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Buzby
Rank 6
Buzby
Rank 6
December 13, 2023
Solved

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

  • December 13, 2023
  • 22 replies
  • 369 views

My first bill from OVO.

Really simple :  Zero starting balance, + Some electricity, - One paper free discount, + VAT.

 

 

These numbers don’t add up.

Statement shows two ‘paper discounts’ totalling £9.52, but the calculation only uses one.

The ‘Total Charges’ don’t match the ‘New Balance’, even though the starting balance was zero.

I know the errors are not significant, just a few pence, but they are wrong !.

It is possible that a human working with a calculator could make a simple error, but I don’t think OVO have rooms full of girls with calculators doing our bills.

It’s probably some kind of computer error, which is worrying. This time it made a 20p error, next time it might be a £20 error.

 

I’ve phoned, and OVO are ‘looking into it’.

[ EDIT : I was so distracted by the bad calculation that I didn’t notice the Paper Comms items are charges, not discounts. I’ve never had paper comms from OVO. Time for another phone call. ]

Best answer by Emmanuelle_OVO

Hey @Buzby,

 

Sorry to hear this, 

 

I think the best thing to do is contact the Support Team, who can raise it to the billing team. In terms of crediting back what you’re owed, that should be easily resolved as agents can add a transaction to your account. 

 

But it’s definitely worth the agent raising this to the billing team to ensure it doesn’t happen again. I’ll keep an eye out to see if we get any more queries like this on the Forum as it may, as Jeffus said, be something to do with the warm home discount VAT. 

 

Keep us posted with how you get on.

22 replies

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Ben_OVO
Community Manager
Ben_OVO
Community Manager
May 1, 2026

​@Buzby it could just be the case that your Direct Debit was lowered to £90 following April’s payment. We do lower Direct Debits as well to avoid customers building up too much credit. OVO lower mine automatically about three times a year, and I go and increase it again manually.

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    Firedog
    Super User
    FiredogSuper User
    Super User
    May 1, 2026

    ​@Buzby it could just be the case that your Direct Debit was lowered to £90 following April’s payment. We do lower Direct Debits as well to avoid customers building up too much credit.
     

    In my experience, every change in the DD amount triggers an email notification (sometimes two or three over a weekend if I’m being creative and gaming the system¹). I wonder if Buzby has had any such notification? Here’s a recent one of mine for reference:
     

    ‘GC’ is GoCardless, the contractor OVO uses to manage Direct Debits.
    1. Gaming the system, me?
      Some customers have been frustrated to discover that applying for a  refund online requires them to leave an unreasonably high  balance of three DD amounts + £25 after the refund. While it’s usually possible to work around this limitation by contacting Support (whose job is then to explain the risks involved with running the balance down too far), that isn’t always convenient.

      My DD was at (I reckoned) about the right amount, but the allowed refund just wasn’t big enough for me. The large credit balance meant that the recommended DD from the calculator was ridiculously low, so I just opted for that low figure, then (after receiving the confirmation above a few minutes later) ran the Apply for a refund wizard again and got a more reasonable result. The next confirmation (We’re working on your refund) arrived pretty swiftly, so the next day I just put my DD back up to where it ought to be. All quite seamless even at the weekend, and the refund was boosting my bank account before the end of the week. 
    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. |
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