I should add I have sent 2 emails about this to hello@ but so far have had only auto acknowledgements.

Hi @madhouse ,

You’ll get faster service if you use Live Chat via https://help.ovoenergy.com . OVO doesn’t accept meter readings via email.

Thanks, but I posted my meter readings through the online portal. My emails were follow-ups querying the lack of update, and then their subsequent lack of response.

I visit the forum a lot as one of the regular posters

I haven't seen anyone post a similar issue.

Given no one on the forum can access your account you best options are live chat, phone or a direct message via the ovo twitter or Facebook page. Unlike this forum, there are ovo staff on the twitter or Facebook page who can access your account.

https://help.ovoenergy.com/#contact_us_container

https://wwdata:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==w.facebook.com/ovoenergy

You are unlikely to get a quick reply to any emails from ovo, so personally I wouldn't use that method. Of course up to you. OVO removed the email address from their main contact page a long time ago

https://help.ovoenergy.com/#contact_us_container

Thanks for that. I don’t use Facebook or Twitter. I never see the livechat option on the website. The chatbot us useless. I expect Ovo to reply to my emails, as they have in the past. Or I will have to escalate to (another) complaint. However, my main problem is not only with Ovo’s lack of customer service, but mainly with the fact that my account has not been updated following my meter readings.

Correction

Have just seen the livechat button is operating. Will try that.

If you use the keyword “Agent” the chatbot will directly go to putting you through to someone. It does the security questions upfront purely to speed up security checks and get you routed to the right place. But after that, a human will take over.

If you post how you get on  I am sure it will help other customers 

Hey @madhouse,

Sorry for the experience you’ve had, is this sorted now? Did you manage to get through on Chat?

Not sorted. I spent about 45 mins on the live chat but the best the agent could offer was to get billing to review and send me a fresh bill., which would take several days. But I haven’t had a bill! And my account has still not been updated with the readings I provided on July 8, and now when I click through to “current billing period” I can’t access it but get an alert saying something like “there’s a problem blah blah”. I’ve raised a complaint.

Hey @madhouse,

Really sorry to hear this,

Raising a complaint sounds like the right thing to do in this instance. You can find out more about our complaint procedure on the website.

Hope this gets sorted for you soon!

I have now managed to pay my current bill online. Nobody has explained why the account didn’t update as it should have done.

Hey @madhouse,

Glad the issue is sorted now,

I don’t have access to your account so am unable to say for sure. But typically when meter readings take a few days to update online it would be due to a tech issue or because the reading is lower or higher than we’d expect so needs to be reviewed by our billing team first. 

It might be worth getting a smart meter installed so that your meter readings are sent in automatically. Check out the following topics if you’re interested:

Pop back to the Forum anytime if you have any further questions 

I‘ve no idea who or what “Carbon Cutter****” is. Is it abusive? Or what “earning badges” means! But for a variety of reasons I don’t want a smart meter thanks, and I’ve told Ovo so on many occasions.. I’ll probably move across to Octopus, they seem to have a good reputation. I don’t need any more replies, thanks.

Since Monday last week my online account isn’t showing accurate usage, most days it says that the data isn’t available and on the days where there is data it’s inaccurate (less than what it should be). My credit has hardly gone down all week, it usually takes off what has been used every day. I don’t know where I’m up to because I don’t know what my actual balance is, is anybody else having this problem? 

Hi @dannimay91 , do you have a smart meter and do any smart readings show on your usage or meter reading page?

If so then you need to check with customer support. If not then there are no readings to put this information together. You could submit manual readings to get an update

I'm a tenant, so not the account holder, but am still responsible for paying for the electricity. I've set up a regular payment and, as far as I know there is plenty of credit in the account. I signed up to the ovo app so I could check that my credit never gets too low, however the balance showing is over two weeks old. How unhelpful and basically pointless is that?

I can’t say why the information you find is out of date, but I’d like to point out that even as a tenant, you should be the account holder, not the landlord if he’s not paying the bills. If you have your own meter, you should be able to get this set up quickly and easily. See this page for details: Setting up your gas and electricity in your new home when moving.

I have had this exact issue since beginning of 2022! That was when I had smart meter installed which was never able to function properly and only out of the blue, 3 days ago i suddenly had a reading on the ovo app that said “smart”, this is after more than 2 years! I have already complained to ovo about this issue because I had a huge backdated bill because of it, they called me also to try and organise a smart meter engineer, then guess what, they cancelled that appointment on me last minute! How can this be an issue for more than 2 years and still not be sorted? I didn’t even choose to go to ovo, sse moved everyone to ovo, the whole experience has been quite frustrating to me!

Hi @pinkfloyd198,

I’m sorry to hear this.

Has the meter sent any other readings apart from the one 3 days ago?

I’d have to advise you to contact Support so that they can book another appointment for you. Unfortunately, this is not something we’re able to do via the forum.

If you didn’t get any notice before the appointment was cancelled, you may be entitled to £30 compensation for every missed appointment and another £30 compensation if the £30 is not paid within 10 days under the ofgem rules.

These threads may be helpful:

thanks for your reply shads and no, in the past 2 and half years since beginning of 2022 when i got the smart meter, 20th sept was the one and only time i saw a reading as “smart”, all other ones are manual ones, but what I am baffled by is, why does the app keep asking for manual readings and yet when I do submit the readings, it still can’t calculate the usage? is the customer really expected to calculate the bill, surely that’s the job of ovo the service provider?

Hi @pinkfloyd198,

I’m sorry to hear this and completely understand your frustration. 

We’ve passed this on to our Forum_Support team who’ll be looking into this for you now.

I've had similar issues since the enforced switch over from SSE to OVO .

I give regular monthly/ bi - monthly readings and the electricity updates no problem,  gas never has since the switch Apr 2023 .

Therefore have no previous readings history for gas .

Have been through LIVECHAT today and as expected was told I have to have a Smartmeter to rectify . - Rubbish ( polite version) . Smart meters are notorious for going wrong and giving incorrect readings and there's so much negative press around them of late . They won't save me money , they won't make my life easier,  and it takes 15secs for me to give my own readings online . 

The suppliers are under pressure to reach their roll out targets for Smart Meters and are fined if they miss them . The only people who really benefit are the suppliers . Yet even if we don't have them we're paying for the universal roll out in our bills . Watch the programmes such as ' the trouble with Smart Meters'  etc.. Basically if something says 'Smart ' it ain't! Take Smart Motorways All a money-saving con by Govt/Companies involved. 

Anyway I digress . As Livechat couldn't help re gas updates without me switching to a Smart Meter I uninstalled OVO app and reinstalled to no avail so guess I'll just have to put up with it . Main thing is they're receiving my submitted readings their end .

Another thing that OVO and many others do is this regular monthly direct debit thing which means your balance is either + or - , in my case + mostly and so the supplier is therefore getting interest on your monet and will quarterly adjust your dd in judgement of where they think you're balance will be in a year's time fgs . What happened to pay for what you actually use ? With SSE I had a quarterly VARIABLE dd which deducted what I ACTUALLY used .OVO doesn't do them along with many others . They want to hang on to your money which compensates for the millions they're losing in unpaid bills Again , conscientious, law abiding citizens being penalised for others misdemeanours ! ( through no fault of those in need I may add - been there)! 

I now try to keep my balance on an even keel and should I go into a negative one a happy to top up by card but they seem insistent on keep upping my dd in view of what my future predicted balance will be in a year's time.  Therefore I have to regularly call or go on Livechat to reduce it as it won't let you via app.

The whole thing is loaded in favour of the utility companies at a time when we the customer is paying more on everything during a credit crisis .

It stinks ! 

Why cant we just go back to paying for what we actually use ( plus the standing charge ) either monthly or quarterly and stop all this unfairness in favour of the supplier or be trusted to top up/adjust balances when needed ourselves without enforcement? Whatever happened to Customer Service ? 

Rant over , OVO & others pls take note !

P.s. Will try app on other platforms but unlikely to update still methinks ? Prob a glitch to entice you over to Smart Meters - no fear ! 

I wonder where you’re getting your information from. I can’t think of a single case in these forums where someone has complained - justifiably - that the readings provided by their smart meter are incorrect. 
  

If you opt to pay by Direct Debit, you agree to the relevant terms. This is a cheaper option than paying only for the energy used each month in arrears. One of those terms is:
“ … you agree that … you’ll keep your energy account in credit by paying for the supply in advance;”

If your account slips into debt, your DD isn’t high enough to keep the account in credit.
  

You’re welcome to do this. It just can’t be done by Direct Debit; you’ll have to make other arrangements to pay each month. It’s considerably more expensive to do it this way, and it excludes you from several advantageous features like fixed-rate plans which can work out cheaper than the standard variable tariff in the long run.

Actually, I can think of at least one undeniable and completely undisputable benefit of Smart Meters.

The place I live at has a Meter Cupboard downstairs. It’s locked with a key held by the landlord, mostly for safety reasons because of the type of folks who live here. I can request the key whenever I want, but it’s a pain in the neck to have to keep asking for it.

It goes without saying that I upgraded to a Smart Meter almost immediately after moving in. My meter readings now get submitted every day automatically - even if the Meter Cupboard key goes walkabouts (and it does… A LOT!) without having to pester my landlord.

We - as the Forum Volunteers - also know of at least one OVO customer who lives in a block of flats where getting hold of the Meter Cupboard key is even more of a nightmare, since they have to ask the Council for it two weeks in advance and even then they have to wait for Council staff to take the meter reading. We see these stupidly terrible arrangements from time to time, which makes Smart Meters all the more useful for those use cases.

They do have their uses!