Why such a large increase to my recommended Direct Debit?

My monthly Bill's are also currently around £70.. My direct debit is £110. My account is OVER £500 in credit. And yet they still want to increase my DD. While I appreciate I will use more during the winter, the standing charge is not going to change and my actual usage is only about £45. I would have to DOUBLE my usage before I even hit my current DD. An increase is totally unacceptable!.

If you feel the DD is wrong, call the Collections Team on 0800 069 9831. They can force it down for you, but only if they agree.

Hi Tjw50

I understand that you can ask for a refund of over payments by ringing 03303035063. 

Question is

why are OVO asking an extra £15 pm from a disabled pensioner living alone and on no other benefits, when they are already £150 in credit?

Any answers would be greatly appreciated 🙏

Anyone else having this issue with OVO…?

Hi @Sallyr

You can ask OVO to freeze your direct debit for 3 months at a lower level. You would need to call the OVO Collections number rather than the normal number

0800 0699 831

Just be aware if you are on a variable rate, costs will likely go up on 1st April by around 20%.

I don't work for OVO, i am just a customer like you. 

Thank you. I’ve asked this question on behalf of someone else so waiting to see how it’s handled by the company..

Many thanks for taking the time to respond to me 🤗

I’d really like to hear from OVO itself as to why they are asking a disabled pensioner who lives alone and on no other benefit and is £150 in credit with their direct debit account, they are being asked to pay another £15 per month. 
If OVO would care to contact me to explain, I would be delighted to hear from them ….

If OVO would like to contact me to talk I would be delighted to hear from someone representing them…..🙏

Just do that you’re aware @Sallyr no one here has access to anyone’s account. It’s mostly other customers 

Hello,

This isn’t the place to request account specific support. You’d be best off contacting OVO directly via https://help.ovoenergy.com or 0330 303 5063

Thank you for response. The question is not concerning myself or my own account. The customer who has been with them (OVO) for many years and has never been in debt, is not in position to contact themselves other than by phone where they have been told that they MUST pay the extra £15.

I would like other customers of OVO to be able to see the response which I am hoping to receive from OVO.

Well, the EPG is going up soon and OVO is one of the suppliers known to raise DD early so that it’s not as steep.

If they want to lock the DD as-is, call 0800 069 9831 where the Collections Team can discuss other options to provide support as well with payments.

Hey @Sallyr,

Sorry for the issues you’re having,

As @BPLightlog advised we don’t have access to customer accounts here on the Forum. So I can only make assumptions based on the information provided. If the person in questions account is paid in arrears, it may be that due to the Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) payment coming to an end they’ll need to increase their direct debit because they won’t have the extra £67 a month as credit on their account. The Energy Bills Support Scheme, is where every household will receive a £400 discount to help with the cost of energy. They’ll have received £66 in October and November, and then £67 every month until March.  In additional to the EBSS payments ending in March the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) will also be increasing from March. 

The Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) refers to the Government initiative which started October 1st. This limits the energy bill for a typical household to £2500 until the 31st of March 2023. This will be increasing to £3000 in April 2023, and will remain in place until March 2024. 

The Price Cap also increased in January for some customers which is set by OFGEM means the maximum cost that a supplier can charge a customer on average, per year. 

There is extra support available for customers that might be helpful:

Customer support package and where to apply. 

Warm Home Discount

What to do if I can’t afford my energy bills? 

First of all, apologies for this long post - I’m being accurate and laying everything out

Okay, so I’ve noticed a lot of weirdness since December with how OVO calculates on a daily basis for suggested DD amounts.

It appears if a little bit of extra energy is used (say, when we’ve had a cold snap), it RAPIDLY jumps up MASSIVELY.

However, when you use less, even for a sustained period of a week or two, it’s very SLOW to reduce.

However, I had an e-mail a couple of weeks back, that OVO had decided that they needed to increase the DD to £217. Fair enough, no problems. But then, they actually increased it to £301.

When I checked, it said that this would leave us in credit by £987 and the recommended minimum was £219. This made more sense, but it wouldn’t let me drop it below £301.

I contacted OVO by Twitter as I’d just missed phone and chat support on Saturday. `OVO support on Twitter has been active, and replying to lots of other people, but seemingly ignored me.

The following day (yesterday), it said that it needed to be £303. Then today, £295.

So I did all the calculations. First I checked future predicted usage on the last bill. OVO estimated 8788KWh for gas, 3766KWh for electricity.

I then worked out figures based on the last year - actual figures for 11 months from April - February, then I took March whose figures I have up to yesterday on My OVO, I divided by 12 and multiplied by 31 days of March to pro-rata it. (And this actually comes out at higher than last March’s as well, just for complete context).

This gives me a 12 month usage of 8975.01 KWH for gas, and 3789.89 KWH for electric. Almost identical to OVO’s estimated future usage.

So, based on that, I did the following calculations (with everything rounded up, not down):

Gas:
975.01 x 9.74p/KWH = £874.17
+ 365 x 27.12p standing charge (£98.99) = £973.16
+ 5% VAT (£48.66) = £1021.82

Electricity:
3789.89 x 31,24p/KWH = £1183.97
+ 365 x 43.58p standing charge (£159.07) = £1343.04
+ 5% VAT (£67.16) = £1410.93

TOTAL
Gas £1021.82 + Electricity £1410.93 = £2432.75
+ £150.12 for debt through winter = £2582.87
Divided by 12 months = £215.24 per month

So this is based on OVO’s OWN numbers, but not their calculations.

So I contacted OVO by chat support. They shared their “calculations” but with lots of holes, and not showing all the numbers, and they reckon £295.

This would put my account in credit by £945.12 after twelve months.

I explained this, and I shared the working out above (actually also including monthly breakdowns for used energy).

The person I was speaking to just kept repeating that OVO works it out based on actual usage, and they couldn’t do anything.

This clearly isn’t true - as the calculations above show.

I also put in exact usage to other energy suppliers, who estimate around £202 per month. Add in the £150.12 debit (£12.51) and it’s in line with my calculations, not OVOs.

I was offered a 15% discount for 3 months. This isn’t really an acceptable offer - and completely misses the point. I’ve set it myself to £295 today, but it really needs to be set to a reasonable amount (say £215 - £220).

I asked for a complaint to be raised, initially I was given a link to use for the process. When I pushed, the complaint was raised for me.

I asked if I wanted to cancel my DD, what would the process be and what would that mean, how could I pay for the energy I used. I was told that I needed to cancel with my bank. I said I didn’t want to do that just yet, but I wanted to know the process.

I was told that I needed to cancel with the bank. My understanding is that if you inform. company to cancel a Direct Debit, they are required to do so immediately. When I pointed this out, I was told that OVO’s systems are broken and being worked on, that is why.

OVO’s systems issues aren’t customer’s problem - OVO actually have an obligation and requirement here.

A complaint was then raised - but not sure why when it’s clear something is very wrong.

I then decided I wanted to cancel my OVO Foundation donation, and OVO Beyond - especially as I’ve also received an e-mail telling me that OVO Beyond is being watered down, and is increasing in price.

I went onto my plan and saw both. I first cancelled my OVO Foundation donation. Confirmation popped up. I then went back in to cancel OVO Beyond, and couldn’t see it. It also didn’t show on upgrades - and I checked both the app and the website, same experience. I phoned, and after being told to use the app, someone checked and made sure it was removed from my account.

Unfortunately, I’m very frustrated and disappointed in OVO - you used to be a great company, but too much has gone wrong here - and there’s a complete failure to acknowledge / recognise your very wrong calculators and the insistence of having my DD set to put me £945 in credit in 12 months.

I’ ve posted here to share my experience, to see if others have had similar issues, and to see if anyone views it that can get this issue in front of someone that is allowed to use common sense.

I know that the people I’ve spoken to are just doing as they’re told - but it seems ridiculous that they appear not to be allowed to think for themselves in seeing what is clear and laid out for them, and are entirely restricted to basically saying “tough luck” and then only raising issues through the complaints process - and even then only when it’s insisted on.

Hi @iwb 

You may already have tried this 

At any time if you are are on the variable rate tariff you can call collections and ask for up to 100% of any credit to be returned. Obviously this will impact DD payments but it might help you. 

0800 0699 831

Collections usually have more leeway in freezing DD at at a lower level as well. 

Hey @Jeffus - thanks. Technically a little in debit at the moment (£150.12) - but not by much and this will very rapidly change as the weather picks up - but even so that’s not enough to justify what’s being asked for. £215 would put me in credit, £295 is going to be £945 in credit - even taking into account the small current debit, standing charges and VAT.

See what this page shows. 

https://account.ovoenergy.com/renewal?utm_source=menu

Here is mine for example

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?

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.

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.

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.