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Why are there large estimated usage and charges on my bill just before my recent smart meters installation?

O
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Hi folks, I've got a query with my recent bill.

 

I had a smart meter installed 14th December, before which my account was a mix of standard readings and estimated readings. However, on my bill today I've noticed that there's been a LOT of additional use added on, which I can't account for.

I understand that Ovo average the difference between readings, but these just don't make sense. 

I had a real reading on the 2nd October of 18968, followed by an estimated reading on the 1st Nov of 19208, and another estimated of 19467 on the 1st of December. A real reading was taken on the 14th December of 19550. That's all fine and good.

 

However, on my latest bill, I've got 40.25 kWh on each day between the 2nd Dec and the 13th Dec. Where has this come from!?

The difference between the estimated reading on the 2nd Dec was only 83 units, yet those days of 40.25 kWh have added on 483 units!

 

Can anyone shed any light on this?

 

Thanks!

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Best answer by Transparent 2 January 2021, 13:32

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Blastoise186
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Hi @OvoQuery and welcome to the forum. :)

Firstly, I’d like to wish you a Happy New Year.

From what you’ve described, that does seem rather strange and makes me suspect something may have gotten corrupted along the way. However, I think I’ve figured it out.

It looks like the readings from between the 2nd December and 13th December have somehow included all of your usage from the 2nd October 2020 up until 14th December 2020 and this works out at roughly 483 units for that entire period. Or 582 units if I add in the 83 units you also mentioned.

This makes me think that you are probably being billed correctly, but it’s just being presented in a strange way. I’d recommend checking in with the Support Team and ask them to double check the numbers. If you provide a link to this thread, the agents will be able to see what we’ve discussed here.

Hopefully this helps solve the mystery for you.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
Transparent
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Thanks @OvoQuery 

I assume that you do not have Smart Meters?

There are a couple of advantages provided by a Smart Meter when we’re trying to challenge bills:

1: Since OVO receive meter readings each day, it’s possible to spot the trend as well as the actual usage for a particular month. Any anomaly can usually be identified by change in the usage graph at a point in time.

2: The new Billing System actually calculates the usage and cost on a daily basis. So if you provide a monthly reading, this is followed by 29 or 30 “estimates”. That gives greater latitude for error.

One way to overcome the bias of incorrect estimates is to send in an interim reading, partway through the month. That prevents cumulative errors mounting up, particularly in the autumn as usage increases.

Could you please complete your Forum Profile page? That’s where we look for basic background information when responding to such a question. Thanks.

Save energy... recycle electrons!
O
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Thanks for the responses guys.

@Transparent - We do have smart meters installed now, it was installed on the 14th December, and all the readings from it since have been fine. It's reporting every 30 minutes, no issues there.

@Blastoise186 - That definitely makes some sense, quite a coincidence on the numbers otherwise. The issue thete though is that we've already been billed for the 483 units, so if they're added on again we're now paying for all of the electricity between those dates twice!? 

Blastoise186
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You’re welcome. :)

I can’t say for sure @OvoQuery whether a possible double-bill/double-charge has occurred here, since I don’t have access to your account as a forum volunteer. However, if you have a chat with the Support Team, they can take a look for you and run the numbers.

If it turns out that you have been double-billed/double-charged by mistake, the support team can also put that right and issue a refund for any overpayments that occurred as a result. If you provide a link to this thread, they’ll be able to see what we’ve talked about here.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
O
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Thanks for your help @Blastoise186, I'll be sure to get in touch with them. 

Blastoise186
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Anytime. I’m glad to be of service. :)

If you ever need any help again, definitely feel free to stop by the forums and we’ll be happy to help.

Happy New Year to you too :tada:

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
Transparent
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Updated on 18/09/23 by Abby_OVO

 

Great to hear about your recent smart meter installation!

As your new meters were installed within the last 6 weeks, you might have noticed that the living billing on your online account or OVO app (download for Android or iOS) has been temporarily paused whilst we get your meter details updated and carry out some remote initialising processes on the smart meters (Check here for an in-depth technical guide to these).

If you’ve noticed any estimated charges applied before the date of your smart meter install - not to worry. We’ll make sure these are corrected as we’ll use the actual closing reading on the meter (taken by the engineer before he removed it) to calculate the final usage on this meter. You’ll be able to check this final reading on your next monthly summary which will be sent out within 6 weeks of the meter change.

Now your meters should be sending us readings automatically you’ll no longer have to worry about those estimated charges and will have access to some other great usage tracking features!

 

OVO member but not got a smart meter yet? - Book today!

 

Interested but not yet an OVO member? - Check out our plans!

 

Save energy... recycle electrons!
H
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My gas meter was moved outside the house. So smart meter stopped picking up the reading but I've always been in credit. Weeks ago I got £100 credit in my bank. I managed to send in a manual reading now they said I owed them £300 ,someone has messed up. My reading is over 500kw out, been trying to resolve but no-one acknowledge my complaint. 

Tim_OVO
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Hi @Houdini, thanks for sharing this.

 

I’m not sure what’s happened here, given that the smart gas meter was only moved and not replaced.

 

You’ve done the right thing in flagging it to our Support team. I’m aware of longer than usual response times as our Support team deals with unprecedented high volumes of contact this autumn. You might consider the web chat or WhatsApp options listed here.

Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there! My green tech: Aclara SGM 1411-B smart meter, Chameleon IHD6
H
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Hi  Tim, Thanks for your response, I did try web chat and got no response. They did in fact change the meter when moving outside, I had an old fashion meter, didn't take a reading, and replaced with digital meter outside flat, the engineer said he would forward the readings.  I only discovered how to reading the meter in September, that's why I started sending in manual readings, you'll notice I'm a small user, I also have aspergers and am finding this very upsetting.   

Jeffus
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Hi @Houdini

In case it helps it might be worth applying to go on the priority service register

https://www.ovoenergy.com/register-for-priority-services

I suspect you are eligible. There are quite a few benefits. 

https://www.ovoenergy.com/help/priority-services-register

H
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I'm already on this, don't know how it will help me resolve this issue, does it mean that they will give the issue some priority, I forgot about it. 

Tim_OVO
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The Priority Services Registers offers a range of services and ensures a system to prioritise households off supply for any given reason. 

 

We’re lacking a bit of info on this issue so I don’t feel confident in making assumptions on what’s gone wrong here. Here’s how it’s supposed to work:

 

When a meter is exchanged, the final reading of the old meter, and the first reading of the new meter, is recorded and sent to the supplier. It should also be written down on the meter itself for gas meters. It may take up to 6 weeks to update your account following that smart meter exchange. From then, as long as that gas smart meter is sending readings, we’ll be billing you correctly. If we’re not able to get readings, we will estimate and you’ll be able to submit readings manually here: https://account.ovoenergy.com/meter-readings

 

What happened when you tried to chat to our Support team via web chat, @Houdini? I’ll happily pass on feedback about that system if something went wrong...

Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there! My green tech: Aclara SGM 1411-B smart meter, Chameleon IHD6
H
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I am in agreement with you Tim regarding what is maybe supposed to happen when they change a meter for a new one,  the engineer said this would happen I took his word for this. I don't want to make assumptions either but to be nearly 600 klw out is a bit much, I wouldn't even use this in a year.  I only discovered how to work the meter and take readings in September  so I just don't know, I live on my own and hardly use gas.   As for live chat I waited 2 hours to get on then got nowhere. 

H
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I would happily for someone to workout a reasonable estimate to resolve this matter going forward. 

H
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Still waiting on a reply to my previous message, or I'll have no  choice but to escalate my complaint,  as someone or something has messed up at my expense.    Regards James 

 

 

Jeffus
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@Houdini not a good idea to post personal mobile numbers on this public forum. You are very likely to be scammed. I suggest you edit or wait for a moderator to delete it.

Then post a 1 star review on the ovo trustpilot site. The ovo staff their have access to ovo  accounts and typically reply in 24 hours. Just need to be patient.

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.ovoenergy.com

H
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Good evening, I sent a message 3 days ago and have had no response yet,  I'm hoping you will respond to my previous messages, as I said before if you look at the chart I sent you there is a difference of nearly 600 klw. This was a manual reading I sent in on the 18th September before the big difference on 30th September  , not hard to see something far wrong. 

 

Blastoise186
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Please bear in mind that the official Support Team does not monitor this forum. If you need to speak to them, you must use the options at https://help.ovoenergy.com .

The Forum Moderators also take the weekend off, so they won’t be back until Monday.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
T
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Hi everyone,

 

Me and my partner moved into our 1 bedroom flat (Economy 7 meter) on the 21st of January of this year.

We were Initially on EDF and tried to get our readings as soon as we moved in. The night reading wouldn’t show on the screen which we told EDF to come have a look. 2-3 months later when EDF refused to send an engineer to fix the issue, we decide to move to OVO. All bills been estimated in the meantime...

On the 4th of April we’re officially with OVO but we won’t get an engineer to look at the issue until end of July because they cancelled the appointments several times. When that finally happened, the engineer have told us the EDF engineer who installed the meter previously didn’t connect the night time reading  cable… which is why we couldn’t see any readings on the screen.

Starting from end of July we finally get our smart meter which shows accurate readings but all the readings from end of January until end of July are estimated and it comes to about £300/month.. 

New smart meter installed end of July

 

We have been paying a monthly £86 DD since April but now it says we owe £758.44 for the months when it’s been estimated. We have been calling them regularly, and everyone agrees the numbers don’t make sense but there hasn’t been any recalculation of the bills yet.

On top of that there is no receipts on our account that the OVO engineer came down to our flat to fix the meter. The last person we had on the phone told us they would contact the company that installs those meters to double check we actually had someone over to install the meter (??) and get back to us but we haven’t heard about them since.

Please send any advice, they haven’t put our account on hold until the issue gets sorted and we now have 7 days to pay…

Thanks

Blastoise186
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Hey @thierryph !

We’ve almost got everything we need. I just need to see photos of the current meter as well. It helps us figure these ones out.

Thanks!

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
T
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Hey @Blastoise186 

Thanks for getting back! 

Here’s a pic of the meter 

 

Best

Blastoise186
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Ok cool. So the good news is that you now have a SMETS2 Aclara SGM1416-B which is fully capable of FULL Economy 7 functionality including controlling stuff and flipping the power on/off for storage heaters. Which is of course, exactly what you want.

There is a way to fully resolve your issue. You’ll need to ask the Support Team to recalculate the readings from the removed meter using data from the new one. This can take a while, but should get your charges more realistic.

Hope this helps!

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
T
Rank

Thank you for your help @Blastoise186 !

At the moment we’re waiting for the last advisor to give us a call.

He said he would ring SMS and get the confirmation we had a new smart meter installed in July as they can’t see it on our records, which we don’t really understand since we explicitly asked the engineer to write everything down… 

We might have to give them another call so they can put our account on hold but this is getting very tiring mentally, re-explaining to a different advisor our situation every time.

 

J
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Hi all ,

Hope everyone is keeping well and enjoying the holidays .

New to the forum and looking for some help / advice , i have looked around the forum and there doesn’t seem to be a situation like mine so will explain the situation.

We had a traditional electricity meter with. An LCD display which we gave meter readings from the last reading we gave from that device was June of this year , a couple of months later (around Oct ish ,I know) we noticed the display was blank and called OVO to advise we are unable to provide a reading  , they then set us up with getting a smart meter fitted (Dec).

We had the smart meter fitted and the old one taken away and All was well until today when we received 6months of estimated bills with a total debit of around £3700 and an estimated usage of 2800/3000  KWH ish , prior to this bill we were in credit and paying £130per month with 350/400 KWH per month usage advised on the comparative year on year.

We know we haven’t used as much electricity due to it being the summer months and being rather sparing with the usage.

 Our smart meter reads we have used £70 since being fitted on December 6th before that I don’t think we even had the heating on which is a fraction of the £3700.

How Will the estimations be corrected when the old meter is broken and been taken away and the smart meter differs from the estimated bill ?

Any suggestions or advice before I discuss with OVO? 
thanks 🙏 

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