Sodding OVO keeps putting up my direct debit amount

[PickledElectricity]

Just that really.

I have about £250 in credit.

My direct debit was £110/month.

I got an email saying they had increased it to £128/month!

I tried to put it back down to £110 but it wouldn't let me.

There was then some kind of "I'm struggling" button which allowed me to reduce the amount by 10% to £116, which is still more than what I was playing.

This feels incredibly intrusive and frustrating.

It seems to be all the energy providers?

When our energy company did that i cancelled my DD then paid then on receipt of an actual (not estimated) bill. How dare they decide to just take more than I owe! The tiny discount for paying DD wasn’t worth it.

I'm with octopus. They have tried putting up the direct debit but i phoned them and said no thanks.

Octopus do this. I have emailed them three times this year, each time they’ve contacted me pretty much straight away and said yeah it’s fine to keep it at what I already pay. Annoys me it’s never a small amount extra, they tried to put it up the other week from £150pm to £237!

I had this argument with EON several times

I managed to get it reduced, but not to a sensible amount. They kept having to repay me.

It is totally ridiculous.

Robbing barstewards aren't they😡
Can you switch to another company OP?

Our payments go haywire every year because we use far more electricity in summer than winter as we use oil instead of electric for heating and cooking from October to April. Their algorithms don't appear to track individual customer's usage over several years.

I was with OVO and they kept doing this, I just switched to another company (Fuse). I only pay what I actually use now

The reason I use standing orders and rarely have direct debits.

Well just to add balance, Eon have just put ours down from £108 to £99. We're about £250 in credit but obviously that won't last long.

But those wanting to pay actual bills instead of regular DDs need to be able to pay several expensive months in a row between now and February/March, which many people will struggle with, especially as it coincides with Christmas.

I was on a DD with EON and in over £100 credit but they still tried to put mine up.

I changed provider and send a meter reading every month and just pay for what we use.

We are well in credit with Ovo. £130 dd and they always try to knock ours down. aww like paying that year round then we have plenty credit incase of a cold winter ( cold old house) and can draw out the excess come March.

Theyve never put it up.

How much was your most recent months bill?

I'm with eon for electricity only as CH is oil. I'm only £30 in credit and they haven't put it up. I'm on a fixed rate until May though.

Ring them up and talk to someone I guess, you may have more chance. They keep putting mine down!

But £250 credit going into winter, they may feel that’s not enough? Might depend how long you’ve been with them? Think I was £350 in credit when they just knocked mine down.

I think most people and utilities have this issue tbh. It can be a combination of:

Shit systems
Forecasting weather changes and price changes
Increased usage or estimated readings

We pay on receipt of bill for our water as our usage has been different over the years due go change of circumstances like babies etc. The system then has no idea how to predict your usage.

EOn have just reduced mine. They seem to do this just before winter every year. It means in 6 months time, they will put it up, because my winter usage will be more, and they'll decide I'm not paying quite enough.

If only this were at all predictable and they set it it at a level between the two for the whole year. But it seems not, so we go through the same thing every half year or so.

You can change your Direct Debit amount, there's a button to click to do it. I haven't tried it as the amount is reasonable at the moment and we're forecast to be about £130 in credit by March.

They ought not to be ALLOWED to charge us an extra £20 per year for paying the actual bill rather than giving them free money they can earn interest on👹👹👹
Fucking robbing bastards 🤬🤬🤬

Octopus have tried to change my Direct Debit several times and during a telephone call with them I reminded them that I had signed up to fixed amount for the term of the contract which was annual. Therefore, I did not agree to them changing my direct debit at will - I also pointed out that due to their very accurate forecasting of our anticipated use of their gas and electricity at no point during last years' contract did we actually owe them any money nor did they have an excess of 'our' money. I was quite happy with last years costings and forecasting and saw no reason to change it this year.
I also pointed out that if I felt the need to add to our credit balance in future that I was quite capable of doing so without their interference via direct debits.
I check our account regularly and they have a healthy balance to start the winter and DH's Winter fuel allowance will be added to that when it is paid.

I wouldn't bother phoning them just punish them by switching, that must piss them off and cause them extra hassle and admin.
When I switched from British gas recently (after they increased my direct debit by an unreasonable amount) I had numerous phone calls and emails begging me to come back all of which I ignored.

I’m with octopus - I’ve got £330 credit, pay £129 and they trying to put it up to £143 - I will be calling to decline the increase.

Cancel your DD, set a monthly reminder on your phone, and transfer the money via online banking (or on debit card) once a month. I've had to do this with Octopus. A shame I keep forgetting and they have to chase me to pay. They should've left well enough alone with the DD.

I switched to paying by direct debit based on the monthly amount used. However, I keep my account in credit, making occasional one off top-up payments using my credit card. This means the direct debit is never actually taken because I’m always just in credit. I always pay off my credit card balance in full each month, which means I never incur interest charges. By doing this, I keep a positive fuel balance on my own terms, not theirs, but also earn reward points on my credit card for the payments I make toward my fuel bills.

If you currently don't owe them any money I think you should be able to reduce it to whatever you like. I'm with Octopus and if they move mine up I just ro g and get it put back again pointing out to them they need to focus more on people who do owe them money not annoy ones in credit.