Billing for 6 Oct – 5 Nov 2022

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. 

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. 

@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’ 

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. 

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 :) 

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!

Thanks too to Juliamc :) 

Thanks Blastoise 186 :) 

@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.

Hi guys, 

I pay my bill  by direct debit so I assume the refund will get paid back into my bank account? If this is the case how long should I expect it to take? I pay my bill on the 27th of each month

Hi @aarondowding personally i would wait 5 working days after you see the Refund line on your bills. Can you see that yet? 

Hi @Firedog ultimately both approaches distribute the money as, you highlight 

For the vulnerable people i know, a reduction in the direct debit would have been better. It would have reduced the risk of them being overdrawn on their bank account for a few days in the period between taking the direct debit and getting the £66. A small benefit in the scale of things. But banking charges can mount up for some. 

I suspect the Energy Bill Support Scheme in its current state will never be repeated. We have donated our £400 to charity, and i would encourage others to do the same if they don't really need it. But obviously that is a personal choice. 

No not yet! I will wait until I see that then, thank you!

Hi @aarondowding if the Refund line doesn't appear by the end of the week i suggest contacting the OVO Support Team. For a small number of customers we have heard the first payment has had to be pushed through manually if their direct debit was close to the end of the month. 

I never got mine 

Hi @Wendy64 ,

If your £66 didn’t come through at all, please let the Support Team know. They can force it through if necessary!

Could you show us what you’re seeing though please?

I am just wondering as I am running out on electricity and don't get paid till Friday 

In that case, there may be options to get things like Additional Support Credit and you do have your Emergency Credit. Try having a chat with Support. They’ll sort you out.

If they can force the £66 through, they will.

OK, so, for the past 2 months for thise of us that pay by dd, ovo have processed a £66 refund into our accounts. All that is doing is refunding £66 of the £251 I pay each month. There is no credit to my account. So yes, my payment has reduced by 66 each month, but as my usage is the same I'm just being allowed to pay less. Its not actually reducing the bill by 66 which was the point of this scheme. We should get a £66 credit on the account AND then a refund of £66 to benefit.  They are basically just giving us our money back not crediting the 66 pound. Which leaves the accounts worse of each month. 

@Jolewin 

Click on "See details"

Look for "Energy Bill Support Scheme"

@Jeffus , thanks for the reply I have done that but it doesn't address the point I'm afraid.  

If you take my screenshot as the example. 

I had a credit balance of £103.65. 

For the period my usage was £46.27

This would leave a credit balance of £57.38. 

I then paid my dd of £251.00

This would leave a credit balance of 308.38. 

They then refunded me £66. Great gave me the £66 pounds back. But my balance also reduced to £242.38. 

So yes they have refunded me £66 of my own balance not reduced it in any way.... the refund just give me 66 I've already paid back not 66 additional which is what the scheme is supposed to do. 

Hi,

Post a screen shot of what you see when you click on see details. You may need to post a couple of screen shots.

I will explain how it works.

OK?

Hey @Jeffus , don't worry I've worked it out now! I can see the 66 credit has been made before the £46.27 balance is displaced. 

Thanks for your help, mystery solved! 

Jo

Happy to help