OVO account

How your energy account balance works

Your energy account balance: the basics

Here’s how your energy account balance works:

You put payments in – via Direct Debit or by paying your bill
Money comes out to pay for your energy use – after you get a statement or bill

Check your balance anytime with your online account or our OVO app.

Your account balance: when you pay by Direct Debit

Over summer, it’s likely a credit balance will build up in your account, because your home’s energy use is usually lower. Then in winter, your credit balance will go down as your home uses more energy.

The idea is this spreads your energy costs over time, to help you avoid paying more in winter. It does mean your energy account balance will have more credit in it sometimes. The overall goal is for you not to have a debt balance long term.

You can request a credit refund at any time in line with our refund policy, if you’d prefer.

Useful to know: credit refunds

It’s important you have all the info, then you can decide what’s best for you.

You can request a refund anytime, as long as you leave one month’s energy use in your energy account
If you request a refund online, sometimes we need to confirm this over the phone to make sure you have the details of how it’ll affect your energy account
Getting a refund might mean your Direct Debit payments increase again, once your account has less credit in it

To get your credit refund:

You need to have sent a meter reading recently. You must have sent one for both electricity and gas (if you have both). If you have a smart meter, the reading should be sent automatically.
You need to have had your energy account with us for at least 90 days.
We need to have received at least 2 Direct Debit payments from the bank account we're refunding to.
You can’t have any other refund requests pending.

Your account balance: when you pay after getting your bill

When you pay your bill after getting it, it's unlikely a credit balance will build up in your energy account – that’s if you pay the full amount owed within 14 days.

This is because you’ll just be paying for what you owe – no more and no less.

Paying this way does mean your payments will change over the year. They’re unlikely to be the same each month.