They do show at the point of action. It’s just that in some cases, it applies across two billing cycles.

Most people who came here figured it out pretty quickly after the forum volunteers stepped in!

It also kinda helps if you read the Charges in detail properly too. Not just the summary!

Some explanations on forum dont make sense. Government support £66 taken off bill so my credit is now £66 less (fact), but it was not added in the first place! Simple maths, you must add something before taking it off if its a credit. All they have done at the moment is take £66 off my ‘in credit’ balance (my own money) and paid it into my bank account. Therefore, no benefit to me! Am I missing something?

Quite possibly ! Have a look at Charges in detail. It should show Energy Bill Support Scheme shown as ‘-£66.00’  as a negative charge (I know!) ie a payment into your account.

This was mine:

My account shows I have been rebated £66 to my bank but that has reduced the credit balance on my OVO account and now OVO are demanding an increase in my monthly direct debits. You have given me back the £66 from my own credit balance. There is no entry in the OVO account showing a credit from the government of the £66. Where is that money?

I have exactly the same problem. OVO what is going on please?

OVO don’t appear to want to answer

This forum isn’t an official support channel as such. Most of the replies you’ll get here are from forum volunteers such as myself and Julia.

If you need an official OVO response, your best bet will always be https://help.ovoenergy.com .

So I’ve attempted to chat with OVO and I am number 657 in the queue 

That’s expected. You should never call any energy supplier on a Monday. Literally everyone does that and you WILL get snarled up in massive queues.

Your query doesn’t sound like it’s an urgent one, so you might want to try again later in the week.

I can see the £66 deduction from my positive balance with OVO. That came into my bank account. What I cannot see is the government’s £66 going into my OVO balance. As a result OVO’s computer is demanding that I am underfunding my account and must increase my DD.

I’ve just checked my account and my £66 rebate from the government has been paid to me, but deducted from my credit balance. So basically they have taken the money from me (that I have already paid to create credit on my account) and paid my money back to me.  Has anyone else had this happen?

Look in charges in detail: it should have an entry Energy Bill Support Scheme -£66 It is a negative charge ie a payment into your account which has come from the government.

Is there a line entry on Charges in detail called Energy Bill Support Scheme anywhere in the current and last five billing cycles?

Please check the Charges in detail for the current and last five billing cycles. It’s probably in there somewhere! You’re after Energy Bill Support Scheme -£66

No, there is no mention of the government’s payment in of £66 only the refund to me which reduces the total credit on my account by £66. It seems that OVO has pocketed the government grant and just given me back £66 of my own money. 
Interestingly, the company computer wants me to suddenly increase my DD payments to cover a shortfall of £400

Have you clicked on See details ?

Yes and that is where I can see the credit balance of my OVO account reduced by “Refund -£66” but no government contribution to my account 

It looks like one of the things at play here is the Government’s belief that taxpayers’ money should as far as possible stay in taxpayers’ pockets. Electricity suppliers could simply have credited the subsidy to users’ accounts, but another factor affecting the decision not to do this is OFGEM’s misgivings about suppliers allowing users to build up large credit balances. This isn’t so surprising in view of the number of suppliers going broke last year and having to be bailed out. So OVO return the payment from your OVO account to the bank account your Direct Debit (DD) is paid from.

It thus has no effect on your OVO account or the DD calculation. If your DD isn’t expected to cover all your outgoings for the next year, ending the year with a zero balance, OVO will propose an increase. The subsidy being paid into your bank account will help to fund any increase in the DD. 

Hi John, exact same thing is showing on my account!!! I am frustrated because I do not want to have to spend hours on the phone to them. To think the government rebate is effectively being paid with our credit balances! 

Sorry you’ve missed my point. All OVO have done is return some of my money to me and then asked for an increased DD to cover the projected shortfall. They must have received £66 from the government for me but that £66 has not been credited to my OVO account.

Blaistoise, I click your link in your reply and I do not have any such line showing the £66…see pic for reference.

Long story short, Ovo’s live bill is incorrect and effectively shows your normal cost amount and then take off £66. This then has the effect of reducing your credit balance. They then fix it for the proper monthly bill whereby your credit balance is unaffected. Bit of a stupid system…

Thank you, idris01, that makes sense. I look forward to seeing my next bill due in a few days. I will also try to ignore the computer demand to increase my DD

Nor can we see your Direct Debit in Idris’ screenshot. Since the refund is dated 6 October, the £66 must have been credited to the account before that - on the date of the DD sometime between 1 and 6 October.

Could you please check the previous period’s Balance changes and Charges breakdown? You should see your DD in the former panel and a credit of £66 labelled Energy Bill Support Screen in the latter one.

Firedog, my previous period is correct, with the £66 shown. So it seems the live balance is simply incorrect. In my previously provided screenshot, my direct debit amount was added to my credit balance. Essentially, Ovo should fix the live balance portion otherwise lots more people will be concerned