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

You are quite right, it could have been presented on the bill in a much clearer fashion! 

On checking my ovo account, it shows £66 as "refunds" To me it looks when calculating the £66 has been taken from my credit. The 121.50 I did ask as a refund. Please explain. 

Ta much.

Hi @Amerififer Click on See details for both of those bill periods. You should have an entry Energy Bill Support Scheme showing as -£66 in the Charges detail. That’s a negative charge, ie a payment into your account from the government scheme. That £66 is then refunded to your bank. Should be one for each month from October to March 2023

Hiya Julia, 

Thanks for the quick response.. How is a negative charge (£66)a payment into my account?

It does show as a refund in my bank account in doing the maths surely it should show as a positive charge  before it shows as a negative charge??? Looks to me like its just been taken from my credit.. For some reason just not getting my head around this one.. Help :)

The £66 appears in two different places: coming into your OVO account in the Charges in Detail and going out from you OVO account into your bank as a refund shown in the Balance Summary. 

In the Charges in detail section all the numbers are positive because they’re money going out, except the £66 which is negative as it’s money coming in.

Am I making this worse ?!?! 

Slightly yep lolol..    I know I’m not the only one.. 

So why does it not add to the credit balance before its taken back out? 

Ah… 🤔

….because it’s reduced the charges instead.

I believe it was done that way because that method was already available for paying other grants through the bill.

How has it reduced the charges? Unless its a credit first… then a refund, by the math on my numbers in the above example it is taken from my credit and refunded to my account..   IE: £66 less in my credit balance? 

I’m honestly not trying to be difficult here .. :) Just totally not getting it and its not making sense how if the £66 is taken from my credit balance and refunded to my bank account how i’ve been given an additional £66 from the support.. 

I thought this also when I first looked at my account but what ovo appear to have done is reduce the amount you should have paid for your energy by £66

So for example you should have been charged £83.46 for energy use this month but you have been charged £17.46 and then you recieve a credit back into your bank of £66

It would have been better if the £66 was not refunded and helped to pay the bill but this is how the government wanted it.

Also I think the way that ovo shows it is not the easiest way but guess systems all work differently and that's the way that was probably easiest for them 

Hey @Amerififer,

I think part of the confusion here is that it appears as -£66 when you click on other charges.

This is actually a credit in. The payment then gets refunded, so it should have no affect on your balance, as it is first credited and then refunded.

Hope this helps. 

I experienced the same, my credit is debited by refunds, but never shown in my payments as energy support scheme money received. upon making contacts… whatsapp rep could not explain. nor over the phone to ovo. This can make me believe that something is seriously wrong in OVO and matter now need to be investigated by OFGEM.

my previous provider SSE has clearly shown this payments as adjustments totalling ZERO as a result of money received from support and paid to my bank account, but with OVO it raised questions. My credits are reduced by £66 as a result of refunds to bank account and Help money remain invisible in my OVO account. 

it is not long before my account is migrated from SSE. 

SSE has better to show and nothing to hide.

WE all who face this has no choice to suffer mentally with OVO as no choice to go to different and surely reputable providers. As no energy company now taking in or transfers  from any company.

I would ask if anyone and any which way we can leave OVO and go to more clear, simple and transparent company? which will not raise issues to worry with?

@vimaljb have you checked in the Details of your charges ? That is where the £66 goes into your account. If you click on See details where you see the Refund you should get details of the gas and electricity charges and a line which says Energy Bill Support Scheme - £66 eg on next post…

I wondered why the £66 was debited from my account but I can see now what is happening, OVO is putting the Government Grant of £66 back into my Bank Account so in effect I’m paying £66 less than my D/D. The £66 takes at least 3 working days to land in the Bank Account i.e. if it’s credited on a Thursday, you won’t see it until at least the next Monday

The £66 Government help has been deducted from my energy account and sent out to my bank as a refund.

(- £66) I paid my usual direct debit which is the only recent credit on the account, after last months direct debit. 

The next day I reveived £66 back.

So where is my Government help?? I will be £400 down on my account this winter if Ovo continue to refund me from my own money.

I just wonder if anyone else has had the same happen & maybe not realised that the £66 has not gone in on their energy account from the Government first. 

Hiya!

It sounds like you’ve had the credits so far. The -£66 thing is an account credit, not a charge.

If you still feel that you’ve not had the credits and they don’t show at all under Charges in detail, please call 0330 303 5063.

Thanks. Ive had no credit on the account at all. 

Ive checked everywhere & my week to week balance does not include it either.

I will need to speak to them then.

Thank you

@Needinfo if you look at your ‘charges in detail’ is there an entry for Energy Bill Support Scheme -£66 ? if it’s there it’s reducing your charges by £66 ie that’s the payment from the government.

Thank you. I was just compiling my info to ring when I added my last months usage up I have realised the - £66 in the charges section is deducting the government help in that section!

Because I expected that to be a +£66 instead of a minus (which would be much better for people to see it's received) My brain did not compute it as a +( which it is!)🥴

Having seen many a post here & there many are assuming it should be a 'credit'  + which it is but in reverse as it's a deduction off charges. 

Thank you for this help. 

It was driving me nuts🤣

Good to hear it is sorted. It is not the easiest thing to spot. A lot of us went through the same thing in our heads when we got out first payment 😊

Did you ever get an answer for this as it’s happening to me they are taking £66 from my OVO account to pay into my bank account!! No credit of £66 just refund off £66 into my bank? 

Have a look at this @kaylar1605 

Thank you I have looked at this and I still only have £66 minus of my account no credit when I’ve added and minus everything is works out I have been minus of £66 no credit to my account 

I've not had the credit either. . !!  Edited to say in my ovo account.  Just the minus. I really don't get it.