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£66 government energy bills support scheme deducted from my OVO account balance not added?

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
October 7, 2022
645 replies
34621 views

Can anyone explain what’s going on here?

Opening balance was £335, we used around £90 worth of electric/gas combined (£66 government payment was taken off this, hence the £22 charge), I paid £150 so by my reckoning the balance should have gone up by around £125.

It hasn’t though - they seem to have then deducted the £66 again.

Does anyone know why? Do I need to contact them or will it right itself?

Best answer by Blastoise186

Updated on 28/06/23 by Abby_OVO

This scheme is now closed.

How you will be awarded the £67 depends on how you pay. If you’re seeing a deduction, it’s because you pay by Direct Debit and the grant payment went into your OVO account and is then deducted from the account and refunded to your bank account.

For all information on this topic please see the website page Energy Bills Support Scheme or this previous response:

If you pay by direct debit and have seen the credit go to your OVO account, this payment will be transferred into your bank account.

The payment will be made 3-5 working days after the direct debit has cleared. This will happen automatically and you don’t need to do anything.

All customers who pay this way will receive their refund into their bank accounts within 3-5 days of their direct debit date. For example, if your direct debit is the 15th of the month, it’ll be 3-5 days after this.

For anyone that pays on demand, their payment will be made directly to their OVO account.

If you pay by Direct Debit

You’ll receive your discount as a refund. This means you’ll carry on paying your full Direct Debit amount. Once the Direct Debit payment has cleared, we’ll refund the monthly discount amount to your bank account shortly after. If you cancel your Direct Debit, or your payment fails, there may be a delay in applying the discount to your account.

You’ll get your discount every month, even if you don’t get monthly statements. You'll see confirmation of the discount on your next statement.

If you pay when you get your bill

You’ll receive your monthly discount as a credit to your energy account in the first week of each month. You’ll see this on your monthly bills from October.

We’ll add the discount to your energy account every month, even if you don’t get monthly bills. You'll see confirmation of the discount on your next bill.

For example, if you receive your bills on the 15th of the month, we’ll add your discount in the 1st week of the month, starting in October, so you’ll see confirmation of this on your bill dated 15 October.

Hey @meccles !

Please check your Charges as well. I suspect you’ll see a line entry there that explains it, just like this example:

Show previous replies

M

macdonnellelizabeth

Newcomer

Why is the £66 pound paid to ovo then into my private bank account why is it not used to off set bill just an excuse to up direct debits as most people will keep money in their account and not use for bills I just immediately paid it back to ovo and told them I withdraw my consent for them to raise my direct debit as the 6months of 66 will more than cover any shortfall/debit on my account

Blastoise186

Super User

Hi @macdonnellelizabeth ,

It was a government decision to make it so the £66 goes back to your bank account rather than your energy account. OVO has no control over this. EBSS is being treated as a rebate rather than a discount, hence the refund.

The only choices that energy suppliers had was how to give you the rebate to get the money back to your bank account.

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M

macdonnellelizabeth

Newcomer

Fair enough but as soon as it comes in it’s getting paid back and I absolutely deny them the right to continue to raise my dd without considering I will be doing this

Blastoise186

Super User

I’m afraid you can’t withdraw that consent nor deny the right. It’s part of the terms of your contract and is legally binding, so there’s no overrides you can do.

However, I do have options for you. Try giving 0800 069 9831 a call to request a Direct Debit Review Suspension.

Also, I’m going to plug OVO’s Customer Support Package again. It really is worth requesting!

Details at https://www.ovoenergy.com/customer-support-package

Fastest sign up option at https://www.ovoenergy.com/winter-support-delivery/sign-up

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way! Remember, I'm just like you - AI Powered Evil Geniuses aren't Staff!

B

bram.murton

Newcomer

Do you pay by direct debit ? If so the £66 gets paid in after the DD is received. Then it’s swept out again into your bank account (which will take up to 5 days to clear).

I pay by DD. My ovo account had £66 removed but not credited to it. My bank received £66. But that is only the £66 they took out. When do I get the £66 credited to my ovo account?

B

bram.murton

Newcomer

I’m still waiting for the £66. It says on the front page from the 1st October but I’ve not seen it in either my bank or the system. How is everyone else getting on?

Ovo took £66 out of my energy account and paid it into my bank account, but there has not been £66 credited to my ovo account.

O

onefour69

Newcomer

Agree this is confusing - I’ve also had a -£66.00 credit returned to my bank account, but this has simply reduced my Ovo account balance by -£66.00

To my mind this appears that Ovo have just taken £66 less from me rather than add £66 to my overall Ovo account balance.

I’ve checked my bill in detail and can’t see any other way to interpret this. Is there anyone here from Ovo that can clarify please?

Blastoise186

Super User

I’m afraid the £66 is meant to go to your bank account rather than your OVO account. You’re welcome to pay it back in of course, if you’d like to use it to pay for your energy.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way! Remember, I'm just like you - AI Powered Evil Geniuses aren't Staff!

Blastoise186

Super User

The money is meant to go to your bank account and that’s exactly what all suppliers are doing, albeit in 50 different ways. It’s a government decision so OVO can’t do anything about it. You can of course, pay it back in if you wish.

I would recommend checking out the Customer Support Package though, as you might benefit from it.

Details at https://www.ovoenergy.com/customer-support-package

Fastest sign up option at https://www.ovoenergy.com/winter-support-delivery/sign-up

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way! Remember, I'm just like you - AI Powered Evil Geniuses aren't Staff!