Billing issues due to crossed meters

Hi,

I’ll need to ask you to think of a new username as unfortunately it looks like your current one isn’t suitable for a public Forum - let me know what you’d like and I’ll get the Forum Moderators to update it for you. Likewise, if you’d rather choose a different one entirely, that’s totally cool too - just let me know! :)

As for your question… Have you tried https://ovoenergy.com/feedback yet? If not, I’d definitely advise doing so. It’s possibly a Crossed Meter issue, so can I ask if the Meter Serial Numbers on the bill matches the meters themselves?​

Strictly speaking, if no-one is living in the property right now, then it’s reasonable for OVO to treat this as not an Emergency because it’s not affecting anyone overnight. Emergency Engineer appointments need to prioritise cases where being off-supply is affecting someone would could be off-supply while living there overnight but it should still be possible to book a regular engineer to swing by.

Just to add - there normally has to be a responsible adult at home during an engineer visit, even if the meter’s accessible outside the property. There are checks - including for safety - that have to be conducted before the engineer leaves.
 

Hi ​@Ben_OVO , these are the meters and the snapshot from my bill.  I must admit I’m not 100% sure if those numbers adjacent the barcode on the meters are my MSN.  Can you advise and perhaps advise the best way to relay this to OVO as I have informed them over the phone and the operatives don't seem to have any form of understanding and give of the vibe of ‘what do you want us to do about it’.  The meters have indeed been requested and confirmed to have switched over to credit mode, which is my gripe.  There are tenants ready to habit the property but we cant let that happen - we cant move people in to activate the emergency appointment option so to speak.

Hi ​@Blastoise186,

As per the images above in response to Ben_OVO, can you determine if it is a cross meter issue?

Also, will an engineer coming out be briefed on the problem as I have described it to OVO? Given the competence of the OVO phone operators I am not confident they will relay the details of the problem to the engineer if he comes and I can foresee another waste of time.

I know there is an error of some form as we discovered at the turn of the year that the gas was actually capped off at the meter yet the the December usage on the app is showing daily consumption.

For whatever reason I cant seem to get OVO to want to address the issue, they just want to get off of the phone ASAP!

Hi ​@BK1981 

The photos you’ve sent are of a traditional prepayment electricity meter, and a traditional credit (non-prepayment) gas meter. However, the screenshots you’ve sent in of your gas and electricity ‘in detail’ display smart meter serial numbers that are different from your meters. This definitely needs to go through our Support Team, as you will need to speak to one of our Advisors to get to the bottom of why the serial numbers on your account are different. You can also try contacting us via Social Media if you prefer:

• Instagram: @ovoenergy
• Facebook: OVO Energy on Facebook
• Twitter: @OVOEnergy

If you contact us via Social Media you can then send in the photos that you have sent in the Forum, and one of our Digital Service Advisors can pick this up for you. 

I hope this is resolved for you soon.

The meter serial number (MSN) for the gas meter is G4A5003351; the rest of the barcode looks like the date of manufacture and/or certification i.a. For the electricity meter, the MSN is S14C25205. These are the numbers you should see on the bill (which you forgot to post a picture of 🙄)*. If either or both of the ones on the bill are different, you have a crossed-meter problem … which means someone else’s meter may have been switched from PAYG to PAYM (pay monthly) in response to your request. The electricity meter is PAYG only, so can’t be switched. If you have access to the account website, the MSNs should be specified on the Meter readings page. 

Good luck with unravelling all this. Next time you contact Support, use the web chat option; you will then be able to upload images like the two above. And be prepared for the necessary changes not to happen immediately - these things have to pass through a glacial process involving third parties over which no-one has any control. It’s up to you whether you hand over to tenants while this is going on, but they would normally become responsible to the supplier for paying energy bills as soon as they take over the property. You may be able to come to an agreement with them so that you remain the account holder until the mess is sorted out, after which you can ask them to reimburse you for any amounts billed to you for the period after their takeover.
  

*[EDIT post submission]

I now see the bills. Those aren’t for the meters in your pictures.

I’ve had one month with OVO and my bills show full month usage but property has been empty - Here are the MSN from my bill and the phots of my meter.  Can someone advise what my actual MSN are from the photos and I assume the bill is incorrect?

*edited by moderator*

Thanks ​ ​@Firedog ​@Ben_OVO 

I will do that.  My question to you guys I guess is how have OVO managed to conjure these incorrect numbers based on the address of the property, which is all I gave?

Also, the engineer is coming out on Monday morning from OVO - is there still leverage in inviting them out or not?

Hi ​@BK1981 

Thanks for reaching out again. I already replied to you on the original thread here:

As I advised, please do get in touch via Support  or via Social Media, and send across the photos to one of our Advisors. You need to speak to an Advisor as they will have full visibility of what the issue is, and will be able to fix it for you. I hope it’s fixed soon!

People often make mistakes when copying or entering names, addresses and numbers, even their own. You say you have an ‘adjoining neighbour;’ is it impossible to get the two properties muddled up? There are national databases that try (and succeed most of the time) to keep track of every electricity and gas meter in the country, matching up information from suppliers like OVO, from electricity distributors and gas transporters and from the Royal Mail address database, so it’s not surprising that it doesn’t always work flawlessly.  

I don’t think there’s much to gain from trying to find someone to blame - the energy it took would be much better spent on just getting the error corrected. IMHO.

PS I realize I didn’t address your last question. A visiting engineer could at least establish once and for all which meters are yours and - assuming your neighbour is at home at the time - which belong to someone else if you haven’t managed to work it out by yourself. He may also be able to see whether there’s wiring that needs to be changed, or whether sorting out the crossed meters is just a tedious administrative exercise back at headquarters. If you have a time for the engineer’s visit, could you persuade your neighbour to be present?   

Morning ​@BK1981 

Without seeing the National Databases and the full background of your account, we can only speculate as to what has caused this issue. Our Support Team will be best placed to deal with this. I would recommend speaking to them about the appointment that you have booked. If there is uncertainty surrounding which meters should be on file for your property, then it may be best to get this appointment changed to a ‘site investigation’ or ‘fuse finder’ visit. Again, our Support Team will need to fully diagnose this on their side before making this decision. 

Hi All, thank you ​@Firedog ​@Ben_OVO for your responses, much appreciated.

The SMS engineer has come out and indeed confirmed our meters are registered to the neighbour and vice versa.  Can you advise on which body OVO have to contact to rectify the swap and the practicalities of this?

The SMS engineer relayed the information to OVO via online chat and again was told the customer had to phone up as a follow on.  I have done this and again, rather than picking the batten up, all I was told was your query is being dealt with…..that’s it!  It starts from scratch every time I contact OVO – is there a way of acquiring a department or persons in OVO that can close out the case rather than avoid dealing with it?

Once OVO has been made aware via the correct route, I think you can just leave it to them to make the necessary arrangements. It effectively has to be handled via various parties across the industry and not just OVO so this may take some time.

Please be patient during the process - you’ll be notified of any updates.