How to get supplier to set direct debit for exactly the amount used

AlexMason

I heard Martin Lewis on R4 a few days ago state that the energy companies can simply bill for the exact amount used.

I want to do this as a way of getting more discipline in my household as we watch the meter readings all the time, and to know that I am neither in credit nor debt. So i phoned OVO this morning after failing to achieve the task online. The usual blood pressure increase with no substantive result.

Has anyone achieved this and what was your method?

AlexMason

AlexMason said:

I heard Martin Lewis on R4 a few days ago state that the energy companies can simply bill for the exact amount used.

I want to do this as a way of getting more discipline in my household as we watch the meter readings all the time, and to know that I am neither in credit nor debt. So i phoned OVO this morning after failing to achieve the task online. The usual blood pressure increase with no substantive result.

Has anyone achieved this and what was your method?

Sorry, I have written this text so many times this morning trying to discuss it with OVO's botties that I skipped over the important point above - I am trying to get them to change the direct debit to exactly the total on the bill each month

Sandtree

Ovo's website suggests they only do the standard fixed DD option so if you want to pay just the billed amount you'd need to use a different payment method with Ovo

victor2

AlexMason said:

I heard Martin Lewis on R4 a few days ago state that the energy companies can simply bill for the exact amount used.

I want to do this as a way of getting more discipline in my household as we watch the meter readings all the time, and to know that I am neither in credit nor debt. So i phoned OVO this morning after failing to achieve the task online. The usual blood pressure increase with no substantive result.

Has anyone achieved this and what was your method?

You want to be on a "monthly variable direct debit", which not all suppliers offer. I cannot find anything which says OVO are one who do. It does, unfortunately, require that you speak to a human there with the ability to go outside the comfort of their scripts. I usually find that asking the bots a question they can't understand gets you transferred to the queue for a real person.

Changing supplier these days is a bit of a challenge too!

Edit:

Can you get OVO to drop your direct debit to a small amount to, say, cover your usual summer usage, then make manual payments each month as the cost increases?

pochase

Old T&C state you can do it

5. Payment Options
5.1. The default Payment Method for our Fixed Plans is Standard Direct Debit, although you can change to Flexible Direct Debit if you meet the criteria in clause 5.4. You acknowledge that if you sign up to a Fixed Plan, you are requesting to pay by either of these two Payment Methods.

https://www.myutilitygenius.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/docs/tos/ovo-energy.pdf

I cannot find anything on their own side. Important might be that they call it flexible direct debit  and not variable direct debit.

QrizB

pochase said:

Old T&C state you can do it

Current T&C are here:

https://www.ovoenergy.com/terms

Confusingly, there are three different sets that could apply depending on when you joined OVO.

The word "flexible" does not appear in any of the three and I can't immediately spot an equivalent option. Sorry.

pochase

Here is an explanation how it works from Ovo, but also a bit old

https://www.cjkemble.com/ovo-energy-understanding-flexible-direct-debit/

AlexMason

Thank you all for this. i have now found the following OVO video describing flexible Direct Debit but in the text below the video there is a statement 'no longer avalable after 2017' So that's that, and I'm not happy about it, I wonder if Martin Lewis is aware? Would be good if someone took up this issue because all these energy suppliers ought to be held to some basic standards of provision. I, like many others, have never been happy with fixed direct debits. I prefer to be in control myself.  At Youtube::   watch?v=-O9rWis-GUI

[Deleted User]

AlexMason said:

Thank you all for this. i have now found the following OVO video describing flexible Direct Debit but in the text below the video there is a statement 'no longer avalable after 2017' So that's that, and I'm not happy about it, I wonder if Martin Lewis is aware? Would be good if someone took up this issue because all these energy suppliers ought to be held to some basic standards of provision. I, like many others, have never been happy with fixed direct debits. I prefer to be in control myself.  At Youtube::   watch?v=-O9rWis-GUI

I pay by monthly DD and I am 100% control. I just make sure that there is a minimum of one month’s credit to cover the following month’s estimated usage and I change my monthly D D at will. Not all suppliers offer this flexibility and many charge extra for your idea of control. 

It is worth bearing in mind that suppliers pay their wholesalers in advance of supply; hence the reason why most suppliers like to charge the first month’s DD payment before supply starts.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

will OVO allow you to come off DD and just get a regular bill then pay by Debit Card, be higher tariff then, I suppose?

pochase

Question is is a variable direct debit a basic standard? Ovo has all three major payment methods available - direct debit. prepaid and cash/cheque.

It seems they had the variable/flexible direct debit available a few years ago, why did they drop it.

One reason could be the big danger of the variable direct debit, people who will/can not budget and are not prepared for the high bills in winter and are unable to pay for the energy.