I give meter readings each month, why is my bill still based on estimates?

Hello OVO

I do hope one day or year soon you'll get monthly "gas usage estimates" rather more accurate.

For the next month, Sept 2108, your estimate is 810Khw. In Sept 2017 we used 62Khw. Sept 2016 we used 94Khw.
For October 2018, the estimate is 1140Khw. 2017 we used 62Khw & in 2016 just 125Khw.
November 2018, estimate is 1296Khw. 2017 we gobbled 281Khw and 2016 brrrrr 596Khws.
Etc.
The pattern seems to be for really dumb excessive gas estimates for the summer & autumn seasons. No idea why. Maybe you guys need to change your bit of seaweed & the pine cone in Bristol?

I guess your energy estimates factor in your monthly DD recommendation, if we followed that we'd build a cash holding with you. No big licks but I don't bank with my greengrocer & OVO's no different.

Please don't suggest Smart (truly an oxymoron) Meters. They plainly were designed by the same committee who came up with the platypus duck. A good old mate of mine has been fully employed battling these past 10yrs to somehow get the software for them to work & I think he's not finished yet :D

End of grumble.

I joined Ovo 5 Feb 2018 in the hope they would an be an improvement on my previous supplier who totally trashed my gas usage. I called Ovo before transferring and was assured they would sort it all out within a few months (I think 16 weeks was mentioned for some reason). Here I am nearly a year on and my last bill showed I used just under 4 units per day, but despite many calls OVO still estimate 13 units a day! I gave them a reading of 5086 on 4th jan, equating to less than 4 units per day based on last bill, Ovo estimated 1 day usage and added 13 units to my bill! The impact of this on current plan is not huge, but Ovo want to double my direct debit if I renew or put me on standard tariff if I don’t sign up for new plan, add to this I haven’t been able to take advantage of any offers during my contract because the estimates are always so high. It seems to me despite promising to sort with the meter company, Ovo are making no effort as they make more money out of me if they don’t sort it. I can’t even leave for another provider as the rubbish estimate will move with me and I’ll have to start all over again. I can’t even phone them to complain without losing my discount!
before anyone suggests smart meters, I did book an installation, took a days holiday from work and pretty much the first thing the installer said to me was they can’t install in the gas boxes Redrow use on new homes and Ovo know that!!!!

anyone else had similar nightmares and is there an answer?

I've moved your post here, @Mulletty, take a look at Darran's best answer for more info on this.

To correct an estimated reading you would need to get in touch, you can send us a message on Facebook or Twitter with your name, DoB, account number and up to date meter reading.

If you don't use social media, you can speak with them through our Help Centre’s online chat!

Thanks for raising that issue @AlisonH - good point!

The new Billing System is still in it’s early days. Unlike many other Energy Suppliers, OVO have developed their own system. That means the programming team are still working on it and can add features.

Their first priority was to ensure that it fully complies with Ofgem’s guidelines, which it does.

So let’s ask the duty Moderator, @Eva_OVO, to see if your suggestion can be allocated a “ticket” and passed to the programmers in London.

I don’t agree. I know I have been submitting readings, but the record still shows as Estimated. I have also raised this with the on-line chat and had the same answer. 

I will just have to make sure I submit absolutely on the day in future and take a screenshot. 

 

I have had enuf of ovo. I send reading on the day reminder is received. So no excuse about estimates when units added by a heck of a lot, readings totally ignored and changed so that I am being charged for electricity I haven’t used and pay extra vat. Never had a problem with SE in all the years  I was with them now  billings are a mess.

Hi @kitkat ,

I’m really sorry for the trouble there. Could you get in touch with the support team in the morning to provide your actual meter readings? They’ll be able to override the system and get you an accurate bill. If you’ve used less energy than you’ve been charged for, you’ll also be able to get the excess payments refunded as well.

You didn’t mention whether you’re on the new billing system, as this might be a possible clue. I’m happy to help you with some advice though.

I can understand you there.

When it comes to contacting OVO, Live Chat tends to be a bit faster and more reliable than phone. If you let the agent know you've spoken to me here on the forum and provide a link to this thread, they’ll know what we’ve talked about already.

Oh, and if you log into MyOVO before firing up Live Chat, you might also find a little surprise - you’ll instantly clear security and won’t have to go through that with an agent. I hope it helps.

The support team can override the system with your readings, which should force an update to go through.

Hiya!

It sounds like you're getting estimated bills because you're not submitting readings quickly enough. When you put readings in manually, it's best to either phone them through, go via live chat or use self service options via MyOVO or the OVO Energy app. That should fix your bills. :)

Emails take a while to answer and I'm afraid that the turnaround time isn't fast enough for sending meter readings.

I just received my bill for Oct - Nov, it is done on the 18th of the month. This month I gave my reading on the 17th, OVO go on to add a bit (estimate) to round it up to the bill day, the 18th.

I just sat down and calculated how much they ‘estimated’ and it is way off, in this instance we are only talking about 24 hours use, but the extra added is much higher than any reasonable calculation could reasonably add. For gas, they added 12 units and considering the actual reading indicates for this month we used a total of 58 units, about 2 units a day? The same goes for the electric, OVO added 30 units for approximately a 24 hours period, when the recorded readings show the usage this month to be 8-9 units a day. This affects our positive credit status, doesn’t it? I am willing to concede I may have got this wrong, my maths can be a little wayward. But if I am not wrong, then why do OVO not just use a simple percentage to estimate the excess since the readings were given?

Divided the given readings difference, by the number of days, to give a usage per day within the billing period.

 

Welcome to the OVO online community, @Pierssy -

 

See you’ve already met one of our top volunteers around here, @Blastoise186 who’s given some great advice which might help explain why you’ve noticed the difference between the actual readings you submitted and those estimated readings that were generated the following day.

 

In case you wanted more information on the ‘Estimated Annual Consumption’ (EAC) figure that was mentioned we’ve got a great guide to this here.

 

We’d also second the recommendation to consider a smart meter installation - this really helps ensure that your billing is based on actual readings received from your meter rather than estimates generated on your billing date as well as offering some more great benefits.

 

Have you been submitting you meter readings on your online account? As @Blastoise186 we’ve been updating all our members to a new online account which should look something like this (your account should be updated shortly if it’s not already!):

 

One of the great features of this new online portal is the ability to calculate your balance on a daily basis - any time you submit a reading here you’ll notice your balance will update to account for the up-to date usage, a great way to check things following an estimated statement. We’ve got a full guide to help you get to grips with the way this works here.

 

Hope this information helps - Do pop back if you’ve got any more questions, we’re always happy to help here! 

I am relatively new to Ovo & have the same problem with not being able to get meter readings in late enough and ridiculously high top up estimate being used.  Used only 23 metered units or whatever they are called from 28 to 29th of the next month &  and Ovo add 4 extra estimated units  for one day?  So it seems as well as getting penalised for not having DD customers also get penalised for not having a smart meter, as this seems to be the only way to avoid an estimated top up to bills.

 

 

4th October.iv just submitted my meter reading via automated phone service.will my previous months be charged at new rate?am I to late??thanks