Cancelling Direct Debit - how much extra for standard variable payment on demand?

Couldn’t agree more with this comment.  However, Ofgem appears to be hand in glove with the energy companies - so I wouldn’t expect any action from them to redress the balance.  After all, one of the non-exec members (Christine Farnish) recently resigned as she felt the regulator had not ‘struck the right balance between the interests of consumers and the interest of suppliers’ on how the price cap was addressed.

This is a business decision for suppliers to make. There’s nothing in the rules that says OVO has to offer variable Direct Debits at all. As long as the available payment methods include the ones that are required, it’s down to each supplier to decide whether they want to offer even more options on top. For example, Google Pay and Apple Pay support is optional, but OVO now offers those to make things easier for us.

I don’t know if this is going to help concerned customers reading this, or whether it’s going to cause more confusion. Still, here goes, with a view to clearing up some of the misunderstandings and unconfirmed postulations in this thread. 

I checked the data underlying the pages at OVO Energy  to see whether I could find a listing of current tariffs. This is what I found:
  

 
These rates (all exVAT) will be different for users in other regions and for users with a different usage pattern, although the only specification I could find was that my usage was deemed ‘low’. However, unless there is a mistake somewhere, it looks like the cheapest option for an E7 user like me with electric night-storage heating would be PAYG, considering the night rate shown here. The difference between Direct Debit and On demand tariffs is manifest.

Out with the calculator! 

Well, that’s quite a big jump! I didn’t think it’d be that big though.

I could have included calculations for some of the differences, like:

• The OD standing charge is 13% higher than that for DD. The difference is £20 a year + VAT.
• The single-rate charge per kWh for OD exceeds that for DD by 11%. For the average household consuming 2400kWh/year, this is a difference of £80 a year + VAT.
• It would cost the average household £106 more per year to switch from DD to OD, i.e. about £2 a week.

I don’t have gas, so someone else will have to work that out. It could be that the gaseous differences would bring the total excess of OD over DD to £200 a year.
 

But a variable debit versus a direct debit against the exact smart meter reading will cost OVO nothing extra. We are being ripped off with this billing system if you have a smart meter. Useless British Gas can do it so why can’t OVO?

Add an idea to the OVO pipeline and encourage people to vote for it. 

I have done that for a few ideas.

https://forum.ovoenergy.com/ideas

You may find you can encourage quite a few people to vote for it. 

I wouldn’t (didn’t) go to cash/cheque/BACS payment on receipt of bill - it’s just too expensive. When I was with SSE I payed for actual usage quarterly by DD and the tariff was the same as monthly. Never had an issue but when I was moved to Ovo they didn’t offer it.

Unless you really like Ovo, you might as well change to another company that offers a payment method you prefer - this is what I’m doing now (with a company that doesn’t just do Electricity but is in France 😃). Monthly variable DD paying for usage only. 

I agree, i think that is good advice. If you want to pay by variable DD, shop around and choose a supplier that does it. 

With the new industry wide faster switching service it is pretty quick to switch these days.

I suspect OVO will never offer a variable DD payment method unless they see a huge number of customers switching. 

Just been notified of direct debit increase, can’t afford to increase the direct debit, but I make an additional payment at a different time of the month, every month, my account is always in credit. I rang to say I can’t have my DD increased, I don’t get paid the same time every month, hence the additional payments. I was told it was my responsibility to ensure theres enough money in my account to pay the new amount! Or they can refer me to a debt advise service! I now just want to cancel my DD, and make payments when I can, does anyone know how I go about this please?