Hi @Blastoise186 

Thanks for your reply. I don’t understand why you would keep £240 in credit to line Ovo’s pockets instead of your own.

I’m not willing to pay way more than I need to and certainly not for electricity I haven’t used. Obviously I know the cost of electricity has increased but with a smart meter, it’s easy to keep an eye on what I’m using and increase my payments as and when it becomes necessary.

I don’t use much more during the winter; I don’t use my storage heaters because they’re rubbish so I don’t need to build up an amount of credit to cover me through the winter months.

What is a ‘reasonable amount’ of credit (at the end of the contract)? 

OVO aims to get you to be just above zero at the end of the contract if you’re on fixed rate. On variable rate, that doesn’t apply but you’re usually just paying on-demand anyway so it doesn’t apply.

I have my reasons for being in permanent credit. Firstly, it forces OVO’s system to keep my minimum Direct Debit well below what I want to pay and gives me even more flexibility. It’s also because I still get the OVO Interest Reward under a grandfather rule, but it’s no longer available these days. In short, rather than OVO getting interest from my credit balance, I get it instead at a pretty healthy rate. Beats just about any savings account on the market, that’s for sure!

Most of my credit is also the Warm Home Discount for which I didn’t actually pay it in myself - OVO did as part of the WHD Scheme. As such, I made a personal decision to leave that credit in my OVO account for the time being, since it is intended ideally for paying energy bills with.

Once OVO has learned your actual usage patterns, you can be sure that the forecast will drop and allow your payments to go down. If they see you’ve got your storage heaters completely shut down permanently, that’ll also contribute to the number crunching and is factored into the payments.

It’s also a way of me testing if the billing platform really is working properly. Given my unique circumstances, if it tried to increase my payments before October 2023 despite my usage not changing, I’d know something’s up. Alas, that hasn’t happened and currently, it’s correctly predicting a drop.

I’ve looked at the calculator. It is ‘calculating’ that I’m going to use £80 worth of electricity in July and in August, £90 is September and £120 in December and in January. I just don’t agree with that but like I said before, as soon as I see that my DD isn’t covering what I’m using, I’ll increase it.

I think my main point is that I only want to pay for the electricity I’m actually using and right now, my £60 is more than enough.

I’m afraid that’s not how a fixed rate tariff works though - only variable rate tariffs allow you to do that.

With a variable rate tariff (aka Standard Variable) like OVO’s Simpler Energy tariff, you pay the bill on-demand for the exact amount you owe during that billing period.

For a fixed rate tariff however, such as OVO’s Better Energy tariff, you pay equal instalments throughout the contract into the account so that the total cost is spread through the entire term. You still only pay the exact amount you owe each month on each bill, but it comes out of the account credit you hold with OVO as a result of your monthly payments.

If you want to pay on-demand, your only option is to move to a variable rate tariff.

Well folks you increased my DD again from £147 - £168 for no reason I can see at all, actual bills are always less than £100 a month and now I am

almost £300 in credit with projected positive balance of over £1000 by year end - it is scandalous that you suggested I increase from £147-£168 which I ignored because it did not make sense - but despite this you increased it anyway - I am currently £288 in credit with June usage so far set at £44, so my balance at the end of June is likely to be £400 in credit - I knew your calculations did not make sense when I made my first post, we don’t use electricity for anything more than water pump in the gas central heating and tv etc 

Ofgem are launching a review

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61860717

‘Ofgem accused some firms of using customers' accumulated credit like an "interest-free company credit card".’

It’s worth mentioning that OVO’s calculations are rarely based on a calendar year i.e. January → December, but in actual fact are based on the plan you’re on.

If you’re on a fixed rate deal, OVO’s calculator targets getting you just about £0 at the end of your contract. If you have a two (or even three) year fixed deal, this could result in any of the calculations you mentioned doing yourself being inaccurate or unreliable because the system is looking much further ahead than you are.

If you’re on Variable Rate i.e. Simpler Energy, the system calculates based off of your plan anniversary, which is defined as the date you signed up (or possibly changed to Simpler Energy in some cases). Again, this is not a January → December thing. In this case, the system tries to make sure you’re in no more than £50 debit by the plan anniversary if you’re paying by Direct Debit.

OVO is allowed to do this and Ofgem will probably factor that into all the compliance reviews.

I’d also like to remind you that the most widely known Ofgem Default Tariff Cap is NOT the de facto price cap for absolutely everyone. It’s a national average and the actual price cap varies by several factors, not least by where you are in the UK. Please don’t rely on your calculations being accurate for variable rate beyond October 2022, because they probably won’t be!

The best fix to this problem is the simplest. If you have a Smart Meter, try setting it to Daily or Half-Hourly mode for at least six months. The extra data will train the system to make your bills and payments even more accurate - and will likely result in your Direct Debits more closely matching what you desire.

If you don’t have one yet, now might be a good time to get one. Otherwise, for the next six months please try to at least submit a weekly meter reading. More data = more accurate Direct Debit calculations! :)

I’m on a variable rate and by their own calculations I will be in positive ground by £1103 - we have a smart meter this is why the charge is nonsense - they are now suggesting a £76 per month direct debit down by almost £100

In that case, feel free to drop your payments down to whatever you feel happy with as long as it’s at least £77 (I’d probably go to at least £85 if it were me though). The system will allow you to do that on the spot, but it may take a few days to fully process with the bank.

Yes but they should not have put it up from £147 to £168 for no reason at all - when we were already in credit - I will wait to see what OVO do, they are supposed to review DD every three months if they have reviewed mine they have failed to act, it seems ofgem are correct in claiming some energy firms are treating customers like interest free credit 

That’s a discussion for you to have with OVO. Tbh I think it makes sense that the review process doesn’t instantly drop your payments every single time - but instead allows you to drop them. Ultimately, OVO will drop them if the system is sufficiently confident that it can do so safely, but ultimately it’s not as simple as it might first seem!

Have been with OVO since they started up - a nice small company in the Bath area and have never had any issues with them - until now.  I have had a smart meter for gas and electric for several years and until May this year was on a fixed rate.  Then,low & behold, the energy crisis hit us all.  I decided that I would stay on the variable rate to get an idea of how to control my monthly outgoings as the price caps(?) came into force. Started to get the dreaded ‘lets bring your account back on track’ emails and contacted OVO.  First time, managed to get a 3 month hold on my account and everything was fine until yesterday.  I had started up my own algorithm (spreadsheet) for the months Oct - Dec an that showed that I would be light on my DD by £100 per month  As I was already in credit by £290 I decided to play it safe and bunged in £500 and thought that would cover me for the Oct - Dec period.  Contacted OVO again but still told that my DD would be raised £85 as that is based on a 12 month usage plan.

So, I am now nearly £800 in credit and will be paying £250 DD per month.  Why don’t they understand that I am NOT on a fixed plan and am perfectly capable of managing my account with whatever the current price cap cost will be on a 3 monthly basis.  Their talk of a 12 month plan is pointless as no-one knows what the next and subsequent price caps will be and what (if any) help the Government may give us.

BTW - spent 1 hour on hold only to be hung up on before I had a chance to speak.  Then spent 30 minutes on hold again before speaking to an employee who did not grasp what I was trying to tell him and eventually offered me a 15% reduction on my £250 DD.  I am at a loss. 

Hey @jimgamgee1ring,

I’m sorry for the issues you’ve been having.

The recommended direct debit amount should adjust following your top up payment as the review takes into consideration any credit or debit on the account. 

It does automatically base the calculation on a year period for Simpler Variable customers on direct debit. This is to ensure that seasons are taken into account, as the direct debit should be an average for the year, so that it’s not low in summer and high in winter. 

The price cap increase in October means that customers will see a significant increase to their energy bills. 

If you are unable to reduce the direct debit through your online account to an amount that works for you, you can opt to go onto the Simpler plan with no direct debit. You can then pay on receipt of the bill instead. 

The rates on the Simpler plan with no direct debit are more expensive. We also recommend direct debits as it avoids a spike in payments in winter and automates everything.  

I hope this helps.

My monthly debt has just been changed from £70 to 250 and I'm unable to talk to any one I'm also in credit it makes no sense and no way I can pay that kind of money for what I'm not even using .…

I tried to ring them and ask about it when I asked about the change to monthly debt she hung up on me for no reason like what am supposed to do other than block the debt and pay it manually

Well I just rang up again and waited for ages and got hung up on again right after asking about the debt increase ..... They couldn't even be bothered to answer my question again like what the heck ‍♂️

Is this a cash grab before declaring there bankrupt and running with customers money or something surely they have to give you a reason and not ignore you 

Hi @Kingy10005 ,

I’m one of the trusted forum volunteers who helps out on the OVO Forum. I’m independent of OVO so everything I say is as me in a personal capacity. Well, at least under my online identity anyway.

Just so you know, I’m also juggling over 50 forum threads at once, so it may take a little time for me to respond. If you reply in this thread, I will be notified and I’ll get back to you asap.

What tariff are you on please? Once I know that, I can try to give you some advice that may help.

It's better smart fixed direct debit 

And much appreciated for your time I've literally got no way to go about talking to them and no way the amount is right 

Using around 30 to 40 a month from Jan to sep for electric and nothing on gas I rarely use it only for hot water / heating but I don't turn it on unless it's extremely cold at night

Gas unit price is on the way up 4.00p last year, 8p at last hike and then hello, hello it's going to be 15 or 16p. This is why DD is flying up at the moment.

Check meter reads, and maybe upgrade boiler

Ok, in that case you’re on a fixed rate deal, but it might be that your energy usage is higher than predicted.

I need to let you know that I’m an independent forum volunteer here on the OVO Forum, so I can’t access your account myself, but I’m a dab hand at puzzle solving, especially when I collaborate with a few friends on here. I’ll let them know if I need them to stop by. But I’ll definitely give @nealmurphy a shout.

For now, could you grab screenshots of everything you see under these links please?

https://account.ovoenergy.com/meter-readings/history/electricity

https://account.ovoenergy.com/meter-readings/history/gas

https://account.ovoenergy.com/usage

From these, we’ll try to see if we can spot any issues.

As I said above I don't use the gas at all my usage is consistently 30 to 40 pounds since Jan and I've been paying £70 a month also in credit. I've rang them twice and got hung up on the call representatives soon as I asked about it they didn't even answer my question or give me there time and was on hold for over a two hours total …

The only thing I can do with out being able to talk to them would be requesting my bank to block it no way I can cover a massive increase that I'm not ever going to use. 

If you cancel or block the Direct Debit, you will lose your fixed rate deal, and the result is that you’ll end up paying much more than you are now. I wouldn’t recommend that.

Try giving 0800 069 9831 a call instead. It’s a different team who can help figure things out with you.

Yeah I'll try calling them hopefully I will get some one who will actually talk to me about it

Given gas is one third the price of electricity why don’t you use it? Is the fixed tariff end ing soon? If so you are moving from a very low rate (by today’s standards) to rates that are very much higher.

Only thing in my small flat that uses gas is hot water for the sink plus heating but I don't turn it no chance I could afford it any who rather freeze with the whole prices going up and still being on the same amount for 2 years in payments received

If necessary, the Collections Team (and I think the Support Team as well) can apply a three month Direct Debit freeze to suspend any further payment increases. This shouldn’t be used lightly however, as you will still need to pay for the energy you’re using and this tool shouldn’t be used as a way of evading payment.

However, the team can talk about it with you and decide whether it’s appropriate to use that tool or any others in the toolbox. It’ll allow enough time for the billing platform to gather one seasons worth of data - provided you’re submitting (ideally) weekly meter readings - and recalculate the number crunching. If this identifies that your usage is less than predicted, the system will allow your payments to be reduced.