OVO complaint

Troytempest

Advice please. I am with OVO, not in contract so on the standard rate. 
I have been paying £78 per month for quite a while. I make occasional top ups such as putting back in the 67 pounds per month plus the 500 pounds winter fuel allowance.
I am currently £850 in credit but they have put by DD up from £78 to £102.

I am simply not prepared to fund the bank of OVO at my expense. 

Obviously, getting through to anyone sensible on the phone is impossible. 

GingerTim

What is your actual usage in kwh over the last 12 months? If you provide that info, some helpful person on the forum will be able to work out if the increase sounds sensible.

MikeJXE

Troytempest said:

Advice please. I am with OVO, not in contract so on the standard rate. 
I have been paying £78 per month for quite a while. I make occasional top ups such as putting back in the 67 pounds per month plus the 500 pounds winter fuel allowance.
I am currently £850 in credit but they have put by DD up from £78 to £102.

I am simply not prepared to fund the bank of OVO at my expense. 

Obviously, getting through to anyone sensible on the phone is impossible. 

My advice is give up now and just pay up you can't win.

I have been where you are with OVO, without going into detail there is no option other than to pay or walk, I'm walking in a couple of weeks time.

Be prepared for plenty of help on here in justifying why OVO is right 

Troytempest

Thank you. Think it's time to walk. I am very good at managing my usage and meter readings. Have never owed a penny and now 850 in credit. If that's not good enough for them....... Really need a pay monthly or quarterly pay on actual supplier. 

MikeJXE

Troytempest said:

Thank you. Think it's time to walk. I am very good at managing my usage and meter readings. Have never owed a penny and now 850 in credit. If that's not good enough for them....... Really need a pay monthly or quarterly pay on actual supplier. 

You can pay like that with OVO 

I chose that and cancelled my direct debit so they sent me new energy rates that were about 10% more expensive so I had to go back on DD

My direct debit increased from 91 to 153 a month ago, I'm now 254 in credit and not yet used more than 90 in any month. 

Troytempest

Not prepared to pay the 10% higher figure so will keep the DD while looking for new supplier. 

Jonboy_1984

Can I just check that your bills are based on regular actual meter readings and not estimated readings (ignoring ovo’s peculiarity of estimating from the time of reading to midnight on billing day)?

Dobbibill

Have you tried the DD calculator to see how much it says you should be paying based on your annual usage?

Here's the link 
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits/#calc

400ixl

You have potentially made this complicated by the way you are running your account.

OVO will be looking at what you use vs your DD payment. When you start adding one off payments, repaying in the government grants etc you are creating a credit which they will not be able to account for. No energy supplier has a crystal ball to account for your way of managing your account.

If you didn't make these additional payments on top of the DD how would your account look?

You will need to understand your actual annual usage, your current balance and go back to OVO with a rate which will take into account the April rise and keep your account in credit over the year. Then don't keep making random payments (put them into an account you can then use to fund the DD.

Troytempest

They offer a facility to make top ups so should be able to cope with it. 

I am more interested in the principal. £850  in credit and they still want more. Or at least get in touch for a discussion. Communication with OVO is only one way and that seems to only relate to them wanting more money. 

Troytempest

Further update. After I put in meter readings yesterday the system reckons I will still be £124 in credit at the end of my billing year.
This increase is a cynical attempt to improve cash flow at my expense.