Will my tariff increase if I cancel my direct debit?

Hey @Columbas ,

There is I’m afraid. It’s roughly £200 a year more on average to be on Simpler Energy On-Demand than Simpler Energy Direct Debit. Cancelling the DD will result in higher charges even on Simpler Energy.

I’d double-check that if I were you. @Blastoise186  is right - I pay in full on demand when my bill is produced and I definitely pay more than if I was paying by direct debit. It doesn’t look a lot on paper but over a full year it builds up to quite a significant difference.

Actually, I pay by Direct Debit and currently have no incentive to change that. In actual fact… It’d be a terrible idea for me to switch to the Simpler Energy tariff right now because of this…

These are the rates I’ve just been quoted for when my fixed deal finishes in Feb. Direct Debit cheaper than On Demand. 

Original : I am currently paying by DD and have built up a credit of in excess of £500. I’m on the standard variable price cap rate for gas and electricity. I appreciate that this is going to increase and also that it’s summer so I will be using far less energy than in winter and the idea of DD is to pay a fixed amount over 12 months to cover the usage. I however resent OVO holding on to my money and I would rather it be sitting in my own bank account. If I cancel my DD and pay by bank transfer/card each month on receipt of bill for exact monthly usage will I end up paying any more? What I mean is, OVO obviously prefer DD so are there any additional charges/increase in tariff if I don’t pay by DD? 

I contacted OVO as I was so much in credit, for almost a year I was able to have a DD of £14. They then wanted approx £100 per month. I explained that rather than OVO have the interest on my payments I would keep it thank you. I agreed to £30 per month DD and I would always make top up payments to  ensure I had a £100 in credit. They  were not best pleased but when I explained it was either that or no DD at all guess what they accepted. I have to remind them every 3 months when they again want £100 plus, not sure why as my dearest bill this winter has been £60. Long story short I decide what my DD is.

Hey @Sally123,

Welcome to the OVO Online Community,

If you’re on the variable plan you can request a refund at any time. This topic may be helpful to you:

These topics should breakdown in detail how direct debits are calculated:

Do you have a smart meter or send in regular meter readings?

If you’re unhappy with the suggested increases, and raise a complaint the support team can put you on a direct debit review exceptions list for 3 months.

What is your alleged Future Annual Consumption (FAC), which you can see on your Plan page? How does it compare with your actual consumption for the past year? You can get an idea of this from your Usage pages. If the figure they’re working from is unrealistically high, this would explain why the calculator is over-estimating how much you need to pay.  

For comparison, my own FAC is currently 2053 kWh, while my actual consumption for the whole of 2023 was 1183 kWh according to both my usage pages and my meter readings. The DD calculator produces rubbish for me, too.

Are you not getting a monthly bill? That should tell you your balance, at least on the date the bill refers to.

It’s not difficult to work out what your Direct Debit should be, especially if you have a comfortable credit balance. Use your bills to work out your consumption in kWh over the latest year, then calculate its cost at current prices, again taken from your latest bill. Add on a year’s-worth of standing charges and add 5% VAT to the total to get your estimated annual cost. Subtract this from your current balance to work out how much you have to pay over the next year and divide the result by 12. If it’s negative, you’re obliged to pay £5 a month to keep the DD alive. 

If this is very different from what you’re currently paying, Support should be able to help. They can also help you arrange for a refund of your credit if you prefer to do it that way (more money in the bank now to cover possibly higher future monthly outgoings).

The interest reward has never affected the DD calculation, so losing it won’t have made any difference. 

No, I was going by this: “… you’ll continue to get your bill every month by email or post as usual.” Is this not working either?

I have just got home after a hard day’s work at 00:30 (I work very irregular hours and usually get home late. I am actually the senior support tech at an internationally respected company).

I have just tried to contact the support team, which Emmanuelle states “can be contacted at any time” but only had a chat bot that failed totally to answer my request or put me through to an agent.

It would be good to be given accurate information.

Hey ​​​​@Hadders52,

Sorry if my previous message was misleading,

With Whatsapp or Social Media you can message anytime and will it be picked up during business hours and you can re enter the chat.

Our Support team’s web messaging and WhatsApp opening hours are:

• 8am - 6pm Monday to Friday 

• 9am - 2pm on Saturdays
   

You can see all open contact channels via our Help Centre. 

If you need to contact the team on a Sunday, our Social team is able to support you. Send us a message on Facebook or Twitter from 9am - 5pm.