Ovo forcing high direct debit

[Skintybinty]

I have a smart meter, so Ovo knows exactly what electricity I use every month.

I'm away with work a lot so my use is very variable, but despite this, they refuse to bill me monthly for what I have actually used, and keep hassling me to increase my direct debit was above what I wiull actually use.

What's the point of a smartmeter if they're going to estimate my direct debit anyway? Utterly crap company, but I can't seem to switch at the moment.

Can anyone recommend a company that bills on your actual electricity used?

Are they trying to make sure you don't get a massive shock next winter? EON Next bill once you send them a reading.

The only way to be billed for what you use is cancelling your direct debit. You'll lose a discount of around £50 a year (depending on supplier).

Hardly any suppliers are signing up on the standard variable tariff, but you might have joy with Eon as SVT cash customer.

They are all requesting higher Dd to cover the next cap rise. You can refuse but will be responsible to ensure you aren’t in the red.
octopus wanted £250 Dd, I settled on £150 - I give a metre reading and the amount actually billed comes off my acc with them. I can withdraw credit back to my current account or top it up as needed

This isn’t right, you should receive a statement monthly for your usage and it should be based on actual readings from your smart meter. If they’re being estimated get in touch with ovo it could be the readings aren’t pulling through on your billing date or the meters aren’t communicating

your direct debit is set to cover your usage, if estimated readings are being used they’ll think your usage is higher which is why you’ll need to pay more

I am with Evolve - they tried to put our gas and electricity up my treble.

I told them the direct debit would bounce and couldnt afford it. I offered to pay based on the max amount i had ever used.

I am in debit, but theres nothing I can do about it really.

The cost of power has not increased for the power companies. Its all speculative on their part.

E.on next did the same to me I reduced it as much as they would allow, however I think they are worried that people will not pay and continue to use

Appalling

I have just posted about the enormous profits that Shell and BP have announced this week

Octopus have been fine. I basically told them what I wanted to set my DD at and that's it. I don't have a smart meter but send them monthly readings.

Whilst I appreciate they are (maybe) trying to get customers to build a reserve during summer to cover winter it's actually not their job to manage peoples finances. Effectively you are paying for something you haven't used. If my provider made me do this and I was on svr then I would switch.

I also think this shows how we are being stitched up with the daily charges. I expect the next thing will be the energy providers bleating to the government that they are losing money and people should have to pay in advance.

Agreed- Octopus have been really good.

They suggested £250 monthly - I said no £150- and this months first high bill was £135- again I appreciate they want to insure no debt come winter but I'd rather the money in my account than theirs.

I have the opposite issue with British Gas, they are suggesting I reduce my Gas DD to £19 a month. That probably only just covers the standing charge 🤷‍♀️

OVO did the same to me.

Sent a statement detailing my actual monthly expenditure for April as £163.80 for gas & electricity combined. We have been paying £200 per month DD.

The next paragraph was explaining our DD was rising to £468 per month from 1st June.

What's the point of a smartmeter if they're going to estimate my direct debit anyway?

all the direct debits add up to free investment and saves bank loans

I'm with OVO and I find them very useful friendly. You can go online and set your own DD. You do need to account for the fact that for several months your usage will be higher than it is now.

If you have a fixed tariff with OVO they pay you interest on any credit balances. I'm currently getting 4% and letting it build up as much as possible !

I'm with Octopus too and they've been ok.

@terry72 you could be a scammer for all we know. Most likely are.

Here we go with the sales pitch 🙄

So you're not Terry from Sedgley Property and Maintenance or Milovsorov Plumbing Service, then? You just have the same name and phone number?

A company which you haven't named, and for which you've only provided a mobile number. Aye, right.

Has Milovsorov Plumbing Service recently diversified?

Or is it the boot camp and karate background that helps you "chop" bills

The next chapter in the Ovo saga:

I cancelled my direct debit and elected to pay variable 'on demand' which is slightly more expensive but means I know exactly where I stand each month instead of constant messages trying to change my DDebit.

I paid off my (lowish) balance in full so now owe them nothing, and my electricity should tick up each day according to the smartmeter actual use data as before.

Weirdly when I log, my electricty usage has increased by x 10 for the last 2 days, since I made the change, even though nothing has changed in what I have had plugged in.

On further investigation, it says 'no data available' so the figures they have used are estimates, which happen to be a lot higher than my actual usage. So they will still get more money from me using this tactic, even though I've cancelled the high direct debit.

It all feels very shifty!

OFGEM has conformed to me that even though all the companies are very reluctant to take on new customers on to a variable rate at the moment they HAVE to accept you so I'm going to pursue a switch away from Ovo, which IMO is awful.

Oh for an edit button- sorry for the typos...

OFGEM has unfortunately not conformed to me, only confirmed.