Historic bills keep changing and random huge Balance Adjustment has appeared with no explanation

Hey @AlexSilver1996,

I’m really sorry for the issues you’re having. It sounds like you’re experiencing a read dispute:

The ‘Meter Reading Dispute’ Process

- We ask you to take two meter readings at least two weeks apart
- We use these to calculate what the meter reading should’ve been on the date you switched
- If there’s a big enough difference between the reading used and the reading calculated, we can officially raise this as a ‘Meter Reading Dispute’
- We contact your previous supplier with our calculated read
- Once they’ve agreed to this new reading, we can amend opening meter reading and reissue your opening statement. Be aware that your previous supplier may also re-issue their final statement with you.
- This whole process can take up to 12 weeks as we have to wait for the calculated reading to be received and agreed to by the other supplier.

During this process your regular monthly billing will be paused whilst we look to correct the opening statement. If you pay via Direct Debit these payments will continue, building up a credit balance in your account to cover the opening statement once it’s issued.

If you don’t yet have a Direct Debit in place, we’d recommend setting one up with our Support Team, to avoid a large balance to pay when your initial statement is re-issued.

You’ve mentioned you’re already going through the complaint process you can find out more about our complaint process here. 

We will do everything we can to resolve your complaint as quickly as possible. In a small number of cases it might take longer and if it’s taken over 8 weeks, you can speak to the Energy Ombudsman. We may also write to you with a final decision that you disagree with. This is called a ‘deadlock’ letter and you can also speak to the Ombudsman if you are unhappy with our actions. The Energy Ombudsman provides a free, independent service.

They’ll review what’s happened and how we’ve handled your complaint. First, they’ll look at everything we’ve done so far with your complaint. Then they’ll decide if we should have done more – and what we need to do to put it right.

Here’s how to get in touch with them:

• Phone: 0330 440 1624 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm, and Saturday, 9am to 1pm)
• Email: enquiry@energyombudsman.org
• Website: www.energyombudsman.org
• Post: Energy Ombudsman, PO Box 966, Warrington WA4 9DF

Helpful to know – you don’t have to accept their decision – but we have to.

I’m still not sure whether you have a record of meter readings, both from before the migration and afterwards. You can only be billed for the amount of energy you have used, and the only way to know what that is from meter readings. How much you are billed will depend on the price at the time, which is why it’s important to take regular, frequent readings. 

How do the readings on the latest bill compare with the actual readings today?

@Firedog 

My meter has 4 separate rates. 3 are showing Higher on my current bill than my IRL readings.

Rate 4 is 73893 kWh, but appears on my latest bill as being circa 77800 - 4000 kWh higher than my actual consumption - this is despite providing updated meter readings multiple times.

The main issue is that the accurate meter readings I provided in October 2023 were never applied to my account, hence the persistent overestimation.

@Emmanuelle_OVO Thank you for response!

You’re the first person to clarify the process moving forward, I appreciate the clarity.

I’ll wait to hear back from the complaints team, all being well they will be able to resolve the issue speedily.

A single overestimate doesn’t really matter, because it will be corrected as soon as an actual reading is taken. Any overcharge in one period will be counteracted by a corresponding undercharge in the next. However, you say “ … there had been an issue, that my billing cycle had been put on hold until it was resolved ...” You have mentioned seeing estimated bills, so at what stage did this ‘billing on hold’ come to an end? 

Emmanuelle has explained the ‘reading dispute’ process, but I don’t quite understand how this applies in your case - OVO took over your account along with a few million others when they acquired SSE’s retail arm, so there’s no question of ‘switching supplier’. Anything you may have owed to SSE (or vice versa) on migration you subsequently owe to OVO; nothing has really changed except the name printed at the top of your bills. You still have the same meter, and its readings are all that count. A ‘reading dispute’ exists when one supplier disagrees with another about how much a customer should pay to each of them. That’s not the case here, because the ‘before and after’ suppliers are the same company.

If OVO have ignored all the readings (ten of them?) you’ve submitted since September 2023 and billed you on unrealistic estimates, I don’t quite understand why this is heading towards an ombudsman decision, which is bound to be in your favour and to cost OVO a lot extra. Unless you’ve left out some material information here, that is. Is there any doubt, for example, that your meter isn’t recording your usage accurately?

Before OVO’s takeover was completed, we saw a rash of unreasonably high SSE bills which had to be corrected, especially for those choosing to switch to a different supplier. That is now all history. 

I really hope the complaints people get their act together and persuade the billing team to issue an accurate bill based on current meter readings. I wish you luck!

I believe that this will be a RTS meter, with a complex tariff.
The impending RTS shutdown will probably be behind the problem/hold while solutions to the shutdown have been being devised.

From what I can find:
A four rate meter was designed for electric heating systems under the old Flexiheat or Superheat deals.
Rate 1 is conventional Peak/Day Rate. Rate 2 is Economy 7 Night Rate. Rate 3 is for the hot water tank. Rate 4 is for night storage heaters.

@AlexSilver1996 
There has been a big excercise ongoing to devise a solution for these 'old style' meters and tariffs that are becoming obsolete.
It is most likely that process which has been behind the hold up getting things sorted out for you.
The good news is that things are now moving forwards with these meters and tariffs.
See this 'Hot of the press' update for news about what is happening with these meters and tariffs:
RTS (Radio Teleswitch Service) Shutdown Update

From what I can see there most* customers with you particular type of 4-rate meter are due to start getting offered replacements as from this month.
(*The exception being those in ‘load managed’ areas).
When that happens for you your billing should also be sorted out.

Maybe  ​@Blastoise186​ could offer further advice?

Many meters have a number of registers, but which ones are used and what for is up to the supplier. My own SMETS2 meter is intended for Economy 7, so the first two registers are for peak and offpeak usage. It’s possible that the other two are configured for export, which of course would only apply if there were any sort of microgeneration going on here, which there isn’t. 

Using the meter buttons, I can cycle through the four registers; the first and second show the same peak/offpeak readings as the ones OVO collects for billing (albeit curtailed to the kWh figure below), while the third and fourth show 0. 

The presence of multiple registers doesn’t necessarily indicate that any part of the supply is controlled by RTS. However, the statement that “I don’t have a smart meter, OVO did attempt to fit one but it isn’t possible with my installation” does suggest that this is a complex metering system, possibly THTC governed by RTS. 

@AlexSilver1996 A photo of the meter and anything connected to it would show us what’s what, but otherwise any speculation on our part isn’t likely to be fruitful. For example, not all RTS systems have RTS meters: the switch is often a separate unit. 

Sorry, but I can’t add much more to what’s already been said without photos of the current setup.

My existing guides also cover a lot of the questions about this stuff - might be worth checking those out.

Hey @AlexSilver1996 

As Firedog and Blastoise186 have both mentioned, some photos of the set up would be helpful.

If it is an RTS meter, the guides below from Blastoise186 will be extremely helpful:

Hi, I was wondering if you could help me with an issue I am currently having with OVO. Regarding a so called migrated debt that came over from SSE to them when OVO took over. I was prepayment meter for around 10 years including the time this debt seems to have appeared. I was first notified of the debt in 2023. I questioned it and raised complaints with OVO and also requested a sars but I was always ignored. Anytime I called I was just passed from person to person with no help. I questioned again In 2024 and the same thing happened. Moving forward to now I decided to move to octopus and received a final statement from OVO with this mysterious debt on there. I am yet again disputing the debt. I am being told different reasons and really not getting to the bottom of anything or being provided with any proof of anything. I have proof of emails and discussions regarding this. I would be so grateful for any help. They've also stated they can't help clear the debt because it is a migrated debt from SSE and not actually them which makes no sense to me. I'm at my wits end to be honest. They've not mentioned the debt, sent me any letters or emails or tried to help me resolve anything regarding it over 2 years until I made my move to octopus last week.

I came across a concerning discussion on a forum (link provided below) regarding debt issues with OVO. Could you please advise if you have any information or assistance you can offer me in this matter?

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