.

Whilst on hold talking to the agent I did have a thought about what could have caused it, but she says there is nothing showing that could confirm it.
In my recent dealings with the Forum Support Team regarding isues with FACs it was identified that Xoserve have/had an incorrrect MSN for my gas meter. (So didn’t have any readings from my actual meter).
It may be that Xoserve have now corrected that MSN, and it is that meter number correction/change at Xoserve that has trickled back to OVO and has generated an automated ‘Switch’ message?
Even though OVO had the correct MSN, so they should now be the same at both OVO and Xoserve.
(Someone at OVO may be scratching their head wondering why Xoserve say that I’ve changed my gas meter to the one that I already have showing on my account).

So I told support to just make a note my contact and we’ll leave things for a couple of days to see what happens next.

At the moment it means that I can’t access my account online at all, the only thing I can see is that ‘Switch’ message.

PS. I haven’t had any emails in regard to this supposed ‘Switch’ at all, which is interesting in itself.

I found the latest "1 Year Fixed Loyalty" offer on the Get an energy quote page, which mentioned that I could get the renewal quote through my online account.

However, when I log into my account, I cannot find the offer. Is it intentionally not shown to customers already on the fixed plan?

As you can see from the above I can’t access my online account at the moment.

However I did look at the renewal section last week and it just said that it couldn’t offer me any until nearer my current Fixed Plan end date.

As for your not being able to find it:
Some/many/most browsers now block out certain parts of the account pages.
(It’s because they changed their default security settings and the new settings don’t like how certain parts of the pages have been coded).
Changing your browsers security settings from ‘Strict’ to ‘Standard’ and then refreshing the page usually allows them to be seen again.
(Also try pausing any ablockers, security add-ons, etc. that you have installed and refreshing the page).

I found the 'Renewing your contract' page, but even after following the instructions, I couldn't locate the renewal offer within My OVO. However, I discovered that you can obtain the latest offer by going to 'Get an energy quote' after entering your postcod and address:

The above offer is definitely more favorable than my current plan, particularly regarding the standing charge. I did not proceed further from this point because there is no confirmation on whether a termination fee will apply.

That’s an odd page to be seeing if you’re simply aiming to switch. I’d beware of following that route, because you may find yourself opening an unwanted new account and closing your existing one. BTDT.

The new OVO app (‘new’ as in released within the past week) seems to do this sort of stuff more smoothly; do you have the opportunity of using that instead of a computer?
  

  
Otherwise, can you access the offer you want via ovoenergy.com, using the first Get a quote button? The ‘plan summary’ I saw before going ahead was pretty unequivocal about the exit fee:
  

I tried the 'new' OVO app without success. Using the first "Get a Quote" button on ovoenergy.com led me to the same page as before.

Oh dear. 

Of course, we may be talking at cross-purposes. You are probably concerned about being charged an exit fee now if you switch to a different plan, e.g. the new 1-year Fixed Loyalty 09/05/2024. This will only be apparent from your current plan - what does that say? You may even have to dig around to find the email you got confirming the switch to your current plan, because it should both state what the exit fee would be and include a link to any T&Cs applying specifically.

When I switched last year, my confirmation email included this link, which is to the terms we’ve been dissecting. They look pretty unambiguous to me, although they do include the elastic “we may apply a termination fee.”

I’m afraid you’re going to have to ask Support and hope you get through to a clued-up agent. I’d use webchat to be sure of getting any response in writing.

My confirmation email link to this:

It's stated that I wouldn't incur a termination fee if I switch to another OVO fixed tariff. However, it's clear that OVO wouldn't provide a link to switch to another fixed tariff unless my contract is nearing its end. In other words, the condition "if you change to another OVO fixed tariff" can never be fulfilled in the middle of the contract. It seems like a sort of gimmick because it's unlikely to ever be triggered.

You can change tariff mid-term by talking to the Support Team. It’s possible to do - they just need to be sure, to prevent accidents.

OK, thanks. I’m intrigued, because mine - back in December - didn’t look like that. I thought this was a recent change, but your evidence suggests otherwise. When is that email dated?

It's 15th April 2024.

That would explain why you saw the new T&Cs, then. Judging by that, you should be good to go, but as Blastoise says, you’ll have to call Support to switch if the option isn’t there online. It will be interesting to hear how you fare. 

Six months on, and we have a price cap decrease.

I elected to fix back in May, grabbing the 1-year fixed loyalty plan then on offer, largely because it had a lower standing charge than others, but also taking into account Cornwall’s prediction of increases in unit rates to come in October and beyond.

I can now compare how I’m faring today with other possibilities. Taking Ofgem’s all-electric low-user national average consumption figure of 1800 kWh/year, I see that I’m not doing too badly: £5 up on the year!
  

There’s clearly not much in it. For the average household, the results for the May plans are within £1 of each other. The only factor working to my advantage is that low usage emphasises the part played by the standing charge.

In case anyone is still watching this thread:

• Ofgem’s watch window for the 2024Q3 price cap has now closed. The outcome won’t be published until later, but meanwhile Cornwall have done their sums and come up with their prediction: Cornwall Insight release final forecast for October price cap. It’s pretty close to what they’ve been saying for months.
• OVO has recently (19 August) published new fixed-rate tariffs that look to beat the price cap until at least next Spring. It’s worth checking before they go away again: Our prices | OVO Energy 

Thanks for that Firedog! I've just signed up for the new one year loyalty fixed plan - with no  exit fees from my prior plan which would have ended at the beginning of December. I like peace of mind so whatever happens to the price cap won't affect me until next July and the new tariff rates work out lower for me right now,  especially for electricity which is lower by more than 5p per unit! 

tariff 

^ hey guys, reopening this thread to ask if its worth fixing now since we know that the price is going up in october?

Absolutely - lock in the current rates and you’ll dodge the winter price rises.

thank you for your reply, i hope others will reply and i can make my decision depending on the majority.

1. but have you fixed for one year or two years?
2. fixing for two years seems expensive from what i checked, would you agree?

I always fix for two years. Let’s just say I completely dodged ALL of the price chaos during the pandemic… By locking in a two year renewal deal in August 2021 to start in October 2021, all I had to do was ride the storm. :)

anyone else fixing?