To think they've cocked up my energy bill? Or I'm crap at maths!

[itsgettingweird]

So I pay my direct debit on 1st month. £120.

I got the refund of £66 into my bank on 6th and I paid it straight back into my account by the app.

However I've also just had my monthly bill posted on the app.

It's £11 odd because it's minus the £66.

I've talked to the company via WhatsApp but I'm still none the wiser 🤦‍♀️.

My head just cannot get around the fact they reduced my bill by £66 and then gave me £66?

So figures are:

Opening balance: £71.17

Paid in: £186

Total: £257.17.

Refunds to my bank: £66

So balance £191.17

Take away this months usage bill : £11.14 (which was £77.24 - £66)

Credit: £180.03

Someone please confirm I'm right and they've debited the £66 twice or explain to me simply why my maths is completely wrong 🤦‍♀️🤣

Where's the £186 come from? Do you mean that's your normal direct debit and the £120 was this months bill with the refund?

My DD went in of £120.

Then when I had the refund of £66 I paid it back into my account.

The £186 was normal direct debit, plus £66

So what's the £186?

She paid £120 direct debit and paid the £66 back in that was sent to her bank account giving a total credit of £186

Oh got you - so OP I'm guessing they refunded twice because they've essentially charged you twice.

They shouldn't have added the £66 on to the payment in. You should have, in total, only paid £54, so your £120-£66

My bill this month was £77.24 and then they reduced it by £66 because of the governments energy support.

So they charged me £11 for the months usage.

Then they also refunded me £66 into my account.

That's the bit I can't get my head around?!

What do the transactions on the statement show?

It should show a credit of £66 which is where the original £66 was sent. It should then show a debit where they sent the £66 to your bank account. There will then be a credit of £66 where you sent the £66 back to them.

Which supplier is it OP? Most are doing one or the other, so either refunding or reducing the bill.

The £66 pound need to be looked at as a credit to the account, not a refund.

So you have your opening balance.

Add the DD
Then add the 66 because they credited your account
The minus the 66 because they refunded it
Then add it again because you put it back into the account after refund
Minus the bill

So you should show 2 credits of £66 and then 1 debit of £66 when they sent the payment to your bank account

Did they take the £66 off your balance?

I just got £66 credited to my account and then had my normal monthly bill.

It does sound like one of those complex maths questions you get.

I would have thought they should have credited your bank account with £66 and then carried on as normal with direct debits, normal statements and bills.

You need a diagram with pictures showing where the money has gone.

The £66 was taken off my monthly bill.

So my payment was £11.14 for the month.

They then refunded me another £66 to my bank account because they say "instead of it going directly to the energy account it's refunded to you".

Which is fine.

But what I really really cannot figure out is if the government added £66 to my account and they have that £66 to me

Why did they also reduce my bill by £66?

So opening balance 71

• 120 DD +66 credit

• 66 refunded

+66 you paid back

• 77 bill

=180

I don't know where those bullet points came from.

You started with 71 and then paid 120 leaving with you with 191. Then they credited 66 making it 257. They then refunded that taking you back to 191 but then you paid it back to them again making you go back up to 257.

Then you bill of 77 came off and your left with 180.

So balance of £71
Money from government +£66
Company sending money back to you -£66
Direct debit +£120
You paying money back +£66
Bill -£77
Total = £180

So this is the statement from my app.

You can see the opening balance.

The £66 out is what they refunded to me.

The £120 and £66 in is what I paid DD and the refund credited back into my account.

The £11.24 is my monthly bill minus the £66 energy support payment.

I'm sure it MUST be right - and I'm usually very good at maths! - but I just cannot get my head around this 🤦‍♀️

I think it's because my bill only says £11 that's confusing me.

But thanks - yes now you've moved the numbers around it makes absolute sense 🤷‍♀️🤣🥳

They just haven't separated the steps of crediting +£66 and debiting -£71 and have combined them together to give -£11

Why is that £66 in showing as a card payment? Did you pay that in?

Oh I see @dementedpixie has explained it well!

The refund was the credit from the government, its not just a discount.

So if you paid in the 66 and they (the government) paid in 66 but you were only refunded it once.

Think of it as a timeline

Opening balance 71
Plus 120 DD = 191
Plus 66 government credit= 257
Minus 66 refund = 191
Plus 66 you paid back 257
Minus 77 bill = 180

You missing the fact that the 66 was a credit to your account, not just a discount.

You've reminded me of this puzzle

Three guests check into a hotel room. The manager says the bill is $30, so each guest pays $10. Later the manager realizes the bill should only have been $25. To rectify this, he gives the bellhop $5 as five one-dollar bills to return to the guests.
On the way to the guests' room to refund the money, the bellhop realizes that he cannot equally divide the five one-dollar bills among the three guests. As the guests are not aware of the total of the revised bill, the bellhop decides to just give each guest $1 back and keep $2 as a tip for himself, and proceeds to do so.

As each guest got $1 back, each guest only paid $9, bringing the total paid to $27. The bellhop kept $2, which when added to the $27, comes to $29. So if the guests originally handed over $30, what happened to the remaining $1?

The bill was £25 and they essentially paid a £2 tip on top making the total £27, which is what they paid.

The question is worded so that the £2 to is counted twice leading to confusion.

We'll earl it would appear that type of maths has confused me this week

Now I know it makes perfect sense. And I could see how it added up but not why.

I think I need a holiday