Fabulous thank you I'll try it.

Yes I have a smart meter and so far my direct debit has covered my usage. I'm not naive enough to think this will continue over the winter period but if I was to pay Ovo's wildly inflated predicted monthly payment of £280 this will be covered by my £1100 credit balance and my direct debit for the next 4 months.  Why have I been badgered to pay more when I'm so much in credit - greed is the only answer.  If I was to pay £280 p/m they wouldn't have my large credit balance and, therefore, wouldn't have the reassurance of payment my credit balance affords them.  Sorry Ovo so disgruntled I can't leave quick enough - there was a time when I couldn't sing your praises enough. 

Patricia.dickson22 I am in the same boat as you. My account is always in credit. We have a smart meter and, until last month's cold snap,. my direct debit payment more than covered the monthly usage. To rectify that, I made an additional one off payment. 

Also like you, they have told me that they are putting my direct debit up to £280 pm despite my complaints. I have told them that so long as I am in credit I do not want the direct debit increased. 

They are horrendously poor at answering complaints and never seem to do so within the required timescales. When they did eventually get in touch they partially refunded my credit balance to take me down to just over one month in credit and returned my direct debit to the amount I was paying. I thought that would be it, but no, they are at it again, telling me they will increase the direct debit to the amount they want. Alternatively, I can pay over £600 up front for energy I haven't used and will return me to a large credit balance  

I complained again on 19 December - no response! I complained again today due to them informing me they are increasing the direct debit to £280 against my express wishes. Like you, I have had enough. Their method is flawed. You cannot base payments on an "out of ordinary" month and take no account of continual credit balances. 

I am now taking my complaint to Ofgem (although I doubt it will make any difference) and will switch to standing order or online payments so I get control back. 

As soon as practical I will be moving elsewhere early next year. It's not much to ask to leave a consumer who is always in credit, never it debt, to be left to keep control of what they pay as a regular amount each month. 

@Maglil if you’re not on a fixed deal you may prefer to change to paying your bill ‘on demand’ ie settle up monthly. This will be at a higher tariff than the direct debit tariff but is may suit you better. If you’re on a fixed deal you do have to stick to direct debits though. 
OVO don’t use standing orders.

Thanks for the reply. No, I'm not on a fixed deal. I'm one of the many imported from SHE. I couldn't see anything on Standing Orders in their payment methods, so now I know.. I get that they don't want customers falling into debt but, their practice is a nonsense for customers who are always in credit.  

As far as I’m aware, Standing Orders are rarely supported by any energy supplier these days. Just because it sends money over, doesn’t mean the money will actually be received.

Hey  @Maglil,

If you feel your direct debit is being over estimated, and you’ve just migrated across from another provider, it may be down to two reasons:

Your account is eligible for a read dispute, to find out please check your final statement from your previous provider and opening bill from OVO. Find out more about this topic here:

Or, the figures sent across for your estimated annual consumption are too high, this will rectify in time as it alters whenever you send a meter reading across. 

In the meantime you can contact our Collections Team to put your direct debit on a 3 month suspension, meaning it will not be reviewed or increased for this period.

I hope that helps. 

Christmas received an email saying "get back on track" we are over 300£ in credit, we had a smart meter fitted as they pushed it and it showed a verry high use of 67£ when the UK froze too (we were abroad for 2 days and came back to a frozen pipe issue with no heating).

Now Ovo had requested 202£ becomes 467£ a month , because we may owe 3233£ in December 2023. we cant afford this at all, i have just started a parttime permanent contract and hubby is self employed in building trade which is naff this month, tried to increase on calculator won't allow 20-40£ increase....weunlikely to get support? What can I do as if this goes ahead we will be either warm and starving or homeless  

PS already addressing other debts

Just for information, they do accept Standing Order and bank transfer. Of course, they charge a higher tariff and I'm still waiting for a suitable explanation how someone who has never been in debt (and is in credit) should be charged more for the privilege. I know OVO are not alone in this practice, but they need to take a close look at their practices.

Hey @Carlywales76,

I’m really sorry to hear this,

Have you sent an up to date meter reading, this will ensure your billing is accurate. You can call our Collections Team to sort out an affordable monthly payment. 

We have lots of support available for customers who may be struggling with their bills:

Customer support package and where to apply. 

Warm Home Discount

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

Energy Bills Support Scheme

Hey @Maglil,

OVO don’t support standing orders, but there are a number of different way to pay OVO. Find out more here. 

Ofgem the market regulator support suppliers charging more for customers who pay on receipt of the bill, and set the maximum rates suppliers can charge customers. This is because it costs companies more in administration fees and chasing bad debt. 

We have a similar thread you might find interesting:

Emmanuelle_OVO I have an email from Susan in OVO customer Support which categorically states you can pay by Standing Order or BACS transfer if you wish. She even supplied the bank details I would need to set it up. IIdon't doubt customers in debt cost companies more but my point was I am always in credit. Are you effectively saying you are using customers in credit to subsidise those who are not? 

I enquired about Standing order since your online system via the App only allows customers to amend the direct debit to the amount OVO want NOT what the customer wants. You are removing control from customers. I complained about your methods and still haven't received a satisfactory response. I'm not exactly inspired with confidence when I eventually told your online system "overestimated" the monthly direct debit payment. 

Hey @Maglil,

Thank you for your question, 

Due to the extra expense of customers paying on demand OFGEM have stated that the rates for customers paying in this way be higher than direct debit. There may be a provider who charges the same rate for both, but most companies will incentivize customers to pay via direct debit for this reason. 

We would expect our direct debit customers to be in credit as they pay monthly, in advance. If you feel that your direct debit is unreasonably high, I’d advise checking the following:

Your estimated annual consumption will change whenever a reading is submitted, the best way to ensure your direct debit calculation is correct is to ensure we have regular readings.

If you still feel your direct debit is too high you can contact our Collections Team who will put your account on a 3 month suspension, meaning we won’t review or increase your direct debit for this period. 

Hope this helps. 

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? 

I received an email today saying that I had changed my payment method (i haven’t) and that my new Gas tariff would be as set out in the mail dated from October 2022.

I then checked My Ovo t find that my Electric tariff has also changed. My Standing Charge has increased by circa 35% and my Unit rate has changed down slightly..

I know rates were likely to change in April 2023 but is this a stealth increase, a *Edited by Mod* or something else entirely?