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I find the smart meter live billing confusing. Can I go back to normal billing?


Userlevel 2

 

Hello All, 

 

Firstly, sorry, if this in the wrong place. 

 

I’m now 4 weeks into a new electric smart meter but I find the live status and changes in the online account portal, very stressful. I keep topping up with extra payments but I don’t think I should as the credit amount covers the upcoming month’s bills. 

 

From 8 weeks, the portal should show recommendations for my Direct Debit and/or credit amounts. 

 

I’d appreciate any advice. 

 

Many Thanks, 

youngeru2

 

 

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Best answer by Blastoise186 5 August 2022, 21:13

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Userlevel 7
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Updated on 18/10/23 by Abby_OVO

Hi @youngeru2 ,

 

I’m afraid there’s no going back once you’ve had the smart meter upgrade as downgrades are almost never allowed. The final chance to cancel (from memory) is either when the engineer phones up the day before to check you’re still OK to go ahead, or when they arrive for the appointment and haven't done any work yet.

Once the upgrade is done, the old meters are taken away and either destroyed or put into spare inventory. You can’t get them back after that.

My advice would be to try not to panic quite so much about your bills. You’ll still get monthly bills anyway and I’d probably recommend relying more on those than the live balance in your case.

Userlevel 2

@Blastoise186  thanks a lot for that. 

 

I find change quite difficult. so plan on doing what you said by focusing on the end of the month billing rather than the live balance. 

 

Many thanks, 

youngeru2

I can’t understand my bills at all, I’ve tried calling customer services but as I tend to lose the will to live whilst waiting I’ve resorted to asking the forum how I can actually get an explanation.

I tried to pay my last bill online but it gave me a different ‘outstanding’ figure than my actual bill (£2.97 less ?) I paid what they asked for anyway but I’ve no idea how they came to that figure as it doesn’t appear on the actual bill ?

I did try speaking to an agent a while back but he sounded as confused as I was, can I get to speak to someone ‘in person’ rather than being kept waiting ages between questions on chat because the agent is dealing with another call at the same time ?

Userlevel 7
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Hi,

The two main ways to contact OVO are via Live Chat via https://ovoenergy.com or over the phone on 0330 303 5063.

It is worth noting that any company running Live Chat services does have all agents deal with several customers at once to speed up services. However, OVO is rolling out changes that will speed things up. It’s called Account Management and you’ll know once you’re on it.

If you have gas on your account, it’s possible the calorific values came in and allowed the bill to be updated to reflect what you actually used, which may have reduced the bill slightly.

I would like to know for the numbers 21/03/23-£13.32 and 22/03/23-£13.31.  Where did you get these amounts from?  I even in severe frosts did not have so much.  I have a smart meeter and I see daily how much I have for gas and electricity.  I'm also interested in the SSE app, I saw for electricity debit £134 and gas debit £70 where are these amounts now?

 

what is migrated balance 54.93 out?  what is charge 72.59 out?

 

I am not happy with the new app from where I have such amounts and I absolutely do not understand anything. Thank you. Kind regards *Edited by Mod*

Userlevel 7
Badge +5

Morning @Ilona and good to see you on this customer forum. This is a public area and no one has access to your account and so it will be difficult to comment. You will need to contact customer support. 
 

Customer Support  -  tel:03303035063

Webchat  -https://help.ovoenergy.com/#contact_us_container

or via direct message to their social media channels 

Twitter  -  https://twitter.com/OVOEnergy

Facebook  -  https://www.facebook.com/ovoenergy

As I’ll be paying by debit card after I receive my statement after sending in my meter reading at the end of the billing period is it best to top up the standing charge at the beginning of the billing period and start in credit or just pay standing charge at end of billing period with the energy used 

Userlevel 6

Hey @Pilgrim2 

 

Good question there.

 

I think it will make things easier for yourself to only pay once per month, so if you want to continue paying after you receive your bill, it will be best to just pay the full balance (including the standing charges then at the end). It could become a little confusing when you get the bill through at the end of the month and there’s been partial payment at the beginning of the month. Otherwise, we’d recommend moving onto a Direct Debit where you’ll always pay up front for both your energy usage and the standing charges. 

 

 

Hi ovo have again tried too get extra money off me fortunately have 2 recent paper bills too show I had 0 debit the last bill was paid in full however since checking my online account I apparently owe 133 extra and all my online bills are all different scam or computer mistake??????

 

 

Userlevel 2

Hi ovo have again tried too get extra money off me fortunately have 2 recent paper bills too show I had 0 debit the last bill was paid in full however since checking my online account I apparently owe 133 extra and all my online bills are all different scam or computer mistake??????

 

 

Seems to be par for the course.  I am sick of my bills being altered.  It’s like someone just presses random buttons and makes it up.  Surely it should actually be illegal to keep altering clients’ historic bills.  

Userlevel 7
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@Maureen D @Lmj 

 

I'm just glad I had paper bills as well both paid in full no debt it's an absolute joke 

Userlevel 6

Hi @Lmj 

 

Sorry to hear about this.

 

We don’t have access to accounts here at the Forum so it’ll be best to get in touch with the Support Team about this as we can’t see what’s going on. They’ll be able to clear things up as to what’s happened here.

 

Let us know what they say about the matter.

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