This Morning chat, energy supplier wanting to hold 3 months credit!

findinganswersgal

Has anyone seen this morning 9/12/2025, a comment was made about a energy company that keeps 3 months worth of credit and wont give you a refund. I am in this boat too! I find it silly them holding 3 months worth of credit sat in my OVO account. Please Martin Lewis can you sort it out, I would like some of my money back.

la531983

Vote with your feet and move elsewhere?

sammyjammy

Its pretty standard for this time of the year otherwise you'll fall into debit later in the winter.  The time to ask for a credit back is generally in the spring so you can build it up again over the summer.

DE_612183

Did you listen to the explanation - normally the 3 month credit covers the periods in the winter when you'll use more than you actually pay.

However if you don't like this approach - just go for the pay on demand bill - but be prepared for high bills in winter than in summer.

WiserMiser

Welcome to the forum.

Why put up with it?  You don't need Martin to fix it, you can do it yourself today (unless you're on a fixed tariff and early exit penalties apply) - Ditch and Switch !

WiserMiser

DE_612183 said:

However if you don't like this approach - just go for the pay on demand bill - but be prepared for high bills in winter than in summer.

Not quite - she could end up on a Pay On Receipt of Bill (cash or cheque) tariff which is likely to cost about 7% more than equal DDs.

The answer is Variable Monthly DD but IIRC Ovo don't offer it but friendlier companies certainly do, although you may have to phone or email to get it set up.

findinganswersgal

Sorry I dont think I made myself clear, Martin Lewis did say that yes it does cover your fuel in the winter, but to hold 3 months is ridiculous, he did say he was going to look into this but just couldn't believe that there  not actually allowed to do so!

jimjames

findinganswersgal said:

Sorry I dont think I made myself clear, Martin Lewis did say that yes it does cover your fuel in the winter, but to hold 3 months is ridiculous, he did say he was going to look into this but just couldn't believe that there  not actually allowed to do so!

As above easy way is to just pay on bill via DD so you get the benefit of discount but don't have any credit held.

born_again

findinganswersgal said:

Sorry I dont think I made myself clear, Martin Lewis did say that yes it does cover your fuel in the winter, but to hold 3 months is ridiculous, he did say he was going to look into this but just couldn't believe that there  not actually allowed to do so!

We have not even had a cold spell yet, other than a couple of days.

My last gas bill was £73, up from £30 ish in summer. Electric is pretty constant £70 to £80 a month.
Yet I'm still paying the same monthly £100 DD. Which is not covering the energy used over November.
Come April I expect to still have a months credit in the pot. (subject to not having 4 months sub zero temps) 12C here today.

As others if not happy vote & leave. Or go to a variable monthly payment. Just remember that you have to do the budgeting to cover the larger winter bills & not the energy co's

Scot_39

la531983 said:

Vote with your feet and move elsewhere?

(It could be worth switching suppliers if you can budget for and afford higher winter payments - to find mvdd - or even switching to smart prepay if have a smart meter.)

But you could still be waiting 8 weeks for cash refund - and if want annualised plan - you are likely to start at winter based rates (or actually enticed by lower DDs but switched to them very quickly after initial month or 2 statememorewh3n go into debit as others here have reported) 

DE_612183 said:

Did you listen to the explanation - normally the 3 month credit covers the periods in the winter when you'll use more than you actually pay.

However if you don't like this approach - just go for the pay on demand bill - but be prepared for high bills in winter than in summer.

Ovo stopped doing mvdd couple of years ago.

And standard credit cap is over £10pm more - maybe 5% more expensive.

So be careful about rushing to radical action.



Ovo are like others now aiming for always in credit - and for annualised (not fixed) DD - doing so via calcs based on 1 months credit end Mar so the account is always  in credit going forward.  Which of course means a higher credit now than of old.

Far higher than years ago when many saw there annual plans cycle between debit at end of winter and credit at the start - the closer to zero average balance type charts that you can still see in places from 2-3 years ago. 

Welcome to high interest rates cashflow costs and - probably why it will spread to others - the new minimum (post 30 collapses and over £100 average costs paid by most of us on Ofgem capped rates)  liquidity thresholds set by Ofgem to avoid a repeat of failures..

Thresholds that Ovo and Octopus were 2 of the 3 reportedly failing - never saw tge third named - anyone ?.

(Octopus have their own always in credit mechanisms - for annualised DD a 5 week min credit target for April - but still do offer mvdd - at least to existing customers on it)

Scot_39

jimjames said:

findinganswersgal said:

Sorry I dont think I made myself clear, Martin Lewis did say that yes it does cover your fuel in the winter, but to hold 3 months is ridiculous, he did say he was going to look into this but just couldn't believe that there  not actually allowed to do so!

As above easy way is to just pay on bill via DD so you get the benefit of discount but don't have any credit held.

Not at Ovo.