Live billing, meter readings and understanding my online account

Hey ​@Sar19 

Sorry to hear this.

It should show on the bill what that £70 charge is made up of and from when. Would you be able to share a screenshot? (removing any personal details)

That would help in trying to advise where it may have come from. Did the Support Team look at the meter connectivity while you were on with them to try and get the smart meter communicating again to avoid this in future?

I’ve linked below to a couple of topics which might also be helpful here:

I hope this helps take you a step in the right direction, if you can share a screenshot that would help us advise in more detail but as it’s an account specific issue we can only make our best suggestions at this stage.

Hi Abby_OVO 

unfortunately I can’t give you a screen shot as this happened over the phone.  I rang your customer services as I couldn’t get access to the app.  The member of staff solved the issue and confirmed that my account was in credit of £130 which I checked on the app.  She then asked me for an electricity meter reading which I gave.  Whilst on the phone I saw that my balance had suddenly reduced to £60 on the app.  When I queried why £70 had suddenly been removed from my account I was told this was because the last estimated bill was less than the meter reading I had just given.  The call taker said my smart meter wasn’t sending readings and so she would get an engineer to come and upgrade it.  Bearing in mind I had just paid the last bill 9 days ago I asked again how an extra 33 units could have suddenly cost me £70.  The call taker just kept repeating it was the difference between the estimated bill and the meter reading.  She would not explain how 33 units had resulted in £70 being removed from my account and then abruptly put the phone down on me.  I can’t get a straight understandable answer as to why OVO has removed £70 credit from my account!

how is it that your meter reading is allways in hole numbers but when you get the bill there is allways fractions after the whole numbers .

Howdy ​@delboy61 ,

That’s because ALL Smart Meters do record to three decimal places, but most of them don’t show it on the display - Aclara is one of the only exceptions where you can get the entire reading out of it if you know where to look.

The decimal places don’t usually do much to the bill however - you’re talking just a few pence at most and it’ll balance out by the next bill anyway.

Hey ​@Sar19 

Thank you for that information. 

You’ll still be able to see where this has come from when the bill is produced. Have you checked the app since for an amended bill? 

Without any further context or ability to view the history, it can be very tricky to identify the issue as this is specific to your account, and we don’t have access to accounts here at the Forum.

If there’s no new bill, would you be able to share a screenshot of the last bill? I’d also suggest reaching back out to the Support Team to have an amended bill produced based on the new reading so they can explain where this has come from. 

If you have a non-smart meter you have to read yourself, the readings you submit will be in whole numbers. Modern smart meters automatically submit readings with three places of decimals (i.e. to the nearest Wh). Older ones send readings with two decimals. 

If you’re seeing readings with three decimal places on your bills, it’s likely that they are estimates. If you submit a reading before the end of the billing period, the billing system will estimate your usage to the very end of the period with three-figure precision. You can avoid this by submitting a reading each month in the morning of the first day of the billing period. For example, if your bills run from the 16th of the month to the15th of the next month, submit your reading in the morning of the 16th of each month. If your billing period is the calendar month, submit on the 1st of each month. 

Better still, ask for a smart meter to be installed. It’s completely free! 

​@Blastoise186 It is two years ago today that my Aclara SMETS2 meter was installed. I’ve never found out how to see the meter readings (two of them for Economy 7) with decimals. I can see the total reading on the IHD, but the meter display itself shows only whole numbers. What’s the secret?

All my bills for the past few months have been amended.  All are now dated 25/09/25 so I’m not sure how that would assist.  All the readings on the bills are the same but the amounts have all been changed and the original bills are now longer available on my account.  I’m now £70 out of pocket and my bills have all been altered

This would suggest that the billing people have found a reason to amend the opening balance some months ago. This will of course necessarily change all subsequent bills*. 

Most customers get an email once a month headed something like Your latest energy bill with the bill attached as a PDF. Do you have these emails since the time before the bills were amended? You should try to find the oldest changed bill together with its new version and, if you can’t spot what happened, post redacted photos of them here. 
  

*  There are many who think this isn’t right. If there has to be an historical amendment, it should result in a new statement explaining what the change is and showing the adjustment - whether credit or debit - as a separate item. The closing balance on this statement would then become the opening balance for the next regular one. 

Hi, it’s quite a confusing situation to me.  I don’t get bills by email. All my bills are shown on my app.  All bills were generally the same amount each month and showed the opening and closing balance.  Whilst on the phone to OVO over something unrelated, the call taker asked me for a meter reading for electricity as my smart meter hadn’t been sending readings through.  I gave her a reading which was 33 units higher than my last estimated reading so she said she would adjust my account.  As I watched on my app, my balance credit went from £130 to £70 and when I asked why she said because the new reading was higher.  I asked how 33 units had just cost me more than a month’s electricity bill and she couldn’t explain why, she just kept saying the new reading was higher.  When I checked my old bills on my app, the opening and closing balances and amounts paid have all changed and the old ones are not there any more.  Since that day the credit balance on my app has been decreasing daily as though OVO are taking money every day from my account and not once a month as usual.  I can’t get a straight answer from them.