Why such a large increase to my recommended Direct Debit?

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.

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.