‘Total Charges’ don’t match the ‘New Balance’- Even though the starting balance was zero?

It’s getting worse !.

Look at this statement …. There’s definately something wrong with their abacus.

 

It is strange but the new balance at the end looks correct. It may be the best they can do after the error occurred.

537.40 Electricity - assume this is correct.

26.87 VAT at 5%

564.27 New Balance.

Yes but … the VAT line on the bill reads £27.11. How much will OVO send to HMRC, I wonder.

At least it is more than the actual VAT

Interesting the delta is 24p again between "Total new charges" and "Your new balance" although reversed, the VAT on a single communication charge.

I wonder if what we see on screen now is not what is actually stored in a database. Whether it is a display issue on the report only. 

We may never know.

I’m sure that there are occasional disconnects between underlying data and what is displayed. They’re not usually very important, so long as we know that that’s what’s happening.

What is surprising is that the statement - an important document with legal implications - seems to be generated from the (apparently sometimes erroneous) website figures and not from the underlying data. The example above is a case in point: there’s a difference between the VAT OVO pays to HMRC and what it collects from the customer, who may then claim it back. OK, it’s small change in this case, but it could potentially be an awful lot more.

Firedog said, “ I’m sure that there are occasional disconnects between underlying data and what is displayed. They’re not usually very important, so long as we know that that’s what’s happening.”

I’ve not been on here for a while, I’ve had bigger problems than trying to fathom OVO maths. Anyway, I’m eventually leaving OVO. So before leaving I thought I’d check my balance.

Not bad, £242 in credit !. 

But then I saw why. My direct debit according to OVO is £90 pm, but my bank shows £126 pm. It’s been showing this since November 2025. At that time I was ‘only’ £115 in credit, but for some reason not explained on the bill my October 2025 DD was £193. It then settled at £126.

I’m not too bothered about this, but it does beg the question ’can we trust what we see on screen ?’

Cheers,

Buzby

Firedog said, “ I’m sure that there are occasional disconnects between underlying data and what is displayed. They’re not usually very important, so long as we know that that’s what’s happening.”

I’ve not been on here for a while, I’ve had bigger problems than trying to fathom OVO maths. Anyway, I’m eventually leaving OVO. So before leaving I thought I’d check my balance.

 

Not bad, £242 in credit !. 

But then I saw why. My direct debit according to OVO is £90 pm, but my bank shows £126 pm. It’s been showing this since November 2025. At that time I was ‘only’ £115 in credit, but for some reason not explained on the bill my October 2025 DD was £193. It then settled at £126.

I’m not too bothered about this, but it does beg the question ’can we trust what we see on screen ?’

Cheers,

Buzby

I would check to see if you have received an email recently reducing your Direct Debit from the next payment. OVO review our accounts and DD every three months. 

Your most recent bill is the best place to check on your payments. This is the summary page of my most recent bill. I have highlighted my Direct Debit details.

Nice to hear from you again ​@Buzby - I hope you’re well, and ​@Bendog thanks for your help here.

​@Buzby I’ve noticed similar with my online banking before, where the Direct Debit amounts displayed don’t match what I’m paying to the utility provider. If your Direct Debit is coming out at the amount specified by OVO then it’d be worth contacting your bank to see what’s the issue on their side.

Here is a bill showing DD of £126 was taken. This is not what the info on the ‘Home’ page is showing.
 

The home screen shows OVO know they are supposed to take £90 by DD, but the bill shows they actually took £126 by DD.  ( This bill is from Feb, but the situation goes back to last year. )

I don’t think my bank could explain this, they just pay what OVO ask for. ( I like my bank. They are very good at spotting scammers, but I think they missed this one. )

OVO have not put up a good show from day one. As you can see from the start of this thread, my very first bill was wrong !.

I don’t think OVO are really scammers, I think they just have a broken IT system with no-one to fix it.

It’s been all over the news that EON are likely to buy OVO soon. ( What they’ll pay for OVO is unknown. It could be as much as £400 million, or as little as the price of a Happy Meal. ) Either way, they will need to integrate or migrate their IT systems and data.  I don’t hold out much hope of this going smoothly.

Cheers,

Buzby

Hi again ​@Buzby - the bill you’ve shared is for February - you should have had another two Direct Debits taken out since then. What amount have they come out at?

£126, same as February.