Rank 1

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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

Jeffus

Rank 20

Under billing my account does show:

Billing for 6 Oct – 5 Nov 2022

This is your current billing period. Your charges so far are £58.75.

4 days until end of billing period

Your balance

Updated 11h ago

Starting balance 6 Oct	£858.66 in credit
Total charges	£58.75 out
Refunds 6th Oct	£66 out
Today's balance 1 Nov	£733.91 in credit

Charges in detail

Electricity

Standing charge 26 days at 47.55p per day

£12.36

Energy use charge 62.93 kWh at 30.70p

£19.32

Electricity meter readings

Opening read on 6 Oct Estimated 88485

Closing read as of 12 Oct You gave 88548

Units used 62.93 kwh

Gas

Standing charge 26 days at 27.12p per day

£7.05

Energy use charge 177.31 kWh at 9.71p

£17.22

Gas meter readings

Opening read on 6 Oct	Estimated 16115
Closing read as of 12 Oct	You gave 16130
Units used	177.31 kwh

Credits, discounts and VAT

VAT 5% of £55.95	£2.80
Total Charges	£58.75 out

I have just sent in some readings today to hopefully update the figures.

Paul

Hi @Ovo Energy forum all looks good. Again i have highlighted the refund line in bold and underlined.

So your Energy Bill Support Scheme payments are working fine at the moment. It is not the easiest thing to follow as the information is over two bills

Yep always good to privide lots of meter reading. The more the better then your direct debits will be more accurate. Ideally get a smart meter, but I appreciate some don't want one. I was wary but find them great now.

I’m fully aware of the refund line but that is not the automatic conclusion with the way that the information is presented. As I said in my first post the summary indicates:

Balance changes

1. Opening balance +£858.66

2. Charge £57.97 out

3. Refunds -£66.00 out

4. Current balance +£734.69

which in isolation does not add up correctly and my end balance should be £66 higher. As I also said, I’ll wait until my next bill comes in shortly to seek a clear explanation from Ovo as the end balance is the point of concern.

Paul.

Hi @Paul4AA

1. The starting balance is (including the £66 from the government OVO added on the previous billing period)

£858.66

2. You have used

£57.97

3. Ovo have taken the EBSS payment from your balance which will appear in your bank account. This is the Refund line

£66

4. So the way it works is Current Balance equals

£858.66 - £57.97 - £66 = £734.69

It is minus £66 as they are reducing the balance and putting £66 in your bank account.

Your account is absolutely fine. The end balance is fine

You will see another £66 processed next time round for your November payment from the government. £66 will be added and then £66 will be refunded to your bank account.

Do keep asking if you don't understand. It can be confusing.

M

Mark L

Newcomer

I had a credit of £732 and OVO seems to have REDUCED my balance by £66 and then put it in my bank account! They've used my money to refund me!

I've raised a complaint. It took 46 minutes of a 60 minute lunch break to get them to answer the phone!

One hour and 44 minutes in total and nobody has been able to explain this to me.

Complaint escalated.

Something is not right here. If it's just a layout /presentation issue that requires a doctorate to understand, then there must be thousands like me who struggle to understand it. The complaints guy made out nobody else was having issues, yet there are 10 pages on this thread alone!

I will update.

juliamc

Rank 20

@Mark L do you have a line in your Charges in detail section saying Energy Bill Support Scheme -£66 ?
That would be the government money coming into your account as a ‘negative charge’

Jeffus

Rank 20

I had a credit of £732 and OVO seems to have REDUCED my balance by £66 and then put it in my bank account! They've used my money to refund me!

I've raised a complaint. It took 46 minutes of a 60 minute lunch break to get them to answer the phone!

One hour and 44 minutes in total and nobody has been able to explain this to me.

Complaint escalated.

Something is not right here. If it's just a layout /presentation issue that requires a doctorate to understand, then there must be thousands like me who struggle to understand it. The complaints guy made out nobody else was having issues, yet there are 10 pages on this thread alone!

I will update.

Hi @Mark L unfortunately it can be confusing.

You need to look at the full details of the bills not just the summary.

So you have found the refund line

Refund £66

This deducts £66 from your balance which is then put in your bank account. It is correct that your balance should reduce by £66 just before the money goes into your bank account.

So you now need to look where the £66 was added to your account before this.

You need to look at the full details of the bills as it is in a different place.....

Look for Energy Bill Support Scheme. This is where the £66 was added to your account. You have to look at the full breakdown of your bill

It may be in your previous bill

Feel free to post the full details of both your current and previous bill and we can check if you would like.

Complaints can take up to 8 weeks, i am sure we can at least help you check you bills quicker than that if you like.

M

Mark L

Newcomer

Energy Bills Support Scheme

Thanks Jeffus - I'll take a look but you seem to have explained in 10 mins what other people couldn't in 1hr 45 mins.

This is still a severe presentational error and certainly the chat log today with Emily did not help by only focusing on the £66 being deducted from my credit balance. More training.

Hats off to the Govt for the help, but slapped wrists for putting the £66 into people's bank accounts where it can be frittered away on all sorts of pleasure - inducing pursuits. If it were just taken cleanly and simply from the bill, in a 'glance-once and get it' manner, surely it then fulfills its objective of being a direct energy bill support. I mean, that's what it's meant for, right?

Goodness knows what 0330 will cost on my mobile phone bill for 1hr 45 mins and now I find there's an 0800 number! So, for poor presentational layout, 3 staff who couldn't explain this for toffee and 1hr 45 mins phone charges, I will await to see what Complaints say..…

However, thanks again Jeffus :)

Blastoise186

Super User

If you have inclusive minutes, an 03 number (such as an 0330 number) is included with those as part of Ofcom regulations. This applies to ALL types of phone service, including landlines, mobiles and payphones. Otherwise, they cost no more to call than any 01 or 02 number.

Also, per the same Ofcom regulations, Freephone numbers like 0800, 0808 and 08000 MUST BE FREE to call from any UK phone.

It’s the 084, 087 and 090 ones you’ve gotta watch out for!

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!

M

Mark L

Newcomer

Thanks too to Juliamc :)

M

Mark L

Newcomer

Thanks Blastoise 186 :)

Jeffus

Rank 20

Energy Bills Support Scheme

Thanks Jeffus - I'll take a look but you seem to have explained in 10 mins what other people couldn't in 1hr 45 mins.

This is still a severe presentational error and certainly the chat log today with Emily did not help by only focusing on the £66 being deducted from my credit balance. More training.

Hats off to the Govt for the help, but slapped wrists for putting the £66 into people's bank accounts where it can be frittered away on all sorts of pleasure - inducing pursuits. If it were just taken cleanly and simply from the bill, in a 'glance-once and get it' manner, surely it then fulfills its objective of being a direct energy bill support. I mean, that's what it's meant for, right?

Goodness knows what 0330 will cost on my mobile phone bill for 1hr 45 mins and now I find there's an 0800 number! So, for poor presentational layout, 3 staff who couldn't explain this for toffee and 1hr 45 mins phone charges, I will await to see what Complaints say..…

However, thanks again Jeffus :)

@Mark L the government gave suppliers the choice

1. Refund the £66 to customers bank accounts.

2. Take the £66 off customers direct debits.

Suppliers are basically split. About half are taking it off direct debits, and half refunding the money to peoples bank accounts.

Firedog

Super User

@Mark L the government gave suppliers the choice

1. Refund the £66 to customers bank accounts.

2. Take the £66 off customers direct debits.

Suppliers are basically split. About half are taking it off direct debits, and half refunding the money to peoples bank accounts.

Surely there’s no difference between those two, is there? For someone with a DD of £100, putting £66 into his account and then taking £100 out is exactly the same as putting nothing in and taking £34 out. On the other hand, things get complicated for someone whose DD is £50. Who gets to keep the £16? OVO, in the customer’s account, or the customer, in his bank account?

On balance, I think OVO’s system is the most transparent.

Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA | It may look as if I know what I’m talking about, but don’t let that fool you. |

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