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

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
January 22, 2024
72 replies
1594 views

During the early periods of high energy prices I was continually bombarded with emails to increase my DD as I “would not have enough money in my account to cover a 12 month plan’ and needed to ensure my account had a positive balance to cover any high bills” . Considering that I wasn’t on any fixed plan, I really couldn’t understand OVO’s thinking. Thankfully that particular period is over and everything has been good to this point.

I have, for many years received an interest payment monthly on my bill for keeping a positive balance on my account. This wasn’t a great amount - but it was now nice to have. Today, I have received an email informing me of the following:

“You’ll no longer get Interest Rewards from February 2024
This won’t affect your energy plan and our terms are staying the same.

Direct Debit payments need to be as accurate as possible

The aim is to make sure customers are paying the right amount for their energy. We don’t want you to have more in your energy account than you need to.”

You can’t win - can you?

Best answer by Emmanuelle_OVO

Updated on 08/09/25 by Ben_OVO

Removal of the Interest Reward

In the past, some of our plans have been eligible for the OVO Interest Reward. Customers on these plans, who kept their energy account balance in credit, were paid interest. This interest was paid on the positive account balances that were higher than their Direct Debit amount. OVO took the business decision to remove the Interest Reward as part of treating all customers fairly.

How does OVO work out my monthly Direct Debit?

The aim is to make sure you have credit for 1 month’s payment in your OVO account by the end of March. This is to help cover any change in your home energy use over the course of the year.

For new customers, this only comes into effect once you’ve reached March. When you first join, the aim is to make sure you have no balance left to pay after 1 year.

Your Direct Debit payment amount will be regularly reviewed to make sure it still covers your home’s energy use.

Show previous replies

Jeffus

Rank 20

@Jeffus it shouldn’t have to interest me and it doesn’t. It should however interest OVO Energy as they are the ones who will stay in business only if they have enough customers. If we all leave, or enough of us do, then they’ll go bust. It’s down to a business to operate and conduct its business in a manner that keeps it viable. Customers shouldn’t be encouraged to approach Ofgem on an individual basis its up to the energy suppliers to appoach them once of behalf of however many million customers it has. I can find another energy supplier - they cant go and choose another customer.

Hi @SJM

Out of curiosity who are you switching to?

Jeffus

Rank 20

Check your balance - log into account

Request a refund - log into account

Use the Direct Debit calculator - log into account

Modify the Direct debit amount - log into account

See if the new fixed rates might be beneficial - log into account

need I say more.

HI @Hadders52 are you going to switch supplier once you get access to your account?

S

SJM

Newcomer

@Jeffus it shouldn’t have to interest me and it doesn’t. It should however interest OVO Energy as they are the ones who will stay in business only if they have enough customers. If we all leave, or enough of us do, then they’ll go bust. It’s down to a business to operate and conduct its business in a manner that keeps it viable. Customers shouldn’t be encouraged to approach Ofgem on an individual basis its up to the energy suppliers to appoach them once of behalf of however many million customers it has. I can find another energy supplier - they cant go and choose another customer.

Hi @SJM

Out of curiosity who are you switching to?

As mentioned already : - “Februarys task is to move supplier as there’s no incentive now to keep me with OVO” - it is still very much January.

Also, I have already had the maiximum back they / the rules / OfGem / OVO are allowed / prepared to give (how does that work if you stil have a massive balace left and they mare aiming for ZERO??) so i might have to wait a further 2 to 3 months to get rid of the positive balance I’ll still have left.

Jeffus

Rank 20

@Jeffus it shouldn’t have to interest me and it doesn’t. It should however interest OVO Energy as they are the ones who will stay in business only if they have enough customers. If we all leave, or enough of us do, then they’ll go bust. It’s down to a business to operate and conduct its business in a manner that keeps it viable. Customers shouldn’t be encouraged to approach Ofgem on an individual basis its up to the energy suppliers to appoach them once of behalf of however many million customers it has. I can find another energy supplier - they cant go and choose another customer.

Hi @SJM

Out of curiosity who are you switching to?

As mentioned already : - “Februarys task is to move supplier as there’s no incentive now to keep me with OVO” - it is still very much January.

Also, I have already had the maiximum back they / the rules / OfGem / OVO are allowed / prepared to give (how does that work if you stil have a massive balace left and they mare aiming for ZERO??) so i might have to wait a further 2 to 3 months to get rid of the positive balance I’ll still have left.

If you are on a variable rate, you can request all your credit back by phoning collections. Although you can't do that after the switch has started.

The number is 0800 069 9831. They’re open Monday to Friday 9am-5pm.

Best to leave some as there is a risk your transfer will be blocked if there isn't enough credit to cover the final bill.

Your final bill has to be issued within 6 weeks of the switch and any credit returned within another 10 working days.

S

SJM

Newcomer

@Jeffus it shouldn’t have to interest me and it doesn’t. It should however interest OVO Energy as they are the ones who will stay in business only if they have enough customers. If we all leave, or enough of us do, then they’ll go bust. It’s down to a business to operate and conduct its business in a manner that keeps it viable. Customers shouldn’t be encouraged to approach Ofgem on an individual basis its up to the energy suppliers to appoach them once of behalf of however many million customers it has. I can find another energy supplier - they cant go and choose another customer.

Hi @SJM

Out of curiosity who are you switching to?

As mentioned already : - “Februarys task is to move supplier as there’s no incentive now to keep me with OVO” - it is still very much January.

Also, I have already had the maiximum back they / the rules / OfGem / OVO are allowed / prepared to give (how does that work if you stil have a massive balace left and they mare aiming for ZERO??) so i might have to wait a further 2 to 3 months to get rid of the positive balance I’ll still have left.

If you are on a variable rate, you can request all your credit back by phoning collections. Although you can't do that after the switch has started.

The number is 0800 069 9831. They’re open Monday to Friday 9am-5pm.

Best to leave some as there is a risk your transfer will be blocked if there isn't enough credit to cover the final bill.

Your final bill has to be issued within 6 weeks of the switch and any credit returned within another 10 working days.

I’ve had the maximum back already and I’m not permitted to request more despite its my money and my amount in credit. So if I stayed with OVO they have failed to get my account to zero and failed to answer how the idea was suposed to work to get to zero if my account was already in more credit than they were allowed to refund back to me.

Jeffus

Rank 20

@Jeffus it shouldn’t have to interest me and it doesn’t. It should however interest OVO Energy as they are the ones who will stay in business only if they have enough customers. If we all leave, or enough of us do, then they’ll go bust. It’s down to a business to operate and conduct its business in a manner that keeps it viable. Customers shouldn’t be encouraged to approach Ofgem on an individual basis its up to the energy suppliers to appoach them once of behalf of however many million customers it has. I can find another energy supplier - they cant go and choose another customer.

Hi @SJM

Out of curiosity who are you switching to?

As mentioned already : - “Februarys task is to move supplier as there’s no incentive now to keep me with OVO” - it is still very much January.

Also, I have already had the maiximum back they / the rules / OfGem / OVO are allowed / prepared to give (how does that work if you stil have a massive balace left and they mare aiming for ZERO??) so i might have to wait a further 2 to 3 months to get rid of the positive balance I’ll still have left.

If you are on a variable rate, you can request all your credit back by phoning collections. Although you can't do that after the switch has started.

The number is 0800 069 9831. They’re open Monday to Friday 9am-5pm.

Best to leave some as there is a risk your transfer will be blocked if there isn't enough credit to cover the final bill.

Your final bill has to be issued within 6 weeks of the switch and any credit returned within another 10 working days.

I’ve had the maximum back already and I’m not permitted to request more despite its my money and my amount in credit. So if I stayed with OVO they have failed to get my account to zero and failed to answer how the idea was suposed to work to get to zero if my account was already in more credit than they were allowed to refund back to me.

Did you phone up and ask collections? There is a limit on the website when trying to claim but you can phone up

This is what ofgem say, you can request a refund which is in line with what ovo say on their website

If Collections refuse, come back to the forum and I will tag one of the ovo moderators to see if they can offer some advice on next steps

S

SJM

Newcomer

@Jeffus yes I phoned, I didn’t apply online. They told me on the phone that the amount I was asking for was the maximum which makes a mockery of the whole thing. The maximum should be whatever I’m in credit by otherwise they can’t get accounts to zero if there’s stil a balance left in the account. I have now altered our DD to £5 a month and this should see the balance used up after 2 to 3 months.

Jeffus

Rank 20

@Jeffus yes I phoned, I didn’t apply online. They told me on the phone that the amount I was asking for was the maximum which makes a mockery of the whole thing. The maximum should be whatever I’m in credit by otherwise they can’t get accounts to zero if there’s stil a balance left in the account. I have now altered our DD to £5 a month and this should see the balance used up after 2 to 3 months.

OK I have asked the OVO moderators

S

supercitybity

Rank 5

I’ve just pulled out £500 and halved my monthly DD down to £50 to use up the remaining £200. At times I did have closer to £1k in there.

It’s a shame its ended, but I can see why.

It was one thing that kept me with OVO, now its just another perk of the past (such as the referral bonus) and if the power-move £15 disappears I’ll be more keen to jump to another supplier.

I predict it’ll be → jump to a cheaper/ promotion supplier → get reward → supplier goes bust → government bails out → get moved somewhere else → EVERYONES’ standing charge goes up to pay for my initial reward… 🙄

juliamc

Rank 20

There’s £50 referral reward with octopus of course… mines. https://share.octopus.energy/oak-guppy-770. 😬

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

Removal of the Interest Reward

How does OVO work out my monthly Direct Debit?

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