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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

Hi @kaylar1605 the line

Energy Bill Support Scheme - £66

Is the money going into your account. It is on the first screen shot in your post above.

It is a negative charge, so a credit, so £66 being added to your account.

On your current bill you have already seen the Refund line which is the money leaving your account which you highlighted in a previous post.

It can be confusing, especially with the information across two billing periods.

There is more information here in case it helps

Keep an eye out for similar lines for your next Energy Bill Support Scheme Payment.

K

kaylar1605

Newcomer

I still don’t understand it as I should only owe £30 something and now it’s £100 because the minus £66 why don’t they just credit our OVO account that’s it don’t know why they put into our bank accounts because now I have to pay it back to my OVO because £116 DD isn’t going to cover it by the end of the month so really my DD should be higher then but by the bill looks like we hardly use any electric and gas so why so much they charge me? I am really confused and I think I will have to switch provider and have pay as you go smart meters as it’s giving me bad anxiety over it and I don’t suffer with anxiety but I do when it comes to being in debt I don’t like it

D

DrSkids

Newcomer

I too was puzzled by their summary display.

In the app the summary page shows "total" charges, but then you have to look in detail. How they got that number on the energy statement as they apparently deduct £66 there.

So the £79 shown on my bill, was actually £145 on the energy costs minus £66.

My credit would have been increased by £50 as this month they 3x my DD as well. I think it's going to distort their display if historic costs which I use to compare last year and this year.

Mark

Jeffus

Rank 20

I still don’t understand it as I should only owe £30 something and now it’s £100 because the minus £66 why don’t they just credit our OVO account that’s it don’t know why they put into our bank accounts because now I have to pay it back to my OVO because £116 DD isn’t going to cover it by the end of the month so really my DD should be higher then but by the bill looks like we hardly use any electric and gas so why so much they charge me? I am really confused and I think I will have to switch provider and have pay as you go smart meters as it’s giving me bad anxiety over it and I don’t suffer with anxiety but I do when it comes to being in debt I don’t like it

@kaylar1605 about half the suppliers have chosen to do it like OVO, other half simply took the money off the direct debits.

I definitely wouldn't recommend switching until you have sorted out that balance adjustment, it will be very hard to get that back if you switch. Definitely wait till that is sorted if you want to switch.

It is that Balancing payment that is causing the issue. Without that you would be in credit and your direct debit covers your usage as you say. Is OVO investigating the Balance payment for you?

Personally i would also be wary of switching to pay as you go. It will work out much more expensive.

Another £66 Energy Bill Support Scheme payment should appear before the end of this period, watch out for that.

E

Elzbieta

Newcomer

I would like to know if I have Energy and gas from your ovo Campany, do you send the vauchers that are awarded from the government to a given address or do I have my name and surname on me So that I can get Such vauchers. Thank you.

K

kaylar1605

Newcomer

I still don’t understand it as I should only owe £30 something and now it’s £100 because the minus £66 why don’t they just credit our OVO account that’s it don’t know why they put into our bank accounts because now I have to pay it back to my OVO because £116 DD isn’t going to cover it by the end of the month so really my DD should be higher then but by the bill looks like we hardly use any electric and gas so why so much they charge me? I am really confused and I think I will have to switch provider and have pay as you go smart meters as it’s giving me bad anxiety over it and I don’t suffer with anxiety but I do when it comes to being in debt I don’t like it

@kaylar1605 about half the suppliers have chosen to do it like OVO, other half simply took the money off the direct debits.

I definitely wouldn't recommend switching until you have sorted out that balance adjustment, it will be very hard to get that back if you switch. Definitely wait till that is sorted if you want to switch.

It is that Balancing payment that is causing the issue. Without that you would be in credit and your direct debit covers your usage as you say. Is OVO investigating the Balance payment for you?

Personally i would also be wary of switching to pay as you go. It will work out much more expensive.

Another £66 Energy Bill Support Scheme payment should appear before the end of this period, watch out for that.

thank you so much for all your help, yes they are investigating it I spoke to someone again yesterday and even she said my usage is only low but they have done this balance adjustment even she said that’s wrong which I’m aware off! The other person I spoke to said it’s what I owe from when I was with sse however I said I disagree as I always supply meter readings every month so it was not estimated bills! Hopefully it will get there soon as driving me insane thanks again.

Tim_OVO

OVO Forum Legend

Hi @Elzbieta

Yes that sounds like the Energy Bills Support Scheme. See OVO’s content hub on this scheme, packed full of info and frequently asked questions.

Any questions that aren’t covered in the FAQ, let us know!

Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there! My green tech: Aclara SGM 1411-B smart meter, Chameleon IHD6

B

Bubsi

Rank 1

Has anyone spoken to OVO. I can’t work out this £66. Like everyone else it’s been deducted from my credit balance. Surely this can’t be right but I can’t get my head round it.