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

I think the "in" "out" is also confusing some people, it confused me to start with 😀

Also the minus sign for the £66 on the Charges page is easily misinterpreted.

It might have been easier if OVO had put the credit and debit on the bill in exactly the same place next to each other rather than in separate sections? 

I agree that it’s the presentation that’s causing the confusion. It would make sense to me if the ‘income and expenditure’ bit were shown first, above the balance sheet. Isn’t this normal practice? You show incomings and outgoings, then show the difference between them on the next page, after the opening balance and before the closing balance. It should also be possible and quite easy to use colour, so that bad bits (expenditure and debits) are shown in red and good bits (income and credits) in black. Or use columns both for outgoings and incomings and for debits and credits. Or both, to make absolutely certain there are no more misunderstandings.

I’d do a mock-up to demonstrate if I had time.

Thank you. Here’s a screenshot. Previous month and balance carried forward. The charges for the current period are in line with usage and not been adjusted at all for the credit. 

You need to tap See Details on the latest period and then scroll down to see the Charges in detail section. Do you then see a line for Energy Bill Support Scheme?

This really could have been presented so much more clearly OVO !!  

There’s an easy fix for that…

No, there is nothing, just the charges. Screenshot below

Keep an eye on it for now, it might still be on the way.

Hi Everyone, 

I was a bit confused with the math here, I was wondered if anyone could kindly elaborate:

[During the period of 6-13 OCT]

My opening balance from the previous months: 43.85 (I owe OVO)

My 7 days usage: 24.79 (I owe OVO)

Energy Bill Support Scheme: 66.00  

Direct debit monthly payment (Fixed rate): 85.0 (I’m paying OVO)

My expectation is my balance should be (85 + 66) - (24.79 - 43.85) = 83.36

However My balance shows 16.36!

The “Charge”in the screenshot seems to be [66 - 24.79 = 41.21] which in that case the “Refund (66)” has already been considered in the equation once,

Then why would they add up them all up again together :  (85.00 + 41.21) - (66.00 + 43.85) = 16.36

The math just didn’t make sense to me, I thought perhaps you might have some other explanations here.

Thanks

I think you’ve messed up your own maths there. Your balance looks correct as-is to me.

Thanks for your reply,

Regarding that 66 as the energy bill support scheme, I thought that’ll be added as a credit to each account, I see above you add that up with the opening balance (the amount I owe OVO from previous months)…my point is, I paid 85 + government pays 66 (total 151) and I owe OVO 24.79 + 43.85 (total 68.64)… did I get something wrong about how they calculate that 66?

The £66 actually goes to your bank account so it should be disregarded. :)

Now that make sense, appreciate it.

My October account has the £66 energy rebate deducted from it but no where has £66 been credited.
The bill says “refund: -£66” and the total is only the amounts I paid in minus £66. 
I called and was told this is a credit, but it’s actually a debit. Anyone else checked?

Hi @bram.murton ,

You’ll probably want to check the Charges in detail as well. https://account.ovoenergy.com/billing-details

Here’s an example of what you’re after.

My account had £66 deducted. It says it’s a “refund” but they actually took the money out but didn’t put £66 in. The amount refunded was minus £66. I called ovo and they said it is a credit. But it’s not.

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 

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.

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 

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

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?

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.

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?

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.

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

@bram.murton have a further look at Charges in Detail - the £66 is listed as a negative charge ie a payment into your account. Here’s mine: