Energy bill CONFUSION or CON? 20 January at 1:46PM in Energy 17 replies 1.1K views

BarnOwl2

Hello Forum members,

We’ve just had an energy bill and I’m not convinced that we’ve correctly received the monthly government energy payment instalments……

We have £849.00 in credit
We pay £300 per month direct debit (DD)
Our energy bill from mid-November to mid-January was £588.97
So, with 2 months of DD payments (@£600) going in and a bill of £588.97 we should have gained a bit more credit, taking it up to £860.03

However, the 'energy company' paid back £67 x 2 months (£134) back to our bank account (the government energy payments) and deducted these two payments (of £134) from the £600 we paid them via direct debit.  
They calculated that we only paid them £466 (£600 minus £134) towards the £588.97 bill…… and deducted the outstanding balance (£122.97) from our credit (of £849) reducing our credit balance to £726.03.

Perhaps it would have been better if 'energy company' had deducted the government energy payments (£134) from our bill (£588.97) leaving a bill balance of £454.97 instead, and if so, wouldn’t we have a credit balance of (£849 + £145.03) = £994.03 now ?

Instead, it looks like 'energy company' paid us back our own money (£134) and then used our credit balance to cover this payment of £134….. so really, we haven’t benefited from the government energy instalment at all…. :-(

So, hypothetically if I now use the £134 government energy payments that 'energy company' DEPOSITED in my bank account, and pay that off my energy bill directly that would be a total of £600 (2 x DD payments) plus £134 = £734 off my bill of £588.97, I would end up building my credit back up to £994.03

I can’t help but feel we have been fiddled, because the payments from 'energy company' of £134 seems to been deducted from our credit balance…..

What am I missing?

I would appreciate it, if you get a moment to look at this….
Yours sincerely 

P1Fanatic

Who is the energy company? Seems that many have made it more complicated than it should be. I'm with Bulb (soon to be Octopus) and they just credit the £67 to my balance every month as a credit just like my DD payment.

From what you have said its sound like they have paid you the credit direct to your bank account but then deducted the same amount from your balance which negates the purpose of it being a credit.

EssexHebridean

You can simply say the supplier name or just use “the supplier” rather than typing ‘energy company’ in inverted commas each time. 

We’ll need to know who it is to get to the bottom of this anyway as that will inform what the process should be. 

MorningcoffeeIV

BarnOwl2 said:

I can’t help but feel we have been fiddled, because the payments from 'energy company' of £134 seems to been deducted from our credit balance…..

You won't have been 'fiddled'.  That's an optional extra. 

You'll almost certainly have received the credit, but the process differs between suppliers.

If you can remember the name of the 'energy company', someone here will know how their particular process works.

km1500

I bet it's OVO

MikeJXE

I bet it is OVO too lol 

MikeJXE

You won't have been 'fiddled'.  That's an optional extra. 

That made me laugh lol 

Astria

Do you have online billing?

Your DD payment may not have been applied to your account when the bill was produced,

Likewise, a £67 credit may not have been applied to your account when the bill was produced,

So your bill might be out of date already.

We could do with seeing your bill (with your personal details removed) or your online transaction history.

BarnOwl2

It is OVO…. :-)

double_dutchy

BarnOwl2 said:

They calculated that we only paid them £466 (£600 minus £134) 

Can you confirm that you did actually pay £300 per month DD for those two months and that OVO didn't reduce your DD payments to £233?

BarnOwl2

Yes, I have checked our online bank account and the DD is still £300 and hasn’t been reduced at all….