High estimated bills but the property is empty?

Hi @Daisyf65 not sure I can help much as no one here has access to your account as this is a public forum. 
I would just suggest that you make sure you have meter readings from the previous meter and also ask if the new smart meter is giving readings which should prevent estimates being used. 
You probably already have the support link and there’s the WhatsApp chat too

https://help.ovoenergy.com/

Thank you - I was trying to find out if there was anyone at Ovo I could have a conversation with really if anyone had success rather than emailing.  They are refusing to accept the meter readings and the chap that fitted the smart meter took a final reading and photos of the old one so they should at least accept that. They have already increased our monthly payments once after saying they would put a hold on it and now they want to increase it threefold. I just find it incredibly frustrating that I speak to a different person each time and there’s no way I owe so much money. Thanks for the link. 

Hi Emmanuelle thank you for your reply. 
the main issue here is that we bought the property last February and it was more or less empty for months after that (holiday home)and we have been charged high rates on estimated readings. We had a manual meter and the reading we gave was not accepted despite sending photos.

To try and sort this we have now had a smart meter fitted but this doesn’t stop the fact we are being incorrectly charged £100’s for the months it was empty and no one is listening to me to correct the usage. Where has the readings gone that the smart meter engineer took as he also wrote notes to help us out proving we aren’t lying which is what I feel I am being accused of. 
I also spoke to your collections dept after they assigned me a case no to stop the direct debit increasing until this was looked into- it didn’t make any difference and it was increased anyway. The person dealing with the case didn’t even reply to me. I am getting extremely stressed with all these issues!

Hey @Daisyf65,

Sorry for the issues you’re having,

The engineer would have taken a photo of the removal reading from the old meter and will send that to us in the job report. The removal reading will also appear on the yellow/white sticker on the new smart meter, this will show evidence of your low usage. 

I can understand why you would be finding this a stressful situation, so I’ll ask Forum_Support to reach out. Please keep an eye on your private messages. 

Hope this helps. 

I have called OVO , explained at great length that my house is unoccupied whilst I am working abroad…...hence NO electricity used, NO meter reading possible, NO smart meter installment possible in my absence. Paid (under pressure) over the phone a ridiculous bill...and am now faced with another one. Help anybody ?????Thanks in advance.

Hi,

The best advice I can give in this scenario is to see if a neighbour can grab a meter reading on your behalf and help you submit it. Unfortunately, there’s not much else I can think of right now.

If you have trouble paying, please call 0800 069 9831.

Hi,

Thanks for your suggestion but no neighbour has keys (they keep changing).

Calling is like rowing around the world ...endless, with, ultimately, no solution.

I am furious with this on-going situation.

The other way to get in touch is via Live Chat https://ovoenergy.com/help .

Hey @JLH,

I appreciate this is a frustrating situation,

Unless you submit a meter reading your statements will be estimated, when you’re back in the UK I’d advise getting a smart meter installed. 

In the ,meantime you can continue submitting the last meter reading you took before you left the property (presuming everything is off). That way you’ll only be billed standing charge. 

Either way, when you do submit an actual reading your account will be re-calculated and credited and you won’t have lost out financially. 

We had the exact same issue, charged 5X using estimated readings for NULL consumption while away.

We have a smart meter, which was publishing normally to the national database throughout the time in question.

This is what became obvious in the 5 months we were arguing with OVO:

1) OVO customer care team cannot do anything about this

2) The agents here only write generic things, they cannot do anything about this either

3) We could access our own data consumption through this website: https://data.n3rgy.com/home, which publishes power consumption from the NATIONAL DATABASE, every single day, to the hour (for smart meters).

But get this, OVO said that THEY could not get these data from the national database, which is why they "had to" charge using estimates.

4) OVO's "estimates" reflected 5 TIMES MORE the consumption of the NATIONAL AVERAGE CONSUMPTION that they publish in their OWN website (https://www.ovoenergy.com/guides/energy-guides/how-much-electricity-does-a-home-use), basically around 500 pounds consumption for a normal 2 person household. This is a joke of course!

5) We raised the case with the energy ombudsman, who retrieved actual database readings and forced OVO to use them.

6) Our case was a bit more complex, as half of our readings were with SSE, and the two companies kept sendings us back and forth, such that to avoid using actual readings on the SSE's end. So even though they were forced by the ombudsman to correct the readings on the OVO side, they kept "estimating" readings on the SSE side, always resulting in 500 pound consumption.

7) We kept raising this and sending our evidence to the ombudsman team and their complaints team over months. I am talking about dozens of emails and several phonecalls, no exaggeration here. 

At all this time, we were harassed almost daily by their credit team, and occasionally an outside debt collector team!

8)  Eventually a "special agent" picked up our case. The special agent took into account our evidence of zero consumption, and corrected our bill, 5 moths later, after countless hours of trying to contact OVO, and after being harassed dozens of times by the credit team and debt collectors!

I strongly urge everyone to leave OVO for a competitor, as we did right after the first inflated bill, as this might be the only way for them to actually get this feedback and start treating their customers with respect, instead of using inexcusable tactics to rip them off!!! 

I’m afraid posts like that don’t perform well here. A lot of people don’t search the forum before posting, so your urges will probably go unnoticed by most folks.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/aug/21/ofgem-orders-ovo-energy-to-improve-customer-service-serious-concerns-complaints

You could also post on Trustpilot if you haven't already @vanagnost 

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

@Jeffus thank you for sharing the article, I am glad to hear that finally somebody stepped up to advocate for the customers! Such practices are immoral to paying customers!

So i have been renting a property, do to issues ive never stayed there and am now returning it to landlord.

ovo have been estimating the gas usage as the smart meter wasnt working (nice of them to tell me) so the electricity usage is super low, and the gas is “normal”

there has been no one there, no heating on, no gas usage aside form a few times when someone hos been in there for plumbers etc to come round and the copy paste customer support just keeps spouting of but your account says this.

is there any way to get this rectified other than sending it to a judge as im not paying £200 for energy for a place no one has spent a night in and doesnt even have a fridge in it

Hi @mark2410 , you don’t say how long this was for. You could update the reading to actual (take or get a reading from the smart meter) which could help. 
Additionally there will be the standing charge to pay of course. 

As already said, the way to get an estimated usage corrected is to send a meter reading of the actual usage.

If you will be leaving the property (giving it back to the landlord)  then you should take photos of both the Gas and Electricity meter readings on the day that your tenancy ends, that’s your proof of what they said at the end of your tenancy and so what actual usage you are liable to pay for.

PS. If you move out before the tenancy ends then you are still legally liable for any usage and the standing charges from when you move out until the tenancy actually ends, that’s the way tenancy law works.
(Unless of course the landlord changes the accounts into his name before the tenancy end, in which case you are liable up to that change of account).

almost 2 months in total.  hits exactly 2 months tomorrow.

frankly im not sure what used that amount of electricity, but it at least seems plausible. the gas does not.

As you say the gas usage is most likely estimated then once you send in the actual meter reading that chart will change. (And so will the one for March so far).

From my own experience it will change quite quickly once you send the meter reading in, I'm talking about minutes rather than hours for the change to be shown. (The online billing can take a bit longer to change, give it an hour or two).

the gas is estimated.  the smart meter hasnt been working so not reporting actual usage.

i have given them a meter reading, they say that its now correct as is, its clearly not. 

according to the guy that came out ot lok at the meter ho said its never been connected, so i presume that means the leaving readings they are working from were all also estimates.  hence why this bill being the way it is, near no elec use and heavy gas use.

its been more than a day, they still think that is the usage and im certain its because their opening readings were wrong estimates

i stupidly assumed as they were all smart meters i didn't need to take note of the actual readings so i never bothered to

If you haven’t got the actual meter readings then you need to go back and get the current readings, if you can’t get back in then ask the landlord for them.

You need to give an actual meter reading if you want to show that the estimate is wrong.
(Or the LL has to give readings when they take over responsibility for the account).

But if you didn’t take your own readings (photographs) on termination then you have no proof at all of what they were, and so no way of challenging the estimates, or challenging whatever the LL now says they are when he/she takes over responsibility for the account.

Can you post a screenshot of your meter readings history pages? They’re more reliable and informative than the usage charts.