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Why is my renewal quote so high this year?

  • 7 January 2019
  • 40 replies
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40 replies

Eva_OVO
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As you've already got smart meters, @Gum168, you wouldn't be able to switch to Lumo - I'm sorry!

When you mention the increase are you looking at the Direct Debit amount? Or your unit rates? Your Direct Debit isn't increased when you renew with us, we suggest a higher amount but this doesn't take any current credit/debit balance into consideration. Your payment will stay the same, but it may need to be looked at if it doesn't cover your usage and you're getting into debt.

You can contact our Customer Care team anytime, if you can't find an answer to your question online you won't lose your SSR for getting in touch over the phone or by email.

When you renew the way SSR works will be changing find out more on this topic.
My friend told me how electricity is measured and I was like Watt!
Gum168
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@Eva_OVO I'm talking about the annual cost based on my last 12 months of consumption data at OVO. At the moment I can't see it changing much. Both the daily charge and unit prices are a fair bit higher than both BG and E.ON. The monthly payment is irrelevant as far as I'm concerned, it's the total annual figure I work from, then divide by 12. We can pay up to just over £600 less a year with some companies. But even sticking to one of the big companies the saving is around £400 a year. Our consumption looks high, but that's because we have an electric car that charges almost totally at home. Around £2000 with BG or E.ON vs around £2400 with OVO. In other words we could make a 16.6% saving by moving from OVO, or alternatively you could say we will pay 20% more to stay with OVO. Whichever way you look at it that's a significant amount.

I'm incredibly sad to find myself in this situation and hubby is pushing for us to move, but im holding on for while, maybe OVO will rethink their pricing strategy. Maybe not, but I need time to think. It's so sad that we may have to pay so heavily for loyalty. Especially with a general move to nudge customers towards online only.

If there is no longer a penalty for picking up the phone,( since July 19?) can you please amend the welcome message on your phone line?

I like OVO, I really do. And I like the people who work there, I want to stay. But the price difference is really significant. This needs passing back to the team who set the prices. At this rate OVO will be losing a lot of customers, and there's that old wisdom, it costs a lot more to get new customers than it does to keep existing ones.
Gum168
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Oh, and it needs to be much easier to check economy 7 prices. I can't find them anywhere. Self service? And over 24 hours later still no reply to my email enquiry. I'm at work the next 3 days, Monday and Tuesday are home admin days. I'd like an answer sooner rather than later. Please
J
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My current OVO 2 year fix ends Oct 19 and I would have been happy to renew for a further 2 years but I’ve checked my renewal offer and the Direct Debit would increase by £20 a month £480 over the 2 years. My usage has decreased from when I first signed up to OVO and I am in credit, I would expect a reasonable increase with the new 2 year fix deal, but compared to EDF and British Gas which offer @ a £6 a month increase based on a fixed deal I feel my option will be to switch.
I may well return to OVO in the future but being on a fixed budget I am forced to choose another supplier unless OVO review their pricing structure very soon to compete with the other suppliers.
Phil_H
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I am keeping an eye on prices at the moment as my renewal is due later this year.

OVO raised their prices significantly last week on 06/09/19. The better energy 1 year fix increased the price of electricity and gas by around 15% compared to their previous 20/08/19 tariff.

In July OVO announced they were removing the self service reward (SSR) (which paid £60 per year) for new contracts and introducing a lower unit price for electricity and gas. This did not last long- less than 2 months. Based on my own usage the 06/09/19 tariff costs about £120 per year more than their 20/08/19 tariff and more than £200 more per year than I am paying now. Any benefit from removing the self service reward and lowering prices has been lost very quickly.

OVO are now significantly more expensive than a wide range of other suppliers both big and small. I recommend doing your research, comparing prices and thinking carefully before renewing.
J
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in the past I have used a number of the big six Energy suppliers, British Gas, EDF,EON and Scottish Power and found them pretty much the same in terms of customer service but will probably switch to one of these for 12 months and then see from there.
Its a shame OVO are not able to compete on prices this time. I know they offer interest on credit balances which reduces the bill slightly but in my case the tariff increase is the deciding factor in switching.
Nancy_OVO
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We appreciate that price is a deciding factor for a lot of people, @John W. We're not offering rock bottom prices, and we stand by that. We've got long some pretty big long term ambitions, and we need to make sure business is sustainable in order to achieve them, and bring our customers with us on the journey.

Don't forget that we offer a whole host of other products that customers can take advantage of. If you drive an EV, we want to know and can offer you an EV plan, with free PolarPlus subscription or smart charger installation. We're working with CORGI to offer OVO customers great prices on boiler cover, or money off a brand new one (and a free smart thermostat).

We also offer Green electricity and gas upgrades on any tariff. It's also worth mentioning other bonuses for being part of OVO, like the £75 refer a friend voucher (there’s no limit to how many people you can refer), the interest reward where you can earn up to 5% interest on credit balances, and join loads of our customers in getting a free smart meter installed (if you don't already have one).

We want to continue shaking up the energy industry, and need our customers to join us! Let’s work together to build a better future for our planet.
Your guiding light(bulb)
J
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We have been extremely happy with the service provided by OVO over the last 2 years and particularly like developments made on the OVOApp and interest on credit balances.
The circumstances of being on a fixed budget mean we have to carefully consider our expenditure but we may well return to OVO in the future.
A
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Glad to see I'm not the only one to be finding this. I'm expecting OVO could lose a lot of customers due to the higher prices.

My renewal quote works out on my usage to be over £100 a year (25% extra) more than if I switch to Bulb who also have a great reputation and have almost no customer complaints at all. Again, they also have just a single tariff for all customers.

I'd love to stay with OVO but I just don't see them as being competitive.


Oh, forgot to add - Bulb also claims to be 100% renewable energy!
J
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I worked out over the 2 years its @ £480 extra, I understand the pressure to build up reserves and factor in future costs for OVO of green electricity and gas but unfortunately for me it means I’m not able to soak up the higher costs involved in the increases.
Phil_H
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We appreciate that price is a deciding factor for a lot of people, @John W. We're not offering rock bottom prices, and we stand by that. We've got long some pretty big long term ambitions, and we need to make sure business is sustainable in order to achieve them, and bring our customers with us on the journey.

Don't forget that we offer a whole host of other products that customers can take advantage of. If you drive an EV, we want to know and can offer you an EV plan, with free PolarPlus subscription or smart charger installation. We're working with CORGI to offer OVO customers great prices on boiler cover, or money off a brand new one (and a free smart thermostat).

We also offer Green electricity and gas upgrades on any tariff. It's also worth mentioning other bonuses for being part of OVO, like the £75 refer a friend voucher (there’s no limit to how many people you can refer), the interest reward where you can earn up to 5% interest on credit balances, and join loads of our customers in getting a free smart meter installed (if you don't already have one).

We want to continue shaking up the energy industry, and need our customers to join us! Let’s work together to build a better future for our planet.

Hi @Nancy_OVO

@Darran_OVO highlighted your post in his blog and having read it, I felt I should respond.

As I mentioned in my post above, the price increase on 06/09/19 was significant at around 15% more than the tariff it replaced and much higher than the fixed price tariffs that are currently ending. You state that OVO do not offer “rock bottom” prices – there is no chance of that, if you compare prices at the moment OVO are not even in the middle their prices are at the top end of the range of deals being offered. Its hard to find OVO on a price comparison because you have to scroll through several pages as the prices are that high.

I may be cynical but this price increase came in a week before the confirmation of the take over of SSE, and if you compare the total cost of energy for a year on these price comparison sites OVO’s prices are very close to those of SSE- so much for competition…

Also OVO need to find the £500 million to pay SSE for its retail division- I guess the price increase will help pay for this. Is the take over of SSE the “pretty big long term ambitions” you mention?

Yes OVO offer a range of products for EV owners but the majority of your customers who don't have an EV should not be subsidising those who do.

The corgi offer may appeal to some but it is no different to deals that other energy suppliers offer on boiler or central heating cover- it does not make OVO stand out over the competition.

As regards green energy, a wide range of companies offer this now, many as standard.

The 5% interest is a good offer but assuming I maintain a credit balance of at least £500 over a whole year that's £25- a lot less than the increase in the tariffs.

So you need to do much more to convince me to stay. Bulb, Octopus and others are doing great things as well at a much lower prices – why should I pay OVO significantly more?
Phil_H
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OVO Prices Update

It looks like OVO have reduced the price of their fixed rate tariffs today.

There is a new Better Energy 18/09/19 tariff where the unit price of electricity and gas is around 15% lower than the 06/09/19 tariff and brings OVO's prices back down and close to those offered in August.

So - some good news - thank you OVO. Maybe someone is listening????

However I still have some questions why are OVO's fixed rate tariffs changed so often? That's 4 changes in 3 months. Many companies offer the same tariff for several months? Octopus are still using their April 2019 tariffs.

Does OVO announce these price changes somewhere on the website? I can only find this info on price comparison sites?
Amy_OVO
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Hey @Phil_H,

We feel we price fairly, we’re constantly watching wholesale prices to ensure we are inline with the industry, this results in changes that may differ in frequency to other suppliers, more info here.

We detail historic price change information the website.

Thanks!
OVO-Joyed to help!
Gum168
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I've been meaning to come back here and add a positive comment to this thread. 

The initial renewal figures we were given were indeed too high. Higher than we had been paying by about 20% which was a hard pill to swallow. However, I saw that other energy companies were dropping prices, so we held on for a while. And OVO did react to the competition. We would have liked to stay on ev everywhere, which is a 2 year fix, but luckily for us an updated 1 year deal was released which we accepted, and we are now paying a little bit less than our last  deal and we get to stay with OVO, which is brilliant. OK, it's only a year, but it's a lot cheaper than the original offer (both 1 Yr and 2yr fixes were very similar initially). Thank you OVO for paying attention to the market and reacting.

So my advice to others who find their renewal seems high compared to other companies, don't jump too soon. Hold fire and see if OVO react. We did have over a month notice so there was plenty of time. 

Amy_OVO
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Thanks so much for taking the time to leave that post, @Gum168, it’s nice to hear things are running smoothly for you!

:slight_smile:

OVO-Joyed to help!

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