I find it hilarious that OVO advises me to increase my direct debit from £85 to £160+. A month on a two up two down townhouse when I switched because they were cheaper than my previous supplier. 
. Don’t they realise I will simply switch back 
. Lol
Best answer by Transparent
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+2
Just agreed to pay £193 but will look around for another supplier the attitude on the phone was shocking can't be dealing with that.
There is not a great deal of choice at the moment price wise for standard tariff.
OVO is the only supplier currently with a standard fixed rate tariff.
Octopus have a variety of time of use tariffs if you can make use of them.
If you use the Smart Export Guarantee SEG rather than just the Feed In Tariff for your solar then Octopus energy is worth looking at as they pay the highest rate currently.
I have no battery with my panels so can't store any energy but I might look into getting some depending on cost.
How do i stop Ovo changing my direct debit to cover the outrageous bill they said I owe. I was assured the other day that this would not happen whilst there is a dispute going on. I think that the onbudsman should be looking into this issue urgently as this seems to be happening to hundreds of people. Think of all the interest they are earning!
I've been waiting since December past for them to sort out my bill they charged me £1000 for one days electric and I'm dammed if I'm paying it😡 and I've recently found out everytime I call I'm calling south Africa why is this
+2
I've been waiting since December past for them to sort out my bill they charged me £1000 for one days electric and I'm dammed if I'm paying it😡 and I've recently found out everytime I call I'm calling south Africa why is this
If you have been waiting that long, i would put in a complaint
https://www.ovoenergy.com/feedback
Then after 8 weeks you can ask the Energy Ombudsman for help if it still isn't sorted
https://www.ombudsman-services.org/sectors/energy
Given it has already been going on for some time, you could ask OVO for a deadlock letter when you submit your complaint. If they provide that you can go straight to the Ombudsman.
+2
Yep😁
Yes my direct debit has gone up too, whilst I don't want the same to happen with OVO as is happening with my previous supplier, ( I am disputing a ridiculously high final bill which I am now referring to Ombudsman). I am also in the throes of waiting for my Smart Meter to be changed over....as OVO say it's faulty! Well if that's the case how can they put my direct debit payments up, surely the sensible thing to do would be to wait until my Smart Meter is changed therefore basing my payments on correct readings not estimates.
+2
Yes my direct debit has gone up too, whilst I don't want the same to happen with OVO as is happening with my previous supplier, ( I am disputing a ridiculously high final bill which I am now referring to Ombudsman). I am also in the throes of waiting for my Smart Meter to be changed over....as OVO say it's faulty! Well if that's the case how can they put my direct debit payments up, surely the sensible thing to do would be to wait until my Smart Meter is changed therefore basing my payments on correct readings not estimates.
If you call collections rather than the normal support number and chat to them about the situation they may be able to freeze your direct debit and bills until it is sorted
0800 0699 831
Hey
I've been waiting since December past for them to sort out my bill they charged me £1000 for one days electric and I'm dammed if I'm paying it😡 and I've recently found out everytime I call I'm calling south Africa why is this
Have you contacted the Support Team to raise a read dispute?
Once this is raised a billing suspension will be added to your account and you can request for your direct debit to stop being reviewed until the issue is resolved and your account is re-billed.
Hope this helps.
Hi
I am a new customer. On switching to OVO, I struggled to convince customer services that my energy consumption is comparatively low. Ovo seemed to be picking up on my old supplier’s numbers which were wrong. Old supplier had my readings in time but were estimating my bills and would not correct them which is why I left them.
Ovo and I settled on a starting direct debit. I am now past the eight week new customer period. My readings are up to date. My consumption is lower than the direct debit amount and I want to reduce it. I just want to pay for what I have used each month. I do not want to build up a credit towards winter. I am a pensioner and receive winter fuel allowance which covers my extra gas use in winter use.
I have tried to amend my direct debit online but OVO system is not letting me. Why? The numbers for my latest bill based on up to date readings are up but says bill pending. Will I be able to change my direct debit once the bill is posted online?
+1
Hi,
I’m a forum volunteer. Please be advised that I do not work for OVO.
If you’re aiming to pay for only what you use each month, Pay On-Demand might work. However, please be advised that it costs more (the Unit Rates and Standing Charges are higher) than Direct Debit and Prepayment, and isn’t available on a Fixed-Rate Tariff.
If you’d like to keep it on Direct Debit, the first review takes place between three and six months after signing up (and always every three months after that). If your usage is less than predicted, you’ll be able to reduce the DD after the first review. For safety reasons, you can’t adjust it to be lower than the minimum recommended payment and it has to be above £5 a month.
OVO doesn’t offer Variable Direct Debits. Paying by Direct Debit causes it to be a Fixed Direct Debit where the cost is spread out across the year to balance things out.
The pending bill is because the system is finalising it. You’ll be contacted when that’s done.
Thank you for your swift reply. I am happy with direct debits but hadn’t realised when I switched to Ovo that they did not offer variable direct debits.
I’ve looked closer the small print and it does say Your payments will stay at this amount for 3 months. I’d read the bit where it says Once you’ve been with us for 8 weeks, we can start showing you payment recommendations. By that point, we should have a nice, clear picture of your monthly energy use. Thing is, I already know what my energy use is but seems I have to prove it to Ovo. I’m not happy with this but I understand they do pay interest on credit balances. That’s something but I could get a better rate elsewhere.
On balance, I don’t think Ovo was a great choice for me and how I manage my money but I’ll switch the direct debit downwards after three months and then see how it goes.
Thanks again.
+1
I’m afraid OVO Interest Reward is no longer offered. Where did you see a reference to that? I can probably flag it to OVO depending on where it is.
But yes, after the first bill is generated and sent to you, the system will start to run the numbers and may allow you to reduce your payments.
Oh dear. After I made the switch, I was listening to a radio consumer programme. The piece was about a very elderly person who had built up a huge credit balance of tousands of pounds. Ovo hadn’t flagged this and were still taking a very large amount from her by direct debit every month. Seems nobody had read her meter in years and she was unable to do it herself. It had all been sorted out eventually. They said the customer has been paid interest on the credit balance but now I see that was withdrawn for new customers in September 2021:
https://www.ovoenergy.com/ovo-interest-reward
I made the switch to Ovo in a hurry as I was desperate to get away from my old supplier and should have read the small print.
I guess I shall have to live with Ovo charging me too much until I can amend the direct debit in a month’s time.
Can you tell me how long I have to stay with Ovo before I can leave?
Thanks.
+1
I’d stick around - that was a very rare edge case. If you never provide actual readings, that’s going to happen regardless of supplier.
OVO is on average better than most other suppliers. But if you really want to leave, you need to wait about six weeks after signing up for the existing switch to finish.
Thanks again.
Indeed, but companies should have inbuilt safeguards that flag up huge domestic credit baances and investigate what is going on. If memory serves this very elderly woman had a credit balance of around £4000 and Ovo were still taking £300 a month.
I’ll give them a call in the week to see if we can come to some arrangement about my direct debit. While I can understand how Ovo might want to help people budget for winter, I don’t need to and don’t want to effectively be paying in advance.. I am a very low user, monitor it carefully and will receive the winter fuel payment. I’d rather have the money in my savings account than Ovo’s who will be earning interest on my money.
+2
You could cancel your direct debit arrangement and move to paying the bill in full each month, albeit at a higher rate. Then switch to a supplier that does variable direct debits. Not sure which companies do that, it may even have been the company you were with !!! Personally I think the process of switching is a bit of a pain, sometimes it’s better the devil you know.
+1
From what I’ve been seeing though, Variable Direct Debits seem to be going the way of the Dodo. Not many suppliers are still offering them and there’s no guarantee they’ll stick around for the long run.
+5
Looks like there are a few who offer variable dd, although I have to say that as I don’t have more income in winter, I prefer the equal monthly arrangement
Thank you all. Yes, I had a variable direct debit at my old supplier. I don’t understand why they aren’t available with Ovo. It makes sense to me that customers only pay for what energy they use month by month or at least have the choice to. Or go back to paying customers interest on credit balances.
+1
OVO used to do VDD, but removed them several years ago. You can still pay for only what you use each month via Pay On-Demand, but you lose the automatic payments and the rates are higher to reflect the extra costs and risks incurred by the supplier (this is the same with all suppliers). On average, it’s about £100-£200 a year more expensive to pay that way.
Ultimately, even on Direct Debit you only pay for what you actually use anyway - the rest just stays in the account as credit towards the next bill.
OVO Interest Reward was useful and still exists for anyone who already gets it (however, if you leave OVO and/or move house then you lose the reward and can never get it back). However, it was thing that OVO got special permission from Ofgem to do a long time ago, and that permission came with a recall clause - Ofgem had the power to revoke that permission at anytime. This is what happened in 2021, Ofgem asked OVO to bring the scheme to a close.
It’s unlikely Ofgem will ever allow any supplier to do credit interest ever again.
+2
Thank you all. Yes, I had a variable direct debit at my old supplier. I don’t understand why they aren’t available with Ovo. It makes sense to me that customers only pay for what energy they use month by month or at least have the choice to. Or go back to paying customers interest on credit balances.
Honestly, if you really prefer paying by variable direct debit then I would consider switching.
A few ex SSE customers who were migrated to ovo have posted about doing that.
I fear you may end up getting very frustrated if you stay.
Who were you with before? Double check they still allow variable direct debits for new customers.....
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