Lost all confidence in my providers ability to estimate my energy usage - time to cancel DD?

CosmicYak

pochase said:

I have just checked and it seems Ovo might not have variable direct debit, but they are giving you 3% to 5% interest on the amount you are in credit. Personally I would happy if there debit my account with a few hundred pounds each month. No chance to get this interest anywhere else.

You also did not mention that you have reduced you energy use by 30% as written in an earlier thread. Ovo won't have a glass ball to get this information, they will calculate your direct debit from the usage figures available to them.

And this is the issue.  If I take my most recent actual past monthly kWh usage figures for both gas and electricity and use those figures as the basis for my future projections (so for example December 2021 usage is used as my forecast for December 2022 etc.), my DD estimates come out far lower than OVO's.  I can only conclude that OVO are reaching back further into my usage data for previous years (when I like many others was maybe not keeping such a close eye on their consumption) and that is what is maybe causing the discrepancy. 

If that is what they are doing, then they are making it very difficult for users such as myself to realise the financial benefits of cutting down on our energy consumption, which is very wrong!  

Alnat1

But if OVO are paying you a very good interest rate on any credit balance you have with them, it's actually better than you saving it in a bank account. It will probably be mostly used up over winter anyway

If you did manage to change to variable DD, do you have a savings scheme that will pay better than 2-3% on the money you put aside to pay the very big winter bills? 

pochase

I completely understand where you are coming from, you have reduced your usage and you know what you are doing, so it is frustrating that Ovo does not keep up with you.

On the other hand they will a lot of requests for lower DD, not because the users know what they are doing or have reduced their usage, but just because they feel it is to high.

To be honest, that was my first reaction when I saw this thread, until I saw your other thread that showed that your request to reduce the DD was well founded.

Effician

pochase said:

I have just checked and it seems Ovo might not have variable direct debit, but they are giving you 3% to 5% interest on the amount you are in credit. Personally I would happy if there debit my account with a few hundred pounds each month. No chance to get this interest anywhere else.

You also did not mention that you have reduced you energy use by 30% as written in an earlier thread. Ovo won't have a glass ball to get this information, they will calculate your direct debit from the usage figures available to them.

Ovo haven't given interest on new accounts for a while now & they don't do variable D/D, 

I am with Ovo & have had the same experience as the OP, smart meter readings sent 1/2 hourly & gone through smoothly, but their algo seems to be highly inflating future use compared to historic data ( SSE usage last year 1700kwh, year before 2400kwh  , OVO est 3900kwh) ,they seem to be swamped & unable to cope with their massive intake of new customers  which means sorting out issues of this nature are getting very frustrating for the customers.

Anyway i'm in the process of switching as i have no trust in them & haven't had since day one of being moved to them from SSE.

pochase

I believe you when you say they are not paying it any longer, but they still have the T&C on their web site.

https://www.ovoenergy.com/terms/interest-rewards

CosmicYak

Effician said:

pochase said:

I have just checked and it seems Ovo might not have variable direct debit, but they are giving you 3% to 5% interest on the amount you are in credit. Personally I would happy if there debit my account with a few hundred pounds each month. No chance to get this interest anywhere else.

You also did not mention that you have reduced you energy use by 30% as written in an earlier thread. Ovo won't have a glass ball to get this information, they will calculate your direct debit from the usage figures available to them.

Ovo haven't given interest on new accounts for a while now & they don't do variable D/D, 

I am with Ovo & have had the same experience as the OP, smart meter readings sent 1/2 hourly & gone through smoothly, but their algo seems to be highly inflating future use compared to historic data ( SSE usage last year 1700kwh, year before 2400kwh  , OVO est 3900kwh) ,they seem to be swamped & unable to cope with their massive intake of new customers  which means sorting out issues of this nature are getting very frustrating for the customers.

Anyway i'm in the process of switching as i have no trust in them & haven't had since day one of being moved to them from SSE.

Effician said:

pochase said:

I have just checked and it seems Ovo might not have variable direct debit, but they are giving you 3% to 5% interest on the amount you are in credit. Personally I would happy if there debit my account with a few hundred pounds each month. No chance to get this interest anywhere else.

You also did not mention that you have reduced you energy use by 30% as written in an earlier thread. Ovo won't have a glass ball to get this information, they will calculate your direct debit from the usage figures available to them.

Ovo haven't given interest on new accounts for a while now & they don't do variable D/D, 

I am with Ovo & have had the same experience as the OP, smart meter readings sent 1/2 hourly & gone through smoothly, but their algo seems to be highly inflating future use compared to historic data ( SSE usage last year 1700kwh, year before 2400kwh  , OVO est 3900kwh) ,they seem to be swamped & unable to cope with their massive intake of new customers  which means sorting out issues of this nature are getting very frustrating for the customers.

Anyway i'm in the process of switching as i have no trust in them & haven't had since day one of being moved to them from SSE.

So, glad I'm not the only one going through this frustration. 

I take others points regarding interest being added to the credit balance, however my focus is less on savings and more on day-to-day cashflow, which is not helped by a third-party sucking excess funds from your account on the basis of over-inflated usage estimates, regardless of the interest they pay.  It's not as if these funds are exactly easy-access right now! 

@Effician , who are you switching to out of interest? 

EssexHebridean

how do (or should) they get your meter readings? Do you give them to them monthly, or are you on a smart meter so they should get them automatically. If the latter the have they confirmed that they are actually getting the readings sent?  I've been having a situation with my (now former - hurrah!) energy supplier Utility warehouse where I send them the readings, and they then choose to ignore them so they can over-estimate. On occasion they also show an estimated reading as a customer one, which muddies the waters still further.... 

Chrysalis

Dont cancel DD, you lose DD discount and if ever forget manual payment risk mark on your credit file, Variable DD might be right for you.

Effician

pochase said:

I believe you when you say they are not paying it any longer, but they still have the T&C on their web site.

https://www.ovoenergy.com/terms/interest-rewards

I think they stopped it for new customers once they began their too big too quick campaign but can't find a specific date, i believe some existing customers are still entitled.

CosmicYak said:

who are you switching to out of interest? 

Like a few on here i'm trying the Geenenergy uk sparkle tariff ( E7 for us) , on my very low usage & expecting 1050kwh/yr  it works out at around 30% above my current svr  & negates some of the worry of Octobers cap rise.

Edit to add : they only do variable Direct debit for new customers which was also a big plus in moving from OVO.& gives some faith that they're not just trying to line their pockets with our credit balance.

[Deleted User]

CosmicYak said:

pochase said:

I have just checked and it seems Ovo might not have variable direct debit, but they are giving you 3% to 5% interest on the amount you are in credit. Personally I would happy if there debit my account with a few hundred pounds each month. No chance to get this interest anywhere else.

You also did not mention that you have reduced you energy use by 30% as written in an earlier thread. Ovo won't have a glass ball to get this information, they will calculate your direct debit from the usage figures available to them.

they are making it very difficult for users such as myself to realise the financial benefits of cutting down on our energy consumption, which is very wrong!   

There is a flaw in your logic. Your post suggests that suppliers are overcharging when this isn’t the case. I would agree that the setting of DD payments which are higher than they need to be impacts cashflow but irrespective of whether consumers pay my monthly DD; variable DD in arrears, or in cash, we will only pay for the energy that we use at the agreed tariff rate.