Calorific value (CV) of gas - Is this information on my bills accurate?

Yes I understand (and mostly agree) but even with an ‘average’ cv point, how on earth would an average user check this

You are correct BPLightlog. That is part of the point I am making. It should not be necessary for the average customer to check but if one does it is required that all the data is provided by OVO. One thing I forgot to mention is my calculations are base on metric meter readings, so metric conversion not required. Surely as as company, OVO can release the CV value used to finalize a bill. Computer systems are no longer steam driven;-))

I have now developed a spread sheet where daily readings are entered together with daily National Grid CV reading and automatic rolling average of CV calculated. Also all following criteria are auto entered:-

Metered volume × metric conversion factor × daily 1 calorific value from National Grid × 1.02264 (volume correction) ÷ 3.6 = 2 kilowatt hours (kWh) used. This gives a daily finite cost and after 31days the average value of CV is the figure automatically used.

This gives me precise costs but until OVO supply the exact way they calculate/use average CV data then this is as accurate as possible for man on the street.

In hope that OVO respond with a positive answer.

For info Emmanuelle_OVO - BPLightlog 

The following legislation does show requirement on how energy companies deal with CV data:-

Calculation of average calorific value in accordance with the Gas (Calculation of Thermal Energy) Regulations 1996

The CV used for consumer billing should be an average of the daily average values received from National Grid for the billing period. The use of a fixed CV, which some suppliers refer to as an ‘industry standard’, is not consistent with the Regulations. Requirement to truncate Regulation 3 (2) is clear that when calculating CV “any amount of less than 0.1 megajoules per cubic metre shall be ignored.”

This means that for a given gas billing period, suppliers should truncate the average CV to one decimal place. Rounding average CV is not consistent with the Regulations, nor is calculating to more than one decimal place.

All I need is for OVO to confirm this on my bill.

For Blastoise186 it relevant to the issue

The following legislation does show requirement on how energy companies deal with CV data:-

Calculation of average calorific value in accordance with the Gas (Calculation of Thermal Energy) Regulations 1996

The CV used for consumer billing should be an average of the daily average values received from National Grid for the billing period. The use of a fixed CV, which some suppliers refer to as an ‘industry standard’, is not consistent with the Regulations. Requirement to truncate Regulation 3 (2) is clear that when calculating CV “any amount of less than 0.1 megajoules per cubic metre shall be ignored.”

This means that for a given gas billing period, suppliers should truncate the average CV to one decimal place. Rounding average CV is not consistent with the Regulations, nor is calculating to more than one decimal place.

All I need is for OVO to confirm this on my bill.

That’s it for now...my MP is interested by the ambiguity this causes and awaits OVO response

Thankyou Emmanuelle_OVO

You say I may contact support. Why should people have to contact support for details of how OVO have calculated my bill. It is incumbent on them to provide that information on the bill. I have contacted support to no avail.

Below screenshot excerpt of SSE bill with calorific value shown. It was shown on every bill.

I will also point out that you must be aware that OVO did use to show the calorific value on the bill, then stopped doing so. Could someone answer why?

To verify OVO did used to show CV on their bills, I have attached a screenshot of an old OVO bill.

I’ve just looked through my old bills and all up to June 2021 had the Calorific Value shown. From July 2021 onwards, when the bill format changed, the CV hasn’t been given.

Just the point juliamc I have been making. Hold fire for now though as Ombudsman put me through to an OVO contact who actually did get back to me and is at the moment saying that because my bill jumped from quarterly to monthly, an actual bill was not produced, just an online summary. The are keeping an eye on the issue and are confident the CV will be on my quarterly bill. I will wait in hope;-))

For information on the calorific value discussion. I have approached my MP and this along with other anomalies have been provisionally agreed with. A letter has been sent to OVO by my MP recently, with response from OVO to my MP that they will be contacting me shortly. 

Will update when I can, may have to wait a while.

Sorry but I have just noticed this thread is marked as solved. From the posts no definitive answer has be given.

Does this mean the thread is closed as far as the forum is concerned or the questioners are satisfied, or it is solved as far as OVO are concerned?

This is a three year old thread and from memory, the answer originally posted was valid at the time. It has, however, been updated since then to reflect changes. Since this forum runs independently from most OVO stuff, the answers posted are never OVO’s official response unless it says otherwise. We try to get the OP to mark an answer but if seven days pass without that, we might mark an answer for them.

Both forum moderators and forum volunteers possess the power to mark any question as solved.

Ultimately, the National Grid Data Explorer can serve up the Calorific Value. You’ll just have to dig through https://mip-prd-web.azurewebsites.net/DataItemExplorer and find the right one.

Threads here don’t get closed for any reason except for moderation unless they get so badly outdated that it’s impossible to keep them.

Thankyou Blastoise186

You have answered who could “solve”  a discussion. If as you say  Both forum moderators and forum volunteers possess the power to mark any question as solved, would it be possible, obviously with just cause, for the same to unsolve a post?

Yes this a 3 year old thread but surely it is still live/valid as far as the CV data not being plainly available on bills over any period. A bill is a finite result of all criteria necessary to achieve a cost, as you know, so why are OVO avoiding this issue. For e.g. a monthly bill only one CV figure is needed, the average of CV’s given by National Grid over that period and if this is data used then why can it not be put on the bill? 

Yes, you are correct, I or any other OVO customer could dig through https://mip-prd-web.azurewebsites.net/DataItemExplorer, (dig being the operative word but surely that is the main point of the topic. Customers should not have to look/search for CV data used to calculate any bill. It should be in plain view, as it used to be. That also begs the question why, if OVO did once show the CV, why have they stopped?