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M
Rank 2
Mallakye
Rank 2
July 11, 2022
Solved

Is my Direct Debit increase accurate?

  • July 11, 2022
  • 59 replies
  • 1270 views

Hello, 

I will copy/paste my sent email here..... (sent 2nd July 2022)

Hello, 

 

I would like to request a review and reduction to calculations for my Direct Debit amount. 

I currently pay £107 per month (I have always chosen to pay a little more than the minimum requested amount) , and I have been informed today that OVO will be changing my monthly payment to £255.

 

Thats a 238% increase. 

 

I would like to request an 'estimation' that accurately reflects my actual usage as I a) live alone and work 6 days a week (ie: reduced usage) and b) an increase to £255 per month is both unattainable and excessive to say the least for a single occupancy, lower usage dwelling. 

 

My current account balance is +£696.05

 

I am on the 2 year fixed energy plan for both Gas and Electricity. 

 

The OVO email estimates that my account will be -£2,959.51 at contract end on 7th Feb 2024 (end of contract). 

 

Regards

 

Leigh Foster 

 

I really would appreciate a response from people as I am really concerned with how I can afford this Increase. 

 

Many thanks 

 

Leigh. 

 

 

 

Best answer by Tim_OVO

Updated on 17/12/24 by Abby_OVO

 

For more information on Direct Debits, check out our handy topics:

 

 

I’ve just caught up on this thread, fantastic support on offer. 

 

@Mallakye thank you for your patience and the level of detail that you provided. Everyone has spent their own time helping and advising each other and now it’s our turn to back this up into some action. 

 

I agree with Jeffus that the Future annual consumption figure for electricity might be wrong. If it is, I think this is the likely cause of the over inflated Direct Debit recommendations.  Mine is 5489 kWh and I live with 4 others. We’ll be looking for and collecting examples of this on the forum and passing it on to the relevant team if we see more than one. 

 

What to do now?

 

  • Please discuss this with our Support team, as they are best placed to raise a ‘case’ to the billing platform teams that can fix any issues with the way this works. We'll be contacting them as well if we see more examples on the forum, but it won’t be linked to your account.
  • I can’t see an answer from you, @Mallakye, to whether you have a smart meter or not. if you do, ask our Support team to make sure the meters are set to send us your readings every half an hour.
  • I would also recommend that you request a Direct Debit review exemption be put in place on your account. This lasts for 3 months and will allow any issues that might be affecting your account to be resolved.

To save you having to explain all of this to our Support team, feel free to link them to my comment. I’ll copy the URL for this below once I’ve posted it. You can then share that URL with our online chat team and sit back whilst they read it and get up to speed. 

 

I hope this helps and that we can take it from here and get this sorted for you. 


Tim

 

URL for this comment is: 

 

59 replies

A
Newcomer
audrey7958
Newcomer
July 12, 2022

Cancel direct debit and set up a standing order or pay bill when it comes in hope that helps 

Blastoise186
Super User
Blastoise186Super User
Super User
July 12, 2022

Cancel direct debit and set up a standing order or pay bill when it comes in hope that helps 

That’s not the correct solution and doesn’t help anyone out. By doing that on OVO, you’ll lose the safety of a fixed rate deal and be forced onto Simpler Energy unless you re-instate the Direct Debit.

@Mallakye I do agree that increase seems unusual and I’ve not seen that level before. I’d recommend getting in touch with the Support Team to challenge the increase and ask for it to be reviewed again manually. You can do that here.

Hope this helps! If you still get stuck, feel free to stop by this thread again.

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    Jess_OVO
    OVO Staff
    Jess_OVO
    OVO Staff
    July 12, 2022

    Some great advice from our community superuser, @Blastoise186.

     

    We’re here to help if you’re worried about an unaffordable increase to your monthly payment, so as a first step we’d recommend getting in touch with our Support Team, @Mallakye . They’ll be able to help check that this payment amount is accurate and based on actual meter readings rather than estimates as well as being able to signpost additional support.

     

    Just to double-check, have you been logging in to your online account to keep an eye on things? This is the best place to submit your meter readings or check the readings we’ve received from any smart meters. We’ve also got a helpful Direct Debit calculator which can help to break down how your monthly payment amount is calculated.

     

     

    I hope this helps.

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      M
      Rank 2
      MallakyeAuthor
      Rank 2
      July 12, 2022

      Thanks for the replies everyone, I shall read through properly and action when I can (can't really do much during my working hours) 

       

      I appreciate every response

       

      Regards

       

       

      Jeffus
      Rank 20
      Jeffus
      Rank 20
      July 12, 2022

      Hi @Mallakye

      That certainly seems strange and obviously worrying. 

      1. I would start by looking at some of the basic info on your account to make sure it looks correct.

      https://account.ovoenergy.com/plan

      I would check the following for gas and electric. 

      - the "Contract end date" is correct for both gas and electricity?

      - the unit rates and standing charges are correct?

      - the "Future annual consumption" looks reasonable based on what you have used in previous years?

      It would be useful to know what the figures for unit cost, standing charge and usage are if you don't mind sharing. 

      2. Do you have a working smart meter or do you submit your readings manually?

      3. Have you recently transferred from SSE or was your current fixed rate plan originally setup with OVO?

      Hopefully between a few people here we can help in some way to understand what might be going on. 

        M
        Rank 2
        MallakyeAuthor
        Rank 2
        July 12, 2022

        *Update*

         

        Today I recievedan emeail from noreply=ovoenergy.com@mail.ovoenergy.com

        stating….

         

        “Your Direct Debit is increasing.

        We got in touch recently to ask you to increase your Direct Debit, so that your monthly payments match your energy use and costs - and you wont have to pay a lump sum at the end of your contract.

         

        Because you havent increased your Direct Debit, we’re now doing it automatically for you.”

         

        This is before I’ve even had a reply from the email in post#1 sent to OVO Energy Customer Care on 2nd July.

         

        M
        Rank 2
        MallakyeAuthor
        Rank 2
        July 12, 2022

         

        Plan name 2 Year Fixed Energy

        Contract start date = 8 Feb 2022 (I was an SSE customer and moved over automatically)

        Contract End Date = 7 Feb 2022

        Electricity standing charge is 43.23p/day

        Electricity unit rate is 29.07p/kWh

        Gas standnig charge is 25.52p/day

        Gas unit rate is 8.39p/kWH

         

        - the "Future annual consumption" looks reasonable based on what you have used in previous years?

        Im afraid I dont see this section, I do suspect this prediction is the problem however.

         

        I have no debts etc with SSE/OVO

        My account opening balance was +£750.26 (4 Jan-3 Feb)

        My current account balance is +£570.97 (4 Jul - 12 Jul)

        So from 4th Jan to 12th July my charges are £179.29 ?

        Thats 7 months almost. 

        I appreciate and totally understand that seasonal usage etc impacts greatly however this Jan/Feb/March were very cold as far as I remember.

        This should give the community a fairly good idea of my usage.

         

        Im so confused.

         

        Thanks for your reply Jeffus

         

        (If any answers etc are out of posting order etc I appologise)

         

         

         

        Jeffus
        Rank 20
        Jeffus
        Rank 20
        July 12, 2022

        Hi @Mallakye

        You posted 

        Contract End Date = 7 Feb 2022

        Did you mean to type 2024 and does it say 2024? 

        Also here is my page as an example. I have highlighted where the consumption figure is. Are you sure it is not there? 

         

          M
          Rank 2
          MallakyeAuthor
          Rank 2
          July 12, 2022

          Thank your for the reply Jess_OVO

          I will be contacting the support team as suggested.

           

          I have been logging in and using the app often (even more so since I first heard of the price increases)

          The section that shows the breakdown of daily/monthly usage etc all looks fine to me.

          Meter readings are smart readings, and again all seem correct.

          My minimum payment calculations reads……..£5,061.55 Estimated costs (including your current balance)

          I have no idea how this figure has been calculated.

          M
          Rank 2
          MallakyeAuthor
          Rank 2
          July 12, 2022

          You posted 

          Contract End Date = 7 Feb 2022

          Did you mean to type 2024 and does it say 2024? 

          Also here is my page as an example. I have highlighted where the consumption figure is. Are you sure it is not there? 

           

          Yes sorry, I did mean 2024 for contract end date

          I will get my screenshot now, thanks.

          Show more replies
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