I’m sure they will after the weekend, although I’ve a feeling they’ll struggle to explain the logic. 

I understand the change wasn’t supposed to happen until Monday, so it looks like somebody jumped the gun. 

It went live first thing this morning, Friday.

@Emmanuelle_OVO

See the discussion in ‘Updates and news from OVO to PZHs’ topic in the PZH forum .

I wasn’t in last week, my apologies. I’m chasing an official update for this internally. Once we have confirmation we can update all relevant topics. 

No worries, all of us at the forum were caught on the hop by this one on Friday.

I guess that you will be busy updating those tutorials today.

@Emmanuelle_OVO That's really taking the proverbial .... and a very definite final straw and "Hasta nunca" from me to OVO to draw the curtains on two years of enduring unconscionable incompetence on the part of OVO ‍♂️

The supposed explanation is also self-evident BS, because it doesn't take a great intellect to see that it is a scheme to designed to force direct debit customers to build up excessive and wholly unnecessary credit balances (to cover a summer and TWO whole winters in advance) for OVO to take advantage of.

Speaking as a billing professional, it is an insult to our intelligence, it is disingenuous and it is shameful - as things stand it is also a very clear breach of OVO's own terms - and the manner in which OVO has tried to introduce it, on the sly, is wholly unethical.

This is being referred to Ofgem.

I’m on a fixed-rate tariff until next May, and I currently have a credit balance amounting to 6.3 times my projected monthly cost. This new arrangement will mean that my balance would remain on average at 4.7 times my projected monthly cost for the whole of the next year. The DD calculator reports that ‘We think you’re paying the right amount for the energy you’re using.’

When my fixed-rate plan ends, the balance will be 5.5 Direct Debits. If I chose not to fix again, my costs might increase by 2.4% according to a current forecast - from £35 to £36.

Will @Emmanuelle_OVO please try and find the justification for this? 
  

The current Core Terms and Conditions give only two scenarios in which the Direct Debit might change: 

• We can ask you to increase your Direct Debit amount anytime if prices change (in line with this contract) or you’re using more energy than we estimated. If you don’t do this by the date we give you, we can automatically increase your Direct Debit to an amount that means your account won't end up in debt by the date of your contract anniversary. 
• We may reduce your Direct Debit if prices decrease (in line with this contract) or if you’re using less energy than we’ve estimated. We’ll only agree to reduce your Direct Debit payments if …  we’re satisfied that your account won't end up in debt by the date of your contract anniversary.

Neither of these covers an increase caused by an arbitrary change in the way the DD is calculated. 

It’s also worth noting that these T&Cs can change at any time without notice, but version published on the website will always be the latest. Perhaps we should be checking it daily ... 

 …. we can automatically increase your Direct Debit to an amount that means your account won't end up in debt …

That is the one that has always bugged me.

To start with it isn’t “can” it’s “will”.

On top of that it “will” be automatically increased by the computer itself even when the DD calculation is incorrect, as we know that it can be for various reasons, particularly if OVO’s  Future Assessed Consumption is wrong.

BTW note that wording - Future Assessed Consumption - in some cases, and not unusual cases either, it’s an estimate (a guess) that is being used.
In various circumstances it is ‘Industry Srandard Figures’ that are being used rather than using your last 12 months usage figures as Ofgem says that suppliers should do.

In this case though it’s because OVO has arbitrarily changed the date on which they want all accounts to have a zero balance each year, (purely to suit their own yearly accounting?), and then set the first one to be more than 12 months away.

Once your DD has been incorrectly/automatically increased by the computer itself the human Support Agents are limited in what they can do to correct it.
Other than putting you on a ‘Reduced Payment’ for 3 months (or even on a ‘Payment Plan’ if it’s been increased by the computer to more than 10% too high), there is not much that they can do. The computers programming won’t let them.
A clasic “Computer says No” situation.

Interestingly my account currently shows a recommended direct debit amount is not available. My situation:

• Credit Balance £580 (long story as why it is so high)
• Current Direct Debit : £77
• My estimated DD to reach zero March 2025: £63
• My estimated DD to reach zero August 2025 (end of my fixed contract): £72
• OVO suggested amount £94 to bring credit to zero by March 2026.

With a fixed contract (with penalties for leaving) it looks like I have no choice. Pay up because the software says so, BUT it can stop me leaving at the end of the contract.

I think @Firedog mentioned somewhere that the DD calculator does not take into account credits such as the warm home discount. My mother (different supplier) was overpaying so in Mar 2023 they reduced her (electricity) DD from £35 to £10. In September they decided this was too much so increased the DD to £38, just before the WHD was added, which would have covered most of the winter months. Interestingly the October bill made no mention of the WHD but the January bill shows a credit for August!

This whole thread so far is being too polite. Financial years end on the 31st March each year. Ovo have chosen 2026 to shift cash flow flow/losses further down the road. If they use it to increase everyones DD amounts artificially, well, I shall continue the politeness in the hope this gets responses before it is deleted. Ofgem everyone. It is fraud. If a customer is on a fix until summer 2025 their projections should be based on that just as they were until this change, not the following spring!

I’m off to read even more about the soon to be bankrupt Vertical Aerospace.

Mine too, and I suspect that they all will be showing that.
I’m guessing that ‘Recommended’ has been switched off while they work out what to do next, at least doing that should stop the computer from automatically banging peoples DD’s up to the new ‘Recommended’.

Out of interest is your current FAC (you can find it on your online account Plan page) anywhere near your actual last 12 months usage?

My recommended DD’s are now usually around £10 a month too high, because my FAC for gas is currently about 20% higher than my actual gas usage from the past 12 months.
My electricity FAC is spot on to within 2 Kwh.

Hi @Nukecad 

Like you my FAC for electricity is pretty close (2441 to 2450 kWh), OVO’s gas estimate is 9647 kWh, whereas I estimate last 12 months to be 9170 kWh. Not bad but still 5% high.

In the 12 months to Dec 2023 it was 9610 kWh, but this has fallen throughout the year, most of which was below 9000 kWh reaching a minimum of 8899 kWh (Apr 2024). 

Oh Oh! DD estimation is back and “working”!

This is what happens when you try to fix broken software on the cheap .... or rather, bodge the input to save you from actually making any effort to fix the broken software that gets increasingly erratic the closer you get to the 31st March.

Out of interest, why has this been marked as "solved" when @Emmanuelle_OVO hasn't even addressed what was asked?

It would be good if we could concentrate here on the “Unexplained change to direct debits” and set aside any reservations we may have about how the projected usage is derived. 

The DD calculator was adjusted last year to reach low water at 31 March the following year. This is a sensible move, since that date marks the end of the winter semester after which most customers would see a credit balance building up. It wasn’t a pleasant move for those in debt, because the number of months left to pay back the deficit was lower, meaning that DDs would have to increase. They would then need revising once March was passed. Adding another 12 months to the repayment period naturally makes it easier for these customers.

This isn’t the case for customers currently in credit. In my own case, it means that when my one-year fixed-rate contract expires next May, my account is guaranteed to be in credit to the tune of 5.4 Direct Debit amounts. This is inexcusable. 

I don’t subscribe to the theories that this is an evil manoeuvre on OVO’s part to improve their cash flow. I think it’s more likely to be intended to alleviate the pain of customers in debt at the start of winter, when account balances should be at their highest. If OVO’s customer debt/credit situation is anything like their competitors’, they are owed much more than they hold in customer credit. Using that credit to help debtors may be socially admirable, but it’s not fair on customers in credit.

FYI:

Fair enough, I can see what you are saying there about building up credit over summer to cover your winter usage.

However - as that transition is being done it will cause issues for some.

All migrations/transitions to new systems are going to cause issues for some.

I guess how you see that is whether you currently have a credit balance or a debit balance. (This year, it was the opposite way round last year).

Plus there does not seem to have been much thought given to how this current change actually affects new Fixed Term contracts ongoing - or at least no thought given to explaining it so that customers can understand.

Eg. Are all new 1-year Fixed Term contracts only going to start on 31st March?

Or are they all going to be more than 1-year so that they all end on 31st March?

It would (it already does as this thread shows) seem perverse to have a calculation end date that is not the same as the end of the fixed term.

Just been reading the concerns of other members regarding changes to direct debits outside of agreed plan. My plan goes through to October 2025 , OVO now want to get it in balance  by end of financial year ? whos financial year ?  Have written to OVO regarding this and part of their reply is copied and pasted here.  “”There is a bug in the system that has made it so that customers have been receiving communications regarding direct debit reviews with the end date of 2026. This is actually supposed to say 2025, we apologise for the confusion. The other information is correct; although your plan runs until October, we use March as this is the end of the tax year.””. How is this change correct when I like many others are on a twelve monthly plan>

Interesting. Where did you first see this reference to the financial year, or the tax year for that matter? 

Did you get an email about a DD review? Could you reproduce it here for those of us still reeling from this latest bombshell? (If you do, please obscure any personal information you’re not happy to share.)  

Hi there Firedog.  On checking my account  04/11/24 noticed that OVO were asking for changes to my direct debit when last week they were saying direct payment was in order. They now want an extra £22:00 per month to cover a supposed shortfall of £329:00 . My current plan was taken out on 11th October 2024. No email was sent  to me regarding a review or reasoning behind possible changes. The information in my posting came today in a reply from customer services after my raising a complaint. It does not help when dates we are working with are plucked from the air or blamed on a computer glitch.

Hi ####,

My name is ###, I'm an advisor here at OVO. I tried to call you but was unable to get through.

There is a bug in the system that has made it so that customers have been receiving communications regarding direct debit reviews with the end date of 2026. This is actually supposed to say 2025, we apologise for the confusion. The other information is correct; although your plan runs until October, we use March as this is the end of the tax year.

Currently your direct debit is £187 however the recommended direct debit for you is £209. Your account is currently £53.36 in debit, so the direct debit reviews look at your projected usage and aim to change the direct debit to a suitable amount that will lave you in credit by the end of the tax year.

I hope this clears up any confusion.

I just want to make you aware you may receive a survey after this asking you to rate my service today. This survey is specifically about me, not OVO as a whole. I do hope you're satisfied by me today and look forward to your feedback. You may also receive a trust pilot email. 

All the best,

Great, thank you. Just one thing: when is this (and the communication that prompted it) dated? We first became aware of the change this thread is discussing on 1 November, so it’s possible that the original message included some terms that weren’t supposed to take effect until later.

My personal view is that ### was talking out of turn when he mentioned the tax year. We learnt last year that the new reference date of 31 March (rather than one year hence for variable contracts or end of contract for fixed ones) was chosen as the end of the winter semester - a reasonable point for account balances to be at zero. The fact that this coincides with the end of the tax year is (perhaps not entirely) coincidental. OVO’s financial year is the calendar year.

Semantics I know but 31st March is not the end of the tax year .. that is 5th April

You out-pedanted me! 

I’ve been nosing around trying to find out whether Ofgem have anything to say about how DDs are calculated. This is the first passage I found:
  

In an Ofgem ‘Decision’, expect can only mean require.  I hope @MCH59 comes back to tell us how his Ofgem contact reacted to his approach.

There is a bug in the system that has made it so that customers have been receiving communications regarding direct debit reviews with the end date of 2026. This is actually supposed to say 2025, we apologise for the confusion.

That reply from ‘agent ###’ is simply incorrect to suggest that it’s only the comminication that is in error.
(I suspect that agent ### has even less idea than we do of what is going on and so has become confused and given you the position as it was with the similar DD change that happened to variable tariffs last year).

It is not a simple typo/miscommunication of the year.

Direct Debits ARE indeed currently being calculated to reach zero balance at the end of March 2026.

They are NOT being calculated to reach zero at the end of March 2025

Anyone who knows how to view their DD calculator API can verify that fact for themselves.

Here is a snip from mine taken just minutes ago:
 

My explanation of what I now think is actually going on is in the next post: