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New IHD showing high levels of usage - is this right?




Hi, I had my smart meters installed yesterday lunchtime, this morning my IHD tells me I used a combined gas and electric totalling over £25!! there is no way this is correct. My daughter had a shower this evening for 5 minutes and the electric cost went up on the IHD by £5.....anyone else having these unusual readings? its worrying me as my bill is going to be massive!
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Best answer by jewelie 9 May 2019, 16:30

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Userlevel 7
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Don't panic @ccooky98. Your Smart Meter doesn't yet have the correct Tariff information uploaded.

Have a look at what I've just written about this here.

When I installed a shower a few years ago, my (teenage) daughter seemed to take a long time using it. I bought an hourglass style "egg timer" which stuck to the tiles with a suction cup.

A couple of weeks later, I inquired if she was actually using it.

"Oh yes," she replied. "But it's annoying having to turn around every three minutes and turn it over again. How is it meant to save energy?"! 😕
thanks for that! I turned my heating and water off yesterday as was so worried about the cost! got fed up of being freezing and turned it back on a little while ago, just before I read your reply! hopefully it will sort itself out soon, I think I might just turn the IHD off so I don't keep looking at it! thanks again for your reply
Userlevel 7
Badge +2
Glad to hear you're keeping warm again @ccooky98 !

OVO will be using the direct readings from your new Smart Meter and applying a correction factor to allow for it not yet being synchronised to your actual tariff.

So your next monthly statement may look a bit odd. It will also have a mix of readings from both old and new meters of course.

The Statement after that is the one you can use to check if things have settled down.

Please feel free to post here again if you are concerned. But for obvious reasons, don't upload pictures of your Bills which contain personal information!
Thank you, i have just turned heating off again....it went up on my reading from 63p up to £3.60 within 10minutes or so! Its too stressful to watch it go up and up!!
I had my smart meter fitted on Tuesday and it’s only for the electric as they couldn’t do the gas and the screen is saying that I’ve used £53 already this week???
Userlevel 7
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It's OK @Staceyt8319 ... don't panic; this is quite normal.

I too had Smart Meters fitted last week. I've written about the process and why you get erroneous readings to start with. Have a look at what I've said on this other Topic here.
When i read smart meter and scroll through daily charges the last few days have been £10, £13 and £31 respectively, yet period charge to date is only £9 (which sounds about right).

Any ideas what is going on, its was only installed 4 days ago.
Userlevel 5
Hi @TomH - I've moved your post onto this topic where you can find more information about this issue.

Cheers
Userlevel 7
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Hi @TomH When you first have Smart Meters, they don't have your tariff information stored within them. Have a look here where I've explained this.

Having said that, @Nancy_OVO has also just posted on the Forum that OVO are aware of some bugs with the IHDs currently being supplied. I don't know whether yours is affected, but until your tariff data is uploaded, we can't tell anyway.

Don't worry. Your SMETS2 meters will still send correct usage data to OVO. What's displayed on the IHD doesn't affect your bills.
Userlevel 2
Hi @TomH When you first have Smart Meters


, they don't have your tariff information stored within them. Have a look here where I've explained this.

Having said that, @Nancy_OVO has also just posted on the Forum that OVO


are aware of some bugs with the IHD


s currently being supplied. I don't know whether yours is affected, but until your tariff data is uploaded, we can't tell anyway.

Don't worry. Your SMETS2 meters

will still send correct usage data to OVO


. What's displayed on the IHD


doesn't affect your bills.


Can't speak for @TomH or @ccooky98 but my Chameleon IHD3 PPMID has the correct tariff* (did so within days of being installed), is registering correct gas and electricity usage, is registering automatic meter readings with OVO, but is displaying similarly crazy costs. So it does seem like this bug might well be quite prevalent!

*A potential gotcha when comparing tariff shown online and on statements to the one on the IHD is to remember that the ones on the IHD includes VAT, so remember to multiply the ones on your statement etc by 1.05 to compare them to the IHD ones.
OVO has just installed a smart meter. The in-house display shows a reasonable KwH reading but a money usage figure about 10 times too big.

How can I set the tariff settings on the display? Is there a link available for the full manual for the Chameleon Technology 2018 IHD3-PPMID / CA30111 ?
Userlevel 4
Hey @WorthATry, I've just added your question to this topic, there's lots of useful info here to help answer your question!

Cheers,
Ed
Nothing useful so far but I see others are also experiencing incorrect tariffs in their In-House Displays.

My usage recorded by the IHD appears correct - just the money amount is out by a factor of 10.
Userlevel 2

Updated on 28/04/23 by Emmanuelle_OVO

 

Sorry for the inaccurate usage costs you’re seeing on your In-Home Display (IHD).

 

With a smart meter the tariff information showing on the device should match the rates showing on the ‘Plan’ page of your online account. If the tariff figures loaded on your device aren’t correct, it may appear that your usage costs are far higher than they should be - reach out to our Support Team to get that corrected. It is worth bearing in mind the following: -

 

Usage costs on your IHD may not 100% match your daily charges

 

If the unit rates loaded on to your device are not accurate the daily costs shown here will not match what you are actually charged. For this reason we’d always advise the actual usage charges on the ‘Billing’ page of your online account.

 

No increase in costs due to a smart meter:


Having a smart meter installed won't directly increase your costs. There are no hidden effects on usage, and your tariff won't change. 

 

Your meter will be accurate:

 

The meter will clock accurately. Old meters (this does depend on how old your previous meter was) can slow down, or even speed up meaning they're not measuring your energy usage correctly. We'd only expect to see this with very old meters. A brand new meter, smart or otherwise, will clock what you're using accurately.

 

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

 

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

 

Thanks Jewelie.
Userlevel 2
Thanks Jewelie.

For what it's worth, given the lack of a proper formal statement/announcement from OVO on this issue so far (beyond a few comments in these forums) and noting the distress this issue will obviously be causing for many (certainly had me worried for a while), we've personally decided to register a formal complaint online via the online OVO feedback/complaints page. No idea if it'll help or not, but I feel it isn't adequate to expect people to stumble upon these posts in these forums to learn about this issue.

Have a better day. 🙂
hi all

iv just had my smart meters fitted 3 days ago and the screen think they gave me is showing iv used 57 pounds in 2 and a half days
their is no way I have its only me
any one having same issues as me
any help is highly appreciated
regards
Userlevel 5
Take a look at this topic. @DRAGON, this should help explain things!
Userlevel 2
hi all

iv just had my smart meters fitted 3 days ago and the screen think they gave me is showing iv used 57 pounds in 2 and a half days
their is no way I have its only me
any one having same issues as me
any help is highly appreciated
regards


Welcome to the club, @DRAGON :(

Yep, lots of us are experiencing it. You'll be charged the right amount, but either your display hasn't got the right tariff details yet, or more likely you've got a display that's got a bug in it like I and many others have. 😞
Thank goodness I’ve read this! I’ve just put candles in all the rooms and told the kids they are showering under a bucket in the garden!!

smart meter installed yesterday and clocking £15 a day so far which is way over the top for our usage. I’m hoping it’s either faulty or my tariff hasn’t been updated yet.
Userlevel 5
@jewelie is right, @Rickster1978 - it's a fault and rest assured you aren't being charged from the figures on your IHD!
So after my display showing high costs for electricity since it was installed on Monday, as of today it doesn’t show anything. I can only see the gas readings and cant toggle between gas and electricity anymore. Anyone else having the same. I’m guessing it’s been switched off while they sort it but not had any messages from Ovo
I only have electricity from OVO and, having shown the correct usage in KwH but a money amount 10 times too big until 2 days ago, the IHD now just shows "Waiting for data". Which is more, the actual meter has returned to 0. This is a little worrying as it invites an estimation of usage which, in my experience of energy companies, is seldom right.

Time to report this as a fault.
Just had a smart meter installed, and the IHD is showing crazy costs!

If i look at the tariff on the device it states (these are not correct for my plan):
Electricity 16.18p / kwh, 28.77p daily
Gas 3.48p / kwh, 28.77 daily

But when I press the home button the calculations do not make sense:
Electricity: 9.57kwh used today £18.39
Gas: 25.38kwh used today £0.89

Looking at the calculated costs it is clear that there must be a bug in the calculation for the electricity.

I would like to know how OVO are going to fix this bug? Recall? Or can they update the devices remotely?
Userlevel 1
Disappointing to see threads about the incorrectly high usage cost on the IHDs from a month or so ago showing as Solved, when it’s not solved. There was no mention of it following my install 5 days ago by the engineer, or from OVO in a follow up communication, meaning Ive been be wasting time fiddling with the IHD and wondering if we have a dodgy smart meter.

These devices are meant to make meter readings related hassles a thing of the past, but the IHDs coming out of OVO still have this bug, more customers will therefore be having their time wasted and/or be worried 🙄

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