High electricity usage - what could it be?

Thanks Tim.

Future annual consumption Electricity 

14057 kWh

Future annual consumption

16591 kWh

Hi @Ter

Welcome to the customer forum, i am just a customer like you. 

Obviously we don't know all the details but the electricity value in particular looks very high. 

When you see figures in the press for a typical bill of £2500 a year these are based on

2900kWh electricity 

12000kWh gas

So that electricity Future Annual Consumption estimate that OVO calculate doesn't look correct. 

The Future Annual Consumption drives the DDs. 

Hopefully OVO will freeze the DD payments while this is sorted out. 

If they haven't already done this try calling collections and asking them to freeze the DDs. They should do this for 3 months. 

0800 0699 831

Thanks Jeffus.

I agree it doesn’t look correct. And I hope it’s resolved with a new meter installation.

What is concerning me is that the customer service agent couldn’t accept a manual reading earlier this week, since the number was not within an accepted range for a reading.

This leads me to think that the broken meter giving faulty values, could be the reason for my high estimated charges.

Here is a screenshot of my meter readings, I believe the February manual reading could be a faulty reading, inflating the estimated costs:

Certainly the couple of day smart readings and all the manual readings up to sept 2022 look like they may be correct and the Feb 2023 manual reading may be incorrect

Did you provide the Feb manual reading? Does it look like the reading you gave?

OVO should really be able to overwrite that Feb reading even without visiting you. It may be they can't do that normally via the normal Support channel given it is a large difference. 

While you are waiting for OVO, you could see if any of the regulated 3rd party apps can see any data. I suspect not but it would be interesting to see. They access slightly different data from suppliers when attempting to read smart meters 

https://hugoenergyapp.co.uk/

It really isn't great OVO didn’t come out earlier.

If you don't have any luck with the collections number i gave to freeze the DD and sort that Feb reading, i would be tempted to put in a complaint, with the current readings on an email, if it drags on. 

complaints@ovoenergy.com

https://www.ovoenergy.com/feedback

Then it shouldn't get lost in any OVO internal process. 

You could always ask for compensation for this taking over 2 years to sort out a broken smart meter connection.... That may be the longest wait we have seen on the forum.... 

In update - last month after an hour on the phone (two hang ups and webchat being ended abruptly by Ovo)

Ovo agreed to replace the smart meter and arranged a date for the 14th June. 

Having no confirmation I asked them in chat about this and their colleague made a mistake and didn’t book it correctly. 

After back and forwards explaining the same issues again and how it was agreed by their colleague / Mgr a replacement was required.. it’s not happening as I’m told my meter has never lost communication. 

Explaining the smart readings appear and update retrospectively after months of nothing, my only option was to ask they note the issue on my account and stop taking/submitting incorrectly displayed readings. 
 

When I get the please submit your readings I’ll refer them to the account note and that my meter doesn’t lose connection. 
 

I’ll also be looking at other providers as this whole experience had been dreadful from a support perspective. 
 

I’m asking some very clever smart meter experts about this, @BGLUK. I’ll be back here later this week. 

I've been living in a studio flat since October 2023 and there have been a mixture of manual readings by me and automatic readings from the meter. I'm concerned that the readings have increased every single time, yet I'm not using more and more electricity every month. Lately I haven't been putting the heating on so my readings should be lower. I'm wondering if there is a fault with the meter. I also don't have an IHD, the one that was here when I moved in isn't linked to the meter, it's an SSEN one so I'm assuming it was for an older meter, as it doesn't connect when turned on. Wondering if anyone else has had the same issue and how to resolve it.

While it’s not impossible, it’s very unlikely that the meter is faulty. Meters are precision instruments manufactured to very high tolerances, and they are certified to be accurate.

When you say ‘the readings have increased every single time’, that’s what they’re supposed to do! The meter counts the number of kWh passing through it, so of course its reading increases every time you use electricity or gas.

Perhaps you’re referring to the usage (the amount of energy you use in a particular period) or to the cost of the energy you’re using. If you showed us some figures illustrating what you’re referring to, we might be better able to help. For example, a screenshot of your meter readings history from Meter readings - OVO Energy would be a good start. 

 If you could post a photo of your meter(s) in your reply, that would help, too.

Are you sure you have a Smart Meter? SSEN isn’t an Energy Supplier and they don’t deploy Smart Meters if memory serves.

The emergency fix options that DNOs have also don’t generally involve replacing the meter either. I know what the options are, but the DNOs have asked me to keep that information confidential.

Hi @Jojo9072, 

I’m sorry to hear this.

I can see some good points have already been made by our volunteers. If you’re able to provide a bit more information and some pictures of your meter set up we can try to give as much help as possible. 

We’re unable to access your account here so it may be worth reaching out to our Support Team who would be able to look into your account in more detail and possibly also order an IHD for you.

This article may also help: