Do Ovo Energy want to be a bank?

home_132

However, not once in your post have you mentioned your use.  You have just focused on your payment. 

What is your annual use?  

Thanks for your comments.

I don't have an accurate annual usage figure at the moment and that's perhaps the problem. We've made some changes to our appliances lately which have halved our gas usage, but this has only been over the past couple of months. So I think perhaps the usage calculations don't take that into account. If you look at usage this August compared to last it's literally half, so if you look at usage over the past 12 months it doesn't give a fair reflection of future usage at the moment.

Brie

home_132 said:

Yeah I'm thinking of just paying by card each month, but DD is very handy and I would rather do that really. I'm also aware of the credit interest... I had considered upping my DD considerably and using it as a bank account to earn some decent interest, but I'd be concerned that withdrawing my money might not be straight forward. Once a company goes bust it gets even harder, I have a friend in that situation currently.

Have you asked to pay by DD each month for your actual use?  So if your use is £97 and you've a £400+ credit your DD should be zero.  Obviously the net result is you pay more for the months in the winter when your use is high but it keeps your money more in your control.

home_132

That's one thing I really like about OVO. Their website provides great tools for analysing usage etc. So actually I can see that on the 1st Aug for example, my usage this year is considerably less than last year. I wonder if their calculations for future usage take this into account.

Rather than imposing this DD change on me it would be nice to be able to make that decision for myself as I know more about my energy usage and future intentions than they do. It just feels a little heavy handed.

pochase

Brie said:

home_132 said:

Yeah I'm thinking of just paying by card each month, but DD is very handy and I would rather do that really. I'm also aware of the credit interest... I had considered upping my DD considerably and using it as a bank account to earn some decent interest, but I'd be concerned that withdrawing my money might not be straight forward. Once a company goes bust it gets even harder, I have a friend in that situation currently.

Have you asked to pay by DD each month for your actual use?  So if your use is £97 and you've a £400+ credit your DD should be zero.  Obviously the net result is you pay more for the months in the winter when your use is high but it keeps your money more in your control.

To my knowledge Ovo is one of the few suppliers that don't offer variable direct debit.

[Deleted User]

home_132 said:

That's one thing I really like about OVO. Their website provides great tools for analysing usage etc. So actually I can see that on the 1st Aug for example, my usage this year is considerably less than last year. I wonder if their calculations for future usage take this into account.

Rather than imposing this DD change on me it would be nice to be able to make that decision for myself as I know more about my energy usage and future intentions than they do. It just feels a little heavy handed.

They do take it into account, but it's not the only thing and the indicator is quite lagging.

As for making your own decision, you'll probably find that actually you can - if you either go into your account or call them and get it set where you want (as long as it's reasonable and justified).

The system has to be set up for people who don't engage, and there's been a big push to stop customers ending up with debts at the end of winter, hence the suppliers automatically changing things around this time of year (or around any unit price change).  If they left it to the customer to decide when to change their DD, most would never change it and then complain about massive debts.

Ultrasonic

[Deleted User] said:

Don't OVO also pay interest on credit balances, far better than you can get in a bank account?

I was thinking the same. I know they used to. @home_132 can you confirm? You may be worrying about something that may be to your financial advantage...

Ultrasonic

Quick Google: looks like OVO credit interest is no longer for new customers but may be for the OP depending how long they've been with them.

Ovo Interest Reward: What's the maximum credit balance I can earn interest on? | The OVO Forum (ovoenergy.com)

home_132

My account dashboard is showing 5% but when I click on the link for more information it goes to a 404. So who knows

home_132

Brie said:

home_132 said:

Yeah I'm thinking of just paying by card each month, but DD is very handy and I would rather do that really. I'm also aware of the credit interest... I had considered upping my DD considerably and using it as a bank account to earn some decent interest, but I'd be concerned that withdrawing my money might not be straight forward. Once a company goes bust it gets even harder, I have a friend in that situation currently.

Have you asked to pay by DD each month for your actual use?  So if your use is £97 and you've a £400+ credit your DD should be zero.  Obviously the net result is you pay more for the months in the winter when your use is high but it keeps your money more in your control.

I don't think this is possible, atleast not online anyway. When I logged in this morning it was forcing a minimum of £242/month, however now it's letting me enter anything I like which is a little odd.

Ultrasonic

home_132 said:

My account dashboard is showing 5% but when I click on the link for more information it goes to a 404. So who knows

Do you mean you think you might be getting 5% interest on your credit balance? I'd contact OVO to confirm if you think you might be because if true you'd be better off leaving your credit where it is, unless you specifically need that money to spend.