High electricity usage - what could it be?

 
My partner and I live in a one bedroom flat. We are on holiday and are currently away for almost 2 weeks now. But I just checked our electricity usage and it’s so high even when there’s no one at home? Some of the appliances are plugged in at home such as fridge freezer and router. We have the towel rack heating on in the toilet. None of the radiators are switched on. Anyone has any idea why this is happening?  

Have you checked if these are actual readings or maybe estimates? Even with a smart meter, sometimes readings do not get through and in that case they will estimate your usage. Your last graph with the same usage each day looks exactly like that. 

New to this forum, it's my last resort as "customer service" chat was a nightmare.

I'm convinced the payg meter is or was clocking too fast.  We had the payg app upgrade a while back and we rinsed through £50 in about 4 days. Considering it's just my wife and I, no games machines, no dishwasher this was insane. 

For gas and electric last tax year we spent £3,500 ! 

I went on the customer service chat, had two experiences. First the representative said it may be clocking too fast and they would have to generate a report, that never turned up.   The second experience the representative was so rude, stating in his personal "25 years experience" he can tell the meter is "just fine".  On asking him how we got through £50 in 4 days he terminated the chat. Asked for a transcript, that never turned up. So we are stuck.

Obviously I'm looking to switch supliers, but I could do with some advice as to how how to prove whether it is or has been clocking too fast.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Hi ​@TOKF,

Don’t worry, this problem of possibly high readings has been raised in the past on the forum…for example, one good place to start researching would be the following:

https://forum.ovoenergy.com/topic/show?tid=9490&fid=140

Hope you find some satisfactory pointers…let us know how you get on, all the best….

Hey ​@TOKF 

Sorry to hear about the issues you’re having. There are lots of things that can cause high bills the topics below might be helpful to you:
 

What’s the best way to locate an energy guzzling appliance?

Worried that your electricity usage seems high? By checking the usage of each circuit you might be able to find out the particular appliance which is the culprit. The meter will need to have decimals showing in the reading for this test to be useful:

1. Leave the main breaker in.
2. Turn off all individual circuits (on the fuse board, for example).
3. The electricity meter should stop clocking usage. If not, there could be a short in the fuse/breaker panel box or an appliance connected without fuse/breaker protection. An electrician will be needed to investigate this.
4. Turn on one individual circuit.
5. Watch to see if the electric meter starts to clock usage.
6. Turn off that individual circuit and turn on another one. Again, watch to see if the electric meter is clocking.
7. Repeat step 6 until all individual circuits have been checked.

You’re looking for a circuit that causes the meter to clock a lot of usage, compared to the other circuits. There could be a problem with an appliance or a connection on that circuit. We’d recommend contacting an electrician to check the appliances on this circuit, particularly if there are any old or potentially faulty appliances plugged in.  Find out the average usage for each appliances on this great guide and some great energy saving advice on the Centre for Sustainable Energy.

How do I perform a Creep Test on my electricity meter?

If you’ve been unable to get to the bottom of an increase in our usage by locating a greedy appliance, the next step would be to carry out an initial check on the accuracy of the meter with a ‘Creep Test’. To carry this out: turn off the power to your fuse box and check if the meter continues to clock. If the meter clocks (more than 1 - 2 units which could be down to residual power in the wires)  then it's either faulty, or clocking someone else’s usage.

If your meter is in a communal meter cupboard, sometimes the meter details can get mixed up. Firstly it’s worth checking the meter serial number on the meter matches the serial number registered on your account. You can see this on the ‘Meter readings’ page of your online account.

I appreciate the reply and will run a creep test, but the fact remains these suggestions are very general.  I understand they have to start somewhere, however this is an isolated incident, linked to the app being changed and it wiped £50 in 4 days.   

We didn't start running some electric guzzling appliance, we've lived here 12 years, we have next to nothing running now the kids are at uni.

Yes, it has raised the broader issue of ovo overcharging (something there is history of) but the issue is where did my £50 go in 4 days??

Hi ​@TOKF Yes, that 50 quid in four days does indeed sound rather steep, a rate of around £4,500 per annum.
 

We have no way of commenting on individual bills obviously, but were I you, I’d be physically taking and recording readings once in the morning and again at night.  I’ve done this every day for the last 15 years, although since getting the smart meter a year or two ago I now only take electricity readings, and those only once a day before bedtime: I find the OVO app now is so reliable and informative, but I still like to check!

I’m assuming your usage data over the last X number of years hasn’t been lost, either you or OVO between you will have at the very least a billing history and hopefully you will be able to have a fruitful discussion with OVO about any strange anomalies or variation from your average usage month by month. 
 

I’m not generally well up on metering issues (others on the forum are) and you mention your PAYG app, which I’m not familiar with, is it possible to think about getting a smart meter? I realise it’s not always possible to do so, and with the app it sounds to me as though you may already have one? The small additional display that comes with the smart meter (the “In Home Display” or IHD) is very helpful, and the actual meters themselves are very dependable. Years ago, when I was with a different supplier, I did spot anomalous readings from my old analogue meter (you remember the type with the spinning wheel) and it was replaced very speedily indeed. Unfortunately in those days by another equally limited one, but at least the replacement had a digital display. 
 

Hope you get some answers soon, and perhaps someone with knowledge of your app will come on here to help, all the best….
 

Hey ​@TOKF 

Sorry to hear about this.

No one at the Forum has access to accounts so we can’t know for sure what’s caused the increase. 

The Support Team would be able to view information that would help understand what’s happened. If it’s settled down since those 4 days, it may not be a leak or meter issue and may just have been that more energy was used. Do you have gas also? Was the usage on electricity only? It may be that there is a debt on the meter and a repayment rate kicked in? We can only make suggestions on the Forum so we would recommend getting back in touch with the team for support.

I’ve also linked below to a few topics which may be helpful if you think any of the other suggestions may be the cause:

Keep us updated with how you get on.

Hi guys, we have a heat pump system and between 0000 - 0700 our electricity usage is between 840Wh and 1.91kWh. Everything in the house is off and our hot water isn’t due to come on until 0700 so I’m scratching my head as to what it can be. It’s normal to wake up to my smart reader showing over £3.00 used by 0700 so have to sort it! 

Hi Wil…£3 between midnight and early morning does sound a lot.  Does your 0700 hours reading on the IHD of £3 include the standing charges for the new day, which might account for some of it?
 

Also, even with everything apparently turned off, 120-150 Watts could be quite a normal hourly average, even overnight.  In my own case, for instance, my fridge/freezer and small chest freezer and additional small stuff I leave plugged in overnight like the router etc. together average about 100Wh.  So your figure of 900-odd Wh might not be such an outlier?