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Can someone help me understand my gas usage

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
November 23, 2024
13 replies
425 views

Good morning.
I am on a bill monthly account but always make sure I am in credit so log in daily to keep an eye.

Im very careful with usage of gas/electric

I only put my heating on when needed usually twice for an hour or 2 when freezing in the evenings and only to keep dampness away as i tuck myself up with electric blanket

If I have my grandbabies I keep it running and last week I had them for 1 days and 1 night so kept on heating all day as both under 2years

Ive been worried about the cost of usage but I must be in the twilight zone as price doesnt make sense. The Wednesday my heating was on all day and tuesday was a ‘regular’ day but look at the difference in cost?

Does this seem right?

Im in a 3 bed semi bungalow with windows that desperately need replacing so very very draughty

Thank you in advance

Best answer by Firedog

Updated on 18/08/25 by Emmanuelle_OVO:

I agree that that looks odd. However, you can’t ever rely on the usage charts to tell you what your energy costs. The figure shown for the daily cost be an estimate of what the gas has cost. This will depend on the calorific value (CV) of the gas on that day, and the CV may not have been available when the chart was viewed.

You’d get a better idea of what a day’s use is costing by multiplying the kWh figure (itself an estimate) by your unit price and adding the standing charge. Both of those should be given on the Plan page. Don’t forget to add 5% for VAT once you’ve done the sums. Your gas on Wednesday would have cost something like
[(63 kWh x £0.062/kWh) + £0.305/day] = £4.21 + 5% = £4.42.

If the chart is still saying £1.41 for Wednesday in a day or two’s time, I can’t imagine what’s wrong. Let’s hope someone else has seen this sort of thing before.

Firedog

Solved

Super User

Updated on 18/08/25 by Emmanuelle_OVO:

I agree that that looks odd. However, you can’t ever rely on the usage charts to tell you what your energy costs. The figure shown for the daily cost be an estimate of what the gas has cost. This will depend on the calorific value (CV) of the gas on that day, and the CV may not have been available when the chart was viewed.

You’d get a better idea of what a day’s use is costing by multiplying the kWh figure (itself an estimate) by your unit price and adding the standing charge. Both of those should be given on the Plan page. Don’t forget to add 5% for VAT once you’ve done the sums. Your gas on Wednesday would have cost something like
[(63 kWh x £0.062/kWh) + £0.305/day] = £4.21 + 5% = £4.42.

If the chart is still saying £1.41 for Wednesday in a day or two’s time, I can’t imagine what’s wrong. Let’s hope someone else has seen this sort of thing before.

Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA | It may look as if I know what I’m talking about, but don’t let that fool you. |

Emmanuelle_OVO

Retired Moderator

Hey @chattycath

Welcome to the OVO Online Community! 😊

Firedog has already given a helpful response here. I just wanted to add the following:

Are you able to upload a screenshot of the meter readings? That might help us investigate further.

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.

C

chattycathAuthor

Rank 2

C

chattycathAuthor

Rank 2

Sorry I couldnt attach text to above screenshots. The amounts have changed now but again based on amounts of gas used it seems odd?

Emmanuelle_OVO

Retired Moderator

Yes it doesn’t seem to tally up @chattycath. I wonder if it is something to do with the calorific value. When you get your monthly statement through multiply the kWhs used by the unit rate (including VAT) & see if it’s accurate.

You can post the figures here as well if you like, but please don’t include any personal information.

I agree that that looks odd. However, you can’t ever rely on the usage charts to tell you what your energy costs. The figure shown for the daily cost be an estimate of what the gas has cost. This will depend on the calorific value (CV) of the gas on that day, and the CV may not have been available when the chart was viewed.

You’d get a better idea of what a day’s use is costing by multiplying the kWh figure (itself an estimate) by your unit price and adding the standing charge. Both of those should be given on the Plan page. Don’t forget to add 5% for VAT once you’ve done the sums. Your gas on Wednesday would have cost something like
[(63 kWh x £0.062/kWh) + £0.305/day] = £4.21 + 5% = £4.42.

If the chart is still saying £1.41 for Wednesday in a day or two’s time, I can’t imagine what’s wrong. Let’s hope someone else has seen this sort of thing before.

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.

C

chattycathAuthor

Rank 2

Thank you for replies. I’ll keep an eye out for the real bill 🙂

J

Jool43

Newcomer

I check on my daily usage using the app. One day it will show me a final daily charge then when I look again a couple of days later it will always have gone up .. has anyone else seen this ??

BPLightlog

Super User

The first usage you usually see can easily be a little off which is why there may be corrections when calculating direct from the daily meter readings.
For gas, the calorific value has to be calculated when the details are published which is after a days delivery.

Bring me Sunshine ~ E&E {Solar PV, Battery Storage, Hybrid EV, ASHP and Home Assistant automation}

Nukecad

Super User

You have to remember that the daily figure on the app (or online account) is an indication and may not be the true story.

In particular if they don’t yet have the smart meter data for a day they will use an estimate and correct it later when thet do get the SM data, that’s one reason why it can sometimes change.
Sometimes you will see it change between morning and afternoon, depending on when they get the data.

In the end though the daily balance on the app is just an indication, and it’s your actual billing at the end of your monthly billing period that counts.

As an example I had a smart meter sending readings for electricity, but had to send my gas readings manually.
That meant that my daily balances were estimated for the gas use, until I sent a gas meter reading at which point they got changed to reflect what gas I had actually used.
Very occasionally the electricity data may also be a day or two late getting to OVO, again they estimate the daily and then correct it when they have the actual data.
So while the daily balance is just an indication, for the actual billing it all evens out to actual meter readings (if they have them).

I said, Hey - Watts going on.

K

Katiejohnson

Newcomer

Hi I’m just wondering if anyone can help me, on my OVO app my usage for heating hot water is 40kwh, my heating which it states “ think has fires and radiators “ is 136kwh between the 4th of august to the 10th. I don’t have the radiators on as it’s so hot recently outside I don’t need them on, I don’t have a gas fire either I mainly run on electric. I have a boiler that requires a hot and cold water tank it’s a ex council house and the tank was fitted a very long time ago so not a new system but a new boiler was fitted around 8 year ago by the council before I bought the property I’m really confused why it’s charging me for something I don’t have on. My hot water is on continuously I don’t know how to change that but it’s saying it’s not that anyway, please if anyone can help me I would be so grateful. I’m not very good as anything like this. Thank you again

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Can someone help me understand my gas usage

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