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October 7, 2022
Solved

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

  • 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:

 

645 replies

Newcomer
November 26, 2022

Please help don’t understand why the £66 refund is deducted from my Direct Debit payment and not shown as a credit paid in by the government, please help confused pensioner.

Blastoise186
Super User
Super User
November 26, 2022

Hi @curleythomas73 ,

It should show up with a credit under Charges in detail as Energy Bill Support Scheme -£66. If this hasn’t happened, https://help.ovoenergy.com will sort things out.

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!
BPLightlog
Super User
Super User
November 26, 2022

Yes @curleythomas73 you should look across your account shown here 

 

Bring me Sunshine ~ E&E {Solar PV, Battery Storage, Hybrid EV, ASHP and Home Assistant automation}
Newcomer
November 26, 2022

Please advise why does it show £66 leaving my account and doesn’t show the £66 coming into my account from the government: confused pensioner? 

Firedog
Super User
Super User
November 27, 2022

Sorry for any confusion. I repeated what Blastoise had already explained, so I removed what I wrote.

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. |
BPLightlog
Super User
Super User
November 27, 2022

You were not charged £66, you were credited £66 and that same £66 was sent back to your bank account shortly afterwards.




I thank you for taking time to help everybody but i think your wording is misleading

in the tax section the 66 is taken off the bill

you are then charged 66 pounds everyone can see that - its an out - like the dd

However it is then refunded….

But saying your not charged whne clearly you are isnt right.

I’m intrigued how you would classify any refund requested on your account ..? That would show as ‘out’ on your statement .. and refunded to your bank .. would you then say that you were charged the amount of the refund?

That would seem a strange definition 

Bring me Sunshine ~ E&E {Solar PV, Battery Storage, Hybrid EV, ASHP and Home Assistant automation}
Emmanuelle_OVO
Retired Moderator
Retired Moderator
November 28, 2022

 

You were not charged £66, you were credited £66 and that same £66 was sent back to your bank account shortly afterwards.

 

The figure for usage is “£222.19 out”, ie that’s what I’m being charged which is fair enough.

The next line says “Refunds £66 out”, ie another charge.

I have used £42 more than I paid by DD so my credit balance should drop by £42. Instead, it has dropped by £108 (£42 + £66) which proves that they’re billing me for the £66 “refund”.

They then sent a “refund” of £66 to my account the same day which I have, effectively, funded myself!!

Your explanation makes no sense.

 

Hey @Shambolic,

 

We don’t have access to your account here on the Forum. Support are best placed to deal with your query, they’ll have access to your bills and can tell you when the payment went in. 

 

Hope this helps. 

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.
Newcomer
November 28, 2022

You don’t need access. All the detail is in the extract I’ve posted.

Ovo are billing me £66 to then pay it back to me and calling it a refund.

It is insane.

I will try calling when I have a couple of hours to spare but there’s simply no debate that the administration of this Government support should not have been left to the Marx Brothers at OVO.

Thanks anyway.

juliamc
Rank 20
Rank 20
November 28, 2022

@Shambolic2 can you show the two areas on your bill where you are charged and refunded. Your previous posts shows only the refund with no entry for EBSS (it’s on where the VAT is). 

Firedog
Super User
Super User
November 28, 2022

All the detail is in the extract I’ve posted.

Not quite. The refund to your bank won’t normally be triggered until after the EBSS rebate has been credited to your account. The balance you showed opens on 24 October, so it’s possible that the rebate was credited before that, helping to boost your positive balance. Could we see the Charges in detail for the previous period, the one ending on 23 October? This would show definitively whether the refund requested on 25 October was or was not funded by a rebate sometime in the period 1-23 October. If it wasn’t, you’ve been diddled and you have a genuine grievance.

 

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. |