Direct Debit review increase even though I'm on variable plan Simpler?

Ovo have a duty of care, which means because you had a large credit balance they thought it practical to give you a refund, but they also looked further into the future knowing the rises to come, so that’s why you have a £73 increase but this can be adjusted if you start to go into another big credit. In the meantime you can enjoy your refund. Hope this helps Brian

Hi @Camper Sue ,

I’m Blastoise186 and I’m one of the forum volunteers who helps out here. As you’re on variable rate, you are affected by the price cap changes, there’s more on that at https://ovoenergy.com/pricecap.

OVO is also currently adjusting Direct Debits ahead of the changes to help you build up some extra credit.

If you wish to object to this, Live Chat is the fastest way to get through and you can access that via https://help.ovoenergy.com . But please consider this carefully as it may not be in your best interests to do that.

Thank you for your replies. 
I had to request refund OVO we’re not very helpful in that respect. My direct debit is still building up a credit buffer as my daily consumption of both energies are less that £2, I appreciate there is standing charges, VAT etc on top of that, but I still do not envisage,  even with the price increase, my direct debit reaching the amount they are asking me to pay each month.  I’ll just use them as a savings club and I read that they will be putting interest on the amount of credit you incur.

If you have OVO Interest Reward active on your account, you’ll see a reference to it in MyOVO and it does pay a pretty healthy rate. However, if you’ve joined since September 2021, then I’m afraid you won’t be getting that benefit as it’s been discontinued for new members.

Hi, 

I had a direct debit of £156.10 per month but today i receive an email that they will need to increase that amount to £235 per month. I've been trying to contact them but I've been in the phone waiting for more than 2 hours, please can someone help me understand that. 

Hi @Juannefi ,

Sorry about that! The phones are extremely busy today, but you may find Live Chat a bit faster. You can access it via https://help.ovoenergy.com .

Is it just coincidence that Interest Rewards were stopped for new customers at the same time as OVO bought out SSE and transferred their customers over?  

I'm one of those former SSE customers who's in credit by over £1200 but receives no interest on it.  

I know all of the reasons why OVO Interest Reward was discontinued. Even if it wasn’t, £1,200 is over the limit anyway and with that much credit, you wouldn’t get anything extra.

OVO privately told me the full list to me on the day the changes went live last year. One of the biggest reasons it’s been discontinued was because Ofgem requested it. OVO has had special permission from Ofgem to offer OVO Interest Reward for several years, but it was ultimately open to recall if Ofgem decided to change its mind. The compromise is that existing members who still get OVO Interest Reward will continue to get it for the foreseeable future.

I need permission to disclose the other reasons. Please bear with me while I try to request it.

Thank you for the reply 👍🏻

The fundamental question is whether the DD requested is fair, given likely prices from 1 October 2022.  We all need to put the past behind us and concentrate on the now and the future.

Getting facts and logical computation are essential in assessing whether the DD requested is fair - or not.

Prices of energy have been rising for 18 months and are hitting most of us hard. Forget your old payment, the only relevant thing is whether the new payment is fair and reasonable. Check your consumption and future prices.

Cancelling your DD will up your prices. The average customer will pay an additional £200+ as a result. The worst option.

why do not publish the fact that customers with direct debits can ask for a review of this  outlined by the consumer champion  Martin Lewis  

Because all you need to do is to make the request of customer services.

All the stock answers from OVO people on this forum are pointless as they never tell you what the new standing charge and unit rates are to be on 1 Oct 22.  They just direct you to general pages about caps and support schemes.

EDF have published a very full set of their charges, for both fuels, 4 different payment methods and for economy 7.  Since OVO are working to the same caps it is highly likely that their rates will be very similar if not identical to those of EDF.

government_energy_price_guarantee_prices._standard_variable_deemed_and_welcome._credit_meters.pdf (edfenergy.com)

Hey @DuncanL,

Sorry for the issues you’ve had.

OVO will be in contact directly with all customers affected by the Energy Price Guarantee with details of their new prices.

As this was only announced by the Government very recently, we are working through the finer details. But please be assured, all customers affected will be contacted shortly, if they haven’t already been.

 Hope this helps. 

The point I was trying to make and which Emmanuel’s_OVO conveniently sidesteps is that OVO is telling people to increase their DDs without telling them what the new prices are.  OVO obviously know the new figures or they wouldn’t be giving the DD advice. A customer service adviser told me my new prices this morning.  Why the secrecy ?  Why did I have to contact an adviser for OVO when every other company has the figures on their websites?

I think I meant to type Emmanuelle_OVO but spell checker took over

@Emmanuelle_OVO just tagging as the tag above was spelt slightly differently

Hey @DuncanL,

Sorry for the issues you’ve had.

I have advised that we are recommending customers leave their direct debit unchanged until they are informed of their new prices. All customers will be contacted directly with their new prices.

The direct debit calculator is built into the Online Account, as the Price Cap Guarantee was announced very recently I imagine it would have been difficult to temporarily suspend this. 

The initial direct debit reviews would have been based on the previous price increases which have now been capped by the government. OVO is a very large company and we want to ensure the information we give our customers is accurate.

Variable prices vary depending on region, not all customers affected by the Energy Price Guarantee are on variable contracts, some are on fixed. So we need to ensure that everyone who needs to change their plan from fixed to variable is informed. Everyone who is best to stay on their fixed tariff is notified and that all variable customers are told their new, correct rates. 

Hope this helps.