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

Hey @Shahifa Bi,

Sorry for the issues you’re having,

If you’re talking about the Energy Bills Support Scheme payment, this topic might be helpful to you:

Hope this helps.

Start with the balance on your account and then factor in your Direct Debit Payment.

For instance, If you have a £200 Debt, and you paid a £100 Direct Debit, You would have a £100 Debt left on your bill.

However, there will also be -£67.00 Energy Support Payment and you now have a £100 Debt minus a £67.00 credit. Your final balance for the bill is a £33.00 Debt (Because you were awarded a credit).

Your provider then returns £67.00 to your bank account as a refund. You balance goes BACK UP by £67.00

Final Balance: £33 Debt + £67 Refund = £100.00 Debt.

Another way to think of it is, you were £100 in debt after paying the DD. And you're still £100 in debt on the bill. The difference is: you now have £67 in your bank which you didn't have before. 

Are ovo being doggey here, I moved from edf last month 7th Jan, noticed no DD taken fro. Ovo even though it was set up for the 8th so according to app was going negative, so I put 200 pounds payment in to cover my usage, was charged 164ish for the month leaving me 35 quid credit, my 210 debit went in this month feb  making it 246, the government energy payment of 67 should have been refunded to my account aaccording to ovo message which it has but they have taken it from my balance putting me down to 175  ... which unless I'm mistaken means I didn't get the grant at all OVO have taken it for themselves?

Check the Charges in detail. You should see the £67 as a credit, reducing the amount charged against your balance.
  

Definitely says minus and my credit is down I'll have to call seems strange

@Scotsdragon you really don’t need to call OVO about this. The way OVO deal with the £67 is to REDUCE your charges by that amount each month. You see the entry to reduce them where the VAT appears on you charges - look at ‘See details’ on your online account. The balance section does show that your credit is reduced because the money is paid to your bank, but at the same time your charges are also reduced. No fraud, just a very confusing way of showing the payment. 

Like many people on the forum I to would like an answer a proper answer unlike the zero reply from customer service why does OVO give money with the left hand then take it away with the right. In fact getting NO rebate from the goverment as many people said a right con. OVO must be coining it.

OVO pay the rebate as a reduction on your charges. Have a look at the charges detail for the last several months. It should appear where the VAT is shown. It might help to download the bills so you get the whole picture 

All the energy retailers have to keep the ebss money separate from their own finances and pay back to the government any interest that accrues btw. 

Make sure to check https://energy-support.ovoenergy.com too! It’ll tell you exactly where the money goes.

I have checked my accounts, bank and OVO. In one instance the bank shows a credit of £**, checking OVO account credit value it shows exactly the same amount deducted from my credit. As I see it the net result is £0. 

Did you use the tool I mentioned?

The whole idea is that the money goes to your bank account. That tool will explain exactly how it was done for your account specifically.

Have you looked at the screen you get when you click See Details then scroll down to the VAT

The thing it looks like you’ve possibly missed @Future88 is something mentioned earlier by @juliamc. 
Alongside the refund you will also have the same amount deducted from your energy use. It isn’t easy to see but you should have less of a bill. 
That gives you your money from the government which is then paid back to your bank

Hey @Future88,

Sorry for the issues you’re having,

This similar thread might be helpful to you:

Hi all

I have spent time investigating all invoices and have found that the way the bills are displayed are confusing but I have established where all the monies are going. The bills shown ARE correct and the refund is also correct. Thanks to all who spent the time replying. 
unless you itemised every aspect it is difficult to spot it, I was not alone asking the question I hope other people spot the way out.

thanks

regards

future88

Good to hear. Thanks for letting us know. 

Hi all, I paid my monthly bill before the government grant went in so was £67 in credit.

I checked in throughout the month and that money gradually dwindled to a £27 debt just before I gave meter readings.

I checked usage figures and was pretty much the same as the month before but the grant money had disappeared,  can anyone enlighten me?

Hi @Where does the money go ,

The government money actually goes back to your bank if you pay by DD. Otherwise, it goes on as an account credit.

Can you show us what you get when you use https://energy-support.ovoenergy.com ?

Other than that, OVO’s system runs on Live Billing, so your account balance gets updated daily based on meter readings and other factors.

Thank you Blastoise186 for your reply

Thank you for your quick answer, that link is useful, I'm not exactly good at reading the bills, or making sense of the summaries they give me, it all comes down to trust I suppose.

It appears if your OVO account is in credit they take the £66 from the balance before putting it in your bank account. This would work if you owed them money, but not when you are in credit. They are giving you your own money, unfortunately the call centre staff cannot adequately explain what is happening. What happens when they take the money back in the future that you have not had?

Hi @caron.r,

This sounds like the correct process. It’s explained here:

In short: it goes into your OVO account, then out of your OVO account to your bank account. 

Hi, but it is not actually going in to my OVO account it is being taken off my credit balance, there is nothing going into my OVO account. 
thanks

Could you check what you get under https://energy-support.ovoenergy.com for us? It should tell you where the credits are going.

If you download your bill you should see your energy use reduced by the same amount. Sometimes the payment is in earlier or later monthly bills so it would be good to check