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

Hey @SJM 

I know there are many who have seen the benefit of the Interest Rewards for some time now.

I just want to step in to clear up some information on the thread.

You are correct here in that you’d get interest on the first £1000 of credit you have on your account, if there’s more credit than £1000, then no more interest would be gained past the first £1000. 

I hope that clears that up a little, I’ve also linked to the really helpful webpage on the removal of the Interest Reward that may help in explaining why it’s now being removed.

I think it is worth pointing out that although any credit isn't FSCS protected, it is protected via the legislation and process around failing energy suppliers.

So you won't loose your money should a supplier go bust.

So I wouldn’t personally worry about the risk of loosing  credit in the event of a failed energy supplier.

From Ofgem:

What is the ‘Supplier of Last Resort’ (SoLR) process?

This is when Ofgem directs any gas or electricity firm to take on a failed supplier’s customers. When we choose a supplier, we must be satisfied that they can supply additional customers without significantly prejudicing their ability to continue to supply their existing customers.

We choose the new supplier following a competitive process designed to get the best deal for you. Household credit balances are protected.

Also I never “stuffed overly excessive amounts into my account” the £1000 was there for the 5% return to help towards lowering the bills and the rest was there in case we had a harsh winter.

@Jeffus thanks, I did check first before putting the £1000in that I would get it back if OVO went bust. In fairness to OVO they took time out to check for me before coming back and confirming.

@Abby_OVO thanks but that link wasn’t helpful at all. Given that I’m still in control of my own DDs what is to stop me putting plenty of money aside still by being in plenty of credit? Would something kick in and automatically return money to me, as that link failed to say?

The link said this rather than an automated process

"Managing your account balance

If your account is in credit by more than one Direct Debit monthly amount, you can now request a refund or review your Direct Debit via your online account."

So I did this and the money is in my bank account now.

It must be nice to have access to your account so you can easily do things like this.

Some of us can’t.

@Hadders52 why doesn’t OVO let you have access to your account? Have you asked them?

There are quite few of us who have not had access to our on-line accounts for nearly a year now.

If we need to interact with Ovo we have to join the queue waiting for a chat, then go through the whole palaver of verifying ourselves etc. etc. so every interaction takes around 30 minutes.

This is the only way we can find out what our balance is or change Direct Debits, or ask for refunds etc.

The worst part is that Ovo have not sent us even one email to keep us informed about what is happening.

I see from this forum that others have had an email saying that the 5% reward is being stopped, but I haven’t even had this.

@Jeffus that’s not what I meant. This system has been introduced to stop people having too much in credit. How does it stop it? If I put £1000 into my account does it send it back to me saying I’ve got too much credit? No, it doesnt. So this system hasn’t stopped people having too much credit its at best just disincentivised them from doing so but certainly doesn’t stop people which was supposed to be the aim. Why can’t adults be allowed to look after their own money and get 5% back??? A year ago I had to argue for ages to not put my DD up on the phone as I had about £1500 in credit but OVO wanted me to increase my DD despite this. As an adult I felt I should control my own finances and not OVO, I finally won but it was hard work. The point there is don’t trust OVO to look after your finances when you know you know better but here with the removal of the interest we are forced to. I am out of contract now thankfully so I can get away from this situation. Februarys task is to move supplieras there’s no incentive now to keep me with OVO.