Direct Debit reviews
Direct Debit reviews are regular account health checks. We call them ‘Direct Debit check-ins’. They help us protect you from any nasty bills at the end of each year with us.
How Direct Debit check-ins work – step by step
1. When you join us, we estimate the cost of your energy over a year, then divide it by 12. That’s your recommended monthly amount.
2. After 3 months, we run the first check-in. By then we’ll have a clearer picture of your energy use thanks to your first 3 readings – and can bring you nice, accurate bills.
3. Afterwards, we keep check-ins rolling every 3 months.
4. If we think your payments won’t cover your energy for the year, we’ll ask you to adjust them.
5. If we don’t hear back, we’ll do it automatically for you (always with 10 days’ notice).
Using more energy than we expect is the most likely reason for us asking you to change your payments. Other reasons include:
Changing your plan or adding OVO Beyond to your existing plan
Missing a payment
Asking for a refund when your account is in credit
Good to remember
We run check-ins even if you have a positive balance. To be absolutely sure you won’t end up with a negative one at the end of your year
Sending us regular meter readings is really important. They help us bring you accurate bills, and make sure your payments are manageable
Your payments can still change even if you’re on a fixed-rate plan. That’s because you pay the same price for every unit of energy – for the duration of your contract. If you’re using more energy, it’s normal for your monthly cost to go up too
We’ll recalculate your Direct Debit when you renew your plan. This is nothing to worry about. It's to help you spread the costs for your next year with us. We’ll estimate your energy use and costs for the remaining months of the current year + the 12 months of next year, add any positive or negative balance you might have – and divide everything by the total number of months