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Changed to smart meter and gas bill tripled

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
November 28, 2023
14 replies
3549 views

I had smart meters installed on 16/10/2023 and electric meter was changed in account straight away. However the gas meter was only changed yesterday 27/11/2023. On checking my bills I find that the gas is about three times what I would expect.

To convert metric gas meter readings to kWh:
Take a meter reading.
Subtract the new meter reading from the previous reading to work out the volume of gas used.
Multiply by the volume correction factor (1.02264).
Multiply by calorific value (40.0).
Divide by kWh conversion factor (3.6).

Old meter 17.06kWh
New meter start 0.0000
14/11/2023 reading 61.601
27/11/2023 reading 95.323

Calculate using above:
61.601
(61.601 x 1.02264) = 62.99564664
(62.99564664 x 40.1) = 2519.8258656
(2519.8258656 / 3.6) = 699.9516293333333

Cost 699.9516293333333 x £06.49p = £45.4268848

This is billed at £138.86

95.323 - 61.601 = 33.722
(33.722 x 1.02264) = 34.48546608
(34.48546608 x 40.1) = 1,379.4186432
(1,379.4186432 / 3.6) = 383.1718453333333

Cost 383.1718453333333 x £06.49p = £24.86780987621333.

This is billed at £70.82

I think that my account has not been changed from an imperial to a metric in the calculation.

Best answer by Abby_OVO

Updated on 28/08/25 by Ben_OVO

Hey @edmee

I’m sorry to hear about this.

We don’t have access to accounts here at the Forum so you’ll need to get in touch with the Support Team about this.

We can offer some advice, and we’ve seen a few other topics similar to this in some ways. The topics below link to a calculating error that had to be fixed for other customer:

Can you see on the bill page whether the metered volume is given in metric or imperial units? Let us know, or even discuss this with the team.

After the meter was replaced everything was okay, but last week Ovo informed me they did not apply the final reading to my account correctly, which they have now

Does anyone has advice what can I do in this situation? I cannot believe the final reading is correct.

If the final reading for the old meter had been entered incorrectly and later adjusted, the team should be able to check the job report for the meter exchange, where the engineer will have recorded this reading as well as the opening new meter reading.

If the meter was changed recently, then they may not have the report available on the system yet, but they will want to open a case to look into this matter. If you do believe that it is still incorrect, you can contact the Support Team to discuss this and make sure they’ve used the reading from the job report.

It may also be that we had previously based most of your usage on estimated readings, but have since been able to use accurate readings to bill your usage.

I hope this helps, let us know how you get on.

Show previous replies

T

tiredteddyAuthor

Rank 2

Bad news Gas meter still not yet correctly identified on my account.

Despite being changed twice it keeps reverting to imperial.

Must be an issue in the system that is more difficult to remedy.

Implemented a complaint this morning see what happens next. 8-((

Abby_OVO

Community Manager

Hey @tiredteddy

Sorry to hear about all of this, and sorry it’s now lead to a complaint.

It sounds like there might be something going on in the system if that’s the case. Hopefully the team can get a final fix on this for you soon!

Keep us updated with how the complaint goes.

Currently Playing: She's Electric

E

edmee

Newcomer

Hello,

Last April my gas smart meter stopped sending usage data to Ovo, and it took them 6 months to replace it. During this time I had no idea if it was communicating, because on my account I had usage data on and off. The estimate bills were too high considering it was the summer but I was not concerned because I was sure once the meter is replaced, it will all be corrected.

The screen of the meter was also not working so I had no way to do manual readings.

After the meter was replaced everything was okay, but last week Ovo informed me they did not apply the final reading to my account correctly, which they have now did, and they now thing I used ~14,500 kWh in the six months the gas meter was not communicating. To put this into perspective, our six months usage for the 6 months before, for the winter period was ~11,000 kWh.

During the months between April and October, we did little heating, and mostly just used the gas for hot water. The previous year we used ~4500 kWh in the same period (and it was a cooler start of the autumn, while this autumn was super mild).

Does anyone has advice what can I do in this situation? I cannot believe the final reading is correct. It is suspicious that our gas usage is regular, and it only became irregular when the smart meter stopped working.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Abby_OVOSolved

Community Manager