The end of the interest payment to help the customers pay the right amount through direct debit

It is ending 

This change is due to an OFGEM requirement to all energy suppliers to have them target customers having little credit - https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/direct-debit-market-compliance-review-progress-update

OVO have a responsibility now to keep changing the Direct Debit to prevent a build up of credit.

OVO to stop paying interest on credit balances. Can I still keep a balance more than the equivalent of one months direct debit? I need to take this action as presently I cannot accurately foresee my monthly bills as I no longer have gas central heating but individual electric radiators, some oil free, some oil filled. When my bank balance is healthy I top up my OVO balance so it is more than the previous bill. I don’t have, or want, a smart meter. 

Yes

The whole point of paying monthly is to build up credit in the summer months to pay for the higher bills in winter,  If you only keep 1 months credit during the summer, then you are going to get a big rise in the Direct Debit when winter comes, you might as well be paying on receipt of the bill if it was not more expensive to do so.

However, I think OVO are using this as an excuse to remove the interest payments, which they could have continued with on lower balances for those who wanted that.

Changes due to government regulation and ‘do-gooders’ like martin lewis usually end up costing the majority of us more money to the possible benefit of a few.

That is very unfair on Martin Lewis, he was trying to stop the practice of some energy companies forcing customers to build up large levels of credit that much more than were needed to cover the average cost of the year (Which I wholeheartedly agree with him on!) . The problem is the way that goal was then translated into legislation which is now having this opposite effect with forcing energy companies to minimise the amount they hold in credit.  

I too got the email and wanted to change my payments to reduce the credit but it wont allow me to reduce the amount so my credit will not reduce any time soon.

The title of this thread is misleading. It sounds like it’s the Interest on credit that’s ending. That’s a shame but it has no bearing on whether customers choose to leave plenty of credit in their account. Lots of people have complained that OVO asked for too much credit to build up, that requirement is now apparently being relaxed.

It is ending 

 

Sorry Jeffus, I phrased that badly. I meant the title suggests that Credit is ending..!! Whereas all that’s ending is the interest on credit.

Actually I’m surprised it’s gone on for so long as Blastoise said some time ago that Ofgen only allowed it as a special case (or words to that effect - they will put me right I’m sure!!).

In addition, the “don’t talk to customer service” thing is no longer being enforced even for people who were still getting the reward after it was shut down. OVO basically said “you’re welcome to keep the reward until contract renewal BUT we won’t penalise you for contacting us anymore”.

However, iirc no-one’s getting it now.

This:

Actually I’m surprised it’s gone on for so long as Blastoise said some time ago that Ofgen only allowed it as a special case (or words to that effect - they will put me right I’m sure!!).

Is the correct answer. OVO had to get very, very special permission from Ofgem to be able to offer OVO Interest Reward in the first place, for which one of the strictest conditions was that it had to be open to recall at anytime at Ofgem’s discretion. The ability to offer it has never formed part of the Standard License Conditions, so if memory serves OVO got some kind of derogation to allow it. But we’re going back a loooooooooong time and I don’t really fancy digging that far back into the Ofgem Master Publications Library at this hour. But if you’re up for it, please feel free.

It must be stated that Ofgem actually asked OVO to make changes to OVO IR a couple of years ago, which was one of the reasons it stopped being offered to new customers and is not available to anyone who came over from SSE. I predicted at the time that OVO IR would inevitably come to an end for everyone at some point in the future. The only bit I got wrong was exactly when it would happen.

This is not a decision OVO just made overnight - Ofgem probably requested OVO to do it.

Also, any savings made by NOT giving out OVO IR can always be re-invested elsewhere in the business.