Thanks for the post, @Jeffus. A good place to host discussion on this. 

My understanding is this relates to an issue with a centralized third party that controls the data to and from second generation smart meters, or those smart meters upgraded to act like second generation smart meters. That is the vast majority of smart meters now, with all suppliers. 

The impact is that smart meter readings on that day can struggle to be sent to suppliers and customer approved third parties. The missing data should be sent after a few days ensuring no inaccurate billing.

I’m not sure there’s much OVO can do directly with this, other than fast reactive rebilling based to the actual meter readings that get sent to us a few days late. Is that was this idea is based on? Tagging in @TomThumb on this.

I mainly raised the idea out of curiosity and as it is a topic that comes up quite regularly. Having the discussion in one place might help. 

I am also not sure what can be done. I have learned to live with it. I personally have never worked out the financial impact for me. A couple of personal thoughts. It is not a topic i know much about. 

1. If that specific daily  reading takes a little time every quarter, why not back fill the reading when you receive it? Other missing readings regularly get backfilled. What is so special about not backfilling ths one? 

2. It seems almost automatic, my account has never had a daily reading on that switch over day which was 6 monthly and is now monthly. Is it automatically left off? 

3. It doesn't happen with all suppliers i understand, so perhaps OVO could chat to their contacts in the industry? What approaches do other suppliers take? Are any of these possible with the Kaluza platform? I assume OVO have good contacts in the industry. 

4. It won't be long before a lot of customers are on 30min time of use type  tariff. I don't know what impact this will have as we gradually move away from the daily reading anyway? Will customers run the risk of not seeing their 30min readings on line on the switch over days once a quarter ? 

5. I see there are already reported capacity issues with the smart meter network due to the larger than expected take up of 3rd party apps and work is proposed related to this. Be interesting to see how quickly this progresses else we may see more issues generally if the network can't keep up with demand generally. 

Edit... 

2. It seems almost automatic, my account has never had a daily reading on that switch over day which was 6 monthly and is now quarterly. Is it automatically left off? 

To add my thoughts.

Firstly: Missing meter readings that coincide with a change of tariff: is my concern,  

(the missing daily reading every quarter is rather generic)

A missing meter reading being replaced by an estimated reading is nothing new, 

But when that missing data (meter readings) could potentially result in a small overcharge to the customer base, or a potential windfall of over £500’000 to ovo’s bank balance, it poses a few questions.

As ovo demonstrates it can collect meter readings on any other day, 

what is systematically breaking the process on a change of tariff day? 

If extra comm’s communication is the issue?

Quote “My understanding is this relates to an issue with a centralized third party that controls the data to and from second generation smart meters, or those smart meters upgraded to act like second generation smart meters. That is the vast majority of smart meters now, with all suppliers”

As an incorrect tariff displayed on ihd’s or smart meters is an inconvenience,

billing is processed by ovo with the correct tariff rates & usage (meter readings) so you always get an accurate bill.

But not if ovo aren’t collecting accurate meter readings. 

(is informational data transfer being prioritised over billing data ie: meter readings)

Working off my account,

in April 2022, the new tariff rate for electric increased  by 6.92p per kWh due to the price cap, 

gas had a 3.16p increase,

So my 1 KWh over estimated meter reading for electric actually cost me less than 7 pence.

To add some perspective, what if my 1 kWh reading, 

carried over to my gas supply,

I would be 10.08p over charged,

Or carried over nation wide by ovo,

(conservative) 4 million ovo customer base, +£400’000 windfall for ovo.

 Apologies if my figures are out, but you get the picture,

 Time of Use tariffs (ToU) will require accurate meter readings,

as dose ovo’s power move program,

Yet a simple meter reading seems a step to far if it falls on day that incorporates a tariff change.

Tom…
 

It is interesting that not everyone who accesses smart meters was impacted

It’s a good question, if the meter reading is stored on the meter, why can’t it get sent to OVO retrospectively. Let me ask that question. 

In the meantime, this feature idea is going to be set to ‘cant’ be done’, as it’s not a feature request relating to the online account and a solution is being worked on and is outside of OVO’s direct control. 

@TomThumb @Jeffus and others, can you confirm if your actual meter readings are missing from the 31st March and 1st April? 

Find these here: https://account.ovoenergy.com/meter-readings

Mine are missing on 1st April only

@Tim_OVO My meter readings are somewhat broken, all ok up until 31 March, then nothing until the 11 April (the end of my billing period,  11th of the month) then nothing to date (18 April)

But if the stat’s are to be believed! my account is showing usage data, (actual or estimated usage)??? who knows!

although the data seems to populate a day or 2 later than expected! 

Tom…

Readings around the last 4 ofgem price cap changes in case it helps

So this is being looked at and then fixed, @Jeffus @TomThumb. I can’t comment on individual account issues but we should be getting and applying the actual daily meter readings across the price cap change. 

Thanks for the update @Tim_OVO 

That will certainly stop a few regular questions we get on the forum at each price cap change.

Cheers @Tim_OVO  

Couldn’t ask for more

Tom…

@Tim_OVO 

Just thought I’d post a follow up.

 Having lost all but 1 of my daily meter readings since the 31st March, the anomaly of just  1 set of readings on the 11th April (my billing date) is not such an anomaly after all,

Something at the time of the last tariff rate change has triggered a switch from daily readings !!! to monthly !!!

Tom…

Very interesting, @TomThumb thank you for sharing this. 

I’m hopeful that anyone else missing a meter reading on the standard variable tariff price cap change will be able to see this and let us know if they’re also affected. 

One month from now, please let us know if you’re affected. Reminder of the current situation is:

Thanks @Tim_OVO 

OK, will keep an eye out for 1st July to see if i can see a reading that day. 

@Tim_OVO  

@Tim_OVO 

I’m hoping that now my smart meters are back on line, I’m hopeful that there will be actual smart meter readings come this time round.

On a side note, with respect to my 3rd meter.

Using estimated readings when actual readings are overlooked is not confined to smart meters these days if my traditional gas meter is anything to go by.🤭

My actual reading had been taken & submitted @ about 4.pm on 9th June.

Every month after submitting a meter reading, ovo still normally use an estimated reading with an increase of 1 or 2 units, but this is a new record

A quick breakdown if this had happened on a change to the unit rate on 1st July.

 £52.36 - 17 % would have meant a windfall of about £8.90 to ovo 

Again estimated readings seem to stacked in ovo’s favour. 

 As an example, with respect to the upcoming price change on 1st July.

A 1 unit over estimated read on both my smart meters by ovo for the month of June would cost me .0.07p 

If this were to be repeated over ovo’s entire customer base, circa 5 million.

this would result in a windfall of circa £350’000 to ovo.

Tom…
 

Tom…

Thanks Tom, I can see you posted about this here and a good reply from Firedog about that manual meter reading:

Get another reading submitted and any over estimate will be corrected within minutes: https://account.ovoenergy.com/meter-readings

@Tim_OVO  while highlighting the extremes of estimated meter readings as validated by my actual account,

Goes to highlight how a seemingly minor estimated reading of 1 or 2 kWh shift in the right direction has a huge financial impact in the right circumstances.

Add in the preference to update the tariff rates on smets & ihd over the time sensitive collection of meter readings.

 Hopefully come 1st July,  actual smart meter readings all round

:as for my traditional gas meter, I know actual usage Vs estimated Vs billing will coincide eventually, but it’s always fun to watch it happen.🤭

Tom…

@TomThumb I just posted this elsewhere, if anyone’s up for a bit of experimentation:

Just to add a brief FYI:
As far as I can see, there are two sets of data involved here. 

1. Meter readings, recorded at midnight (GMT?) and polled once daily by the supplier;
2. Half-hourly (Hh) usage data, polled irregularly by suppliers and other data harvesters (on demand by the harvesters, daily by OVO).

These data sets are independent of each other, although we expect that the summation of (2) will tally with the difference in (1). .My GMT? is there because I wonder whether there isn’t a minor difference, if the Hh data for 00:00-01:00 is included in the previous day’s consumption during BST.]

The third-party data harvesters aren’t really interested in meter readings, so it’s not surprising that they can still show their Hh data even though DCC is struggling to get readings out. 

As far as OVO is concerned, it looks like it’s only the Day usage charts (and, I suppose, the Insights stuff) that depend on the Hh data. Everything else - Month and Year usage charts, billing, FAC and so on all seem to derive from meter readings. 

@Firedog  Unfortunately I’m away until Sunday, so won’t be able to check anything other than if Ovo actually manages to pull the actual meter readings from my smart meters this time round.

When so many zeros are in the bank balance, nothing is guaranteed.
Actual data Vs estimated readings is the best I can hope for this time round.

Although I do have the reading from my traditional gas meter to submit.

Tom…

                                                                     ************

@Tim_OVO  No smart meter readings for me on my account for the 1st July ! Price cap change day !

There is still a chance my next bill will use actual meter readings instead of estimates

but it’s not looking good at the moment

Tom…

Just for comparison:
  

  
The manual readings also migrated to Billing, labelled ‘Actual’ and used to calculate my bill for June.