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S
Rank 2
Sunelectric
Rank 2
November 4, 2022
Solved

I'm £500 in credit but no Interest Reward is being applied?

  • November 4, 2022
  • 17 replies
  • 505 views

I’ve been with OVO since around 2019 (Lumo for a few years prior) and have noticed that there is no interest being applied to my account (I’m £560 in credit). I’ve logged a call but am being told I need to wait “around 21 days” for an investigation to complete.

Has anyone else experienced this?

 

Best answer by Firedog

Updated on 30/01/24 by Emmanuelle_OVO:

 

We no longer offer the interest reward. You can find out more on our website here. 


In the past, some of our plans have been eligible for the OVO Interest Reward. Customers on these plans, who kept their energy account balance in credit, were paid interest. This interest was paid on the positive account balances that were higher than their Direct Debit amount.  

 

@Leo Moran I feel your pain, but the calculation of the Interest Reward (IR) is pretty well documented. In particular, the principal is “the remaining credit in your account each month after all charges for the supply of energy and for any other fees that apply under our contract have been paid.“ No mention of pending credits like your V2G.

In practice, they take the balance on the account at the midnight before the Direct Debit is taken. [Whether this includes the day’s standing charges or not isn’t clear, but it ought to according to the rules. That’s pretty immaterial, though, because a month’s interest on £1’s-worth of SC would only be at most 0.4p, so within the rounding error.]  I’m surprised that you were offered £30 in compensation: that would be equivalent to a year’s IR on a constant credit balance of £600. I’ve tried to maintain my credit at the maximum £1000, because until recently the interest was 5 percentage points above what my bank would have paid. It easily covers all of the VAT I’m charged, which is in itself quite satisfying.

One last point about IR: ever since I started calculating my bills myself to make sure OVO’s figures were right, the only faults that have arisen have been with this silly 5%. It had to be adjusted twice last year, and making those adjustments probably cost more than the compensation you were offered. I wonder if anyone at OVO regrets having introduced the scheme all those years ago.

 

17 replies

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S
Rank 2
SunelectricAuthor
Rank 2
May 4, 2023

I’m still waiting for this issue to be resolved. It is with billing and support don’t have access to their systems, therefore are unable to give a timeframe for when it will be resolved!

 

I have logged this with the Energy Ombudsman as case EG092900-23.

 

L
Rank 5
Leo Moran
Rank 5
May 4, 2023

@Sunelectric, 

I have had a similar experience and so far can’t get anyone to understand my position…

 

I am on 5% interest also and until January I was on a fixed contract which, because of the increase in rates went from 15p to 31p for electricity and 2p to 10p for gas. Subsequently thanks to the Winter months my monthly payments increased by almost 5 fold and from paying £100 a month with about £150 a month credit, I was asked to increase from £100 a month to £430 a month. Knowing I was going to be credited by £200 for the export tariff I increased the payment to £200. The problem there was that I allowed my capital to drop and by the end of the month( and before I was credited for my V2G export) my account was in debit by about £50. Not a problem I thought because I’m still £200 owed in pocket...but no. The conditions of the 5% interest is that you have to be in credit on the day or at the time they publish their monthly charges and as they don’t add your export credit until after they publish the bill they don’t see me as being £150 in credit, which is what I actually am, but £50 in debit which is the only way they see it on the computer.

 

I first lodged my complaint over a month ago and despite talking at length to Denise in the complaints department on 3 separate occasions cannot get past the stage of “The computer says you were in debit so not entitled to interest”. In credit to her she did admit she hadn’t come across this before and sought advice before getting back to me….but the person from whom she sought that advice possibly didn’t know either because initially they stated it was because I was no longer on a fixed term contract and so wasn’t entitled to the interest…..but I quickly debunked that argument by going to “my plan” in the menu, Brought it up on screen and there it clearly states I am entitled to 5% interest as long as I’m in credit.

 

Denise did offer me £30 refund as a sweetener which was more than I was entitled to in interest but I turned that down because, being a retired policeman I object to being told by a computer I am in debt when in reality it is OVO who are in debt to me.

Given that OVO now have 4.5 million customers and there are only about 140 customers still on V2G with a handful more on V2H and other schemes we are an insignificant amount for them to bother with….cheaper to offer £30 to the odd customer who actually complains than spend £a couple of thousand on writing new computer software. Perhaps the same reason why those on the scheme can’t get access to the cheap rate “Charge Anytime” tariff…even though they have all been running Nissan approved access to data for the past 4 years.

 

Good luck with your quest but if it’s anything like my experience I suspect you’ll be banging your head against the wall.

 

Leo

 

juliamc
Rank 20
juliamc
Rank 20
May 4, 2023

@Leo Moran Did you try moving your dd date as suggested by @Firedog here: 

 

L
Rank 5
Leo Moran
Rank 5
May 4, 2023

@juliamc 

 

I did thanks Julia…..but all that did was see me go in the red by a day on my current account…..didn’t realise it was a bank holiday weekend and I couldn’t go in the branch and pay in the cash and with 2 days electronic transfer I made a foo pah. It actually didn’t help because it’s not when the money goes in but when OVO issue the bill that matters… Thanks anyway.

 

Leo

    Firedog
    Super User
    FiredogSuper UserSolved
    Super User
    May 4, 2023

    Updated on 30/01/24 by Emmanuelle_OVO:

     

    We no longer offer the interest reward. You can find out more on our website here. 


    In the past, some of our plans have been eligible for the OVO Interest Reward. Customers on these plans, who kept their energy account balance in credit, were paid interest. This interest was paid on the positive account balances that were higher than their Direct Debit amount.  

     

    @Leo Moran I feel your pain, but the calculation of the Interest Reward (IR) is pretty well documented. In particular, the principal is “the remaining credit in your account each month after all charges for the supply of energy and for any other fees that apply under our contract have been paid.“ No mention of pending credits like your V2G.

    In practice, they take the balance on the account at the midnight before the Direct Debit is taken. [Whether this includes the day’s standing charges or not isn’t clear, but it ought to according to the rules. That’s pretty immaterial, though, because a month’s interest on £1’s-worth of SC would only be at most 0.4p, so within the rounding error.]  I’m surprised that you were offered £30 in compensation: that would be equivalent to a year’s IR on a constant credit balance of £600. I’ve tried to maintain my credit at the maximum £1000, because until recently the interest was 5 percentage points above what my bank would have paid. It easily covers all of the VAT I’m charged, which is in itself quite satisfying.

    One last point about IR: ever since I started calculating my bills myself to make sure OVO’s figures were right, the only faults that have arisen have been with this silly 5%. It had to be adjusted twice last year, and making those adjustments probably cost more than the compensation you were offered. I wonder if anyone at OVO regrets having introduced the scheme all those years ago.

     

    Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA | It may look as if I know what I’m talking about, but don’t let that fool you. |
      P
      Newcomer
      Paddylyn
      Newcomer
      November 17, 2023

      I moved address last year and continued with my commitment to Ovo with whom I have had an account for at least ten years. I am now told the interest benefit is linked to the address not the customer which is not what it says in your blurb which specifically says it is applicable to customers registered before sept 2021. This seems to me to be misselling and I now feel no loyalty to the company

      Jeffus
      Rank 20
      Jeffus
      Rank 20
      November 21, 2023

      I moved address last year and continued with my commitment to Ovo with whom I have had an account for at least ten years. I am now told the interest benefit is linked to the address not the customer which is not what it says in your blurb which specifically says it is applicable to customers registered before sept 2021. This seems to me to be misselling and I now feel no loyalty to the company

      @Paddylyn 

      You could put in a complaint, including any wording you have.

      https://www.ovoenergy.com/feedback

      It costs nothing and at least you will have done all you can.

      I haven’t looked at the wording myself.

       

      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement

      OVO Energy Ltd, Floor 5, Crescent, Temple Back, Redcliffe, BS1 6EZ, (Company no. 06890795) registered in England and Wales.

      OVO (S) Gas Limited is registered in England and Wales (Company No. 02716495) at Floor 5, Crescent, Temple Back, Redcliffe, BS1 6EZ.

      OVO (S) Gas Limited is part of OVO Group Ltd