Estimated Annual Consumption (EAC) - What this means and how it affects your OVO Energy account?

On this subject.

My experience with my previous energy supplier, hence the move to Ovo.

I have an unusual situation if the fact that I have 3 supply meters, 2 gas & 1 electric, 

The normal computer driven usage forecast (EAC) puts a higher usage figure over the winter months as demand increases, especially when you incorporate heating systems.

In my case, my extra gas meter has zero usage over the winter & a high usage over the summer.

 At every bi annual account review, the generated forecast model was the complete opposite the known service supply data.

So twice a year, a phone call to the cs department resulted in the high swing of my DD payments being manually adjusted back to the original payment amount.

That was until  the beginning of 2020, when my request to have my projected usage & costs looked at again resulted in the response of NO,  the option of the cs team to manually override the computer generated assessment had been revoked, at management level the request to manually readjust my account was also denied as they hadn’t got the authority to do so.

The only advise offered was to raise an official complaint & I did just that.

 Eventually it was all resolved in my favour, but enough was enough hence the move to Ovo.

 
​​​@Tim_OVO  A nice insight, I’m sure my 3 meters & slightly odd usage & setup will give EAC a good workout 
 

Tom...

Hi. Basically, last year OVO misread out meter, getting the digits mixed up and suggesting we had hence used a vast amount of electricity. I contacted them, and corrected the reading, which they accepted was clearly an error on their part. Nonetheless this summer I received an email suggesting we were again using huge amounts of electricity. I explained again that it was their previous mistake , but they nontheless increased the monthly bill from £140 to nearly £600. 

I entered our correct reading online but have heard nothing. I have complained. Nothing. They have now taken over £2000 from my account. 

I'm going to the ombudsman and switching provider, but should I involve the police for what is effectively theft??

I can get nowhere with OVO who have been frankly appalling. 

I was migrated to OVO in May from SSE and my direct debit stayed roughly the same (if anything, I increased it as I like to ensure that I’ve always got a bit extra in my account) and I noticed that the app said “after we’ve got eight weeks of usage we’ll be able to make more accurate predictions” or some guff like that.  Well, OVO, you’ve had 12 weeks of accurate reads from me and still no “accurate prediction” of usage.  According to my bills I’m still overpaying - that’s fine, I don’t have a problem paying a bit extra.

This morning I received a saccharine-sweet “yo, let’s renew your tariff!” email from OVO.  So, I went and had a look.  Sure, the prices are eye-watering and I understand that (so you can spare me the twaddle about why prices are increasing) but what surprised me and quite shocked me was the “prediction” as to how much my account would be in debit by the end of the year.  I’ve went from a “surplus” to a “debit” of nearly £3000.  How can OVO justify that?  How, exactly, is this company running their prediction calculator - and how can they justify having that calculator refuse to allow members to manually adjust their Direct Debit because it falls below what the computer “thinks” should be the annual usage?  (And yes, I do know how projection calculators work, OVO, but unfortunately for me you’re operating on less than four months of actual usage from someone who was bounced over from SSE).  I will be phoning and making a complaint (not to mention looking at going elsewhere).

@Tim_OVO I’ve scoured my monthly bills for the past couple of years, but I can’t find any indication on any of them of a usage projection. Where can I find it? 

I’ve no solution, I’m afraid, but I’d like to point out that you’re not alone. For a slightly different reason, my projection has been static for almost six months at more than twice my actual annual usage. This has the effect both of producing wildly inaccurate Direct Debit recommendations and of predicting fanciful savings to be achieved by switching to a different tariff, fixed or not. I, too, have many years of smart meter data on which to base usage predictions.   

This is probably illegal, because as far as I can tell it is mandated by the supplier’s operating licence to produce estimates of future costs based on available data. OVO is clearly not doing this.

I can only suggest that you submit a formal complaint in writing, following the outline given under How the complaints process works. You could prepare the text beforehand, with a prominent heading Complaint, and including the details required. It may be most effective to submit it via webchat, where you can paste your text into the chat. If you choose to use email, be sure to send it from the account whose address you use to sign in to your OVO account. Keep a copy of your complaint with a note of when (date, time) and how you submitted it.

If OVO aren’t able to correct the fault within eight weeks, you’re then in a position to refer the complaint to the Ombudsman. The more customers in this situation who do this, the more likely it is that the Ombudsman and/or Ofgem will rap OVO firmly over the knuckles, possibly requiring them to pay a hefty fine and to give complainants a consolation prize. 

There’s no need to worry about billing - that is based solely on your meter readings and the rates in your plan. You won’t be overcharged because of the inflated projection of future usage, which  has two main effects:

• it causes the Direct Debit calculation to give a figure that is far too high;
• cost and savings estimates for other tariffs will be quite wrong.

You should have no trouble switching to a fixed tariff, but you may want to consider waiting to see what will happen to the current variable tariffs on 1 October, when they’re widely expected to fall further. This should become clearer when Ofgem reveal the new price cap later this month.

Meanwhile, do your own sums to find out what your projected costs should be. If you’re pestered to increase your Direct Debit, contact Support to explain why it’s adequate, if it is. They should be able to stop any proposed increase until the projection has been corrected.

Ofgem has changed its calculations for the October price cap because it expects people to use less energy, and taking these new expectations into account, the cap will likely be at £1,823, Cornwall Insight said.1 day ago

Hey @markjeast,

Really sorry to hear this,

The Support Team should be able to manually calculate your proposed direct debit for a fixed rate plan from your previous usage. They can then put your direct debit on a review suspension so it stays at that amount until your estimated annual consumption updates to a more accurate figure. 

Hope this helps. 

The new ofgem price cap info is due to be announced on 25th August, this Friday.

Hi thank you for all the replies , on opening my account today it has now been adjusted and corrected and advising direct debit of £123 a month which is much better then the original £356 a month 👍