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My gas supply is solely for hot water/heating - how is my gas usage so high even when boiler is off?

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@Jeffus Thanks for that, that is helpful. Before April 15th I was on monthly smart meter recordings so I imagine this is why there were no meter readings between April 5th and 15th. However I’m not sure where this leaves me in interpreting my usage graph - where did they get those usage figures from?

BPLightlog
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Hi @SarahLock , what the graph would show is an ‘averaged’ use over those days but as Jeffus says, the graph is purely indicative. It is only the meter readings that count towards your bill. 
A visual representation which in this case is a little misleading unfortunately 

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M
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Sure, picture attached. I also had the same problem in September last year. 

We have turned our combi boiler off so there's no pilot light , only charge is the standing charge which is crazy amount, the pilot light costs £10 a week!!! So that's why I turned it off

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I have a solar-powered infrared heating system with an oil-fired boiler as backup. With the change in the weather in mid-October, the water was not heating adequately so I switched the boiler on, timed for a couple of hours morning and night. Since then, my daily electricity usage has gone from £3-4 a day to £7-8 a day. I can’t think of any other changes. Surely this can’t be enough to explain such a huge jump? Any guidance gratefully received!

juliamc
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Do you have a hot water cylinder with an immersion heater ? Might this have been switched on by the boiler system somehow ?

A

Hi All,

Recently moved to a 3bed house, 3 adults usually not home during the day, but  I am being charged £400 a month just for Gas.

Ovo claims we use 5837.90 kwh of gas monthly, which is ridiculous since we only use Gas for heating , which hasn't been on, heating up water and hob, which its not used everyday. 

Is this normal?  We’ve been charged equivalent to a years usage in the past 4 months, apparently we used 16,843kwh of gas  since the third week of October till now. 

I have contacted them, waiting to hear back from a billing specialist and rather anxious with whole situation, just wanted some views from other users.  

Also can someone explain how they calculate the live usage, because it changes a lot and sometimes the £ is higher on days no ones home. 

Thank you in advance. 

BPLightlog
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Hi @Anocas , do you have a smart meter at all? If not or if the readings are not being received regularly, your usage will be estimated. 
You can check on your account if readings are actual or estimated 

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Jeffus
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Hi @Anocas 

Check on this page for gas

https://account.ovoenergy.com/meter-readings/history/gas

You should see something like this

Ideally with a daily reading with the word Smart next to it.

 

Firedog
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We’ve been charged equivalent to a years usage in the past 4 months,

 

Sadly, this sounds familiar. If your reported consumption in kWh appears to be three times what it should be, can you please check that the conversion from m³ to kWh is being done properly on your bill? We’ve seen several cases where the m³ figures were being treated as if they were ft³ (actually x 100). Unless your gas meter is more than about 20 years old, it’s unlikely to be measuring in cu.ft, and if this mistake has indeed been made on your bills, the kWh figure will be 2.8 times higher than it should be.

The calculation is explained in detail here: Gas meter readings and bill calculation - www.gov.uk 

 

Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA
A

Hi, 

Thank you for your reply.

I do have a smart meter, which wasn't “communicating” with OVO but somehow my account still  shows the readings as “Smart”, so i don't believe is estimated . 

A

We’ve been charged equivalent to a years usage in the past 4 months,

 

Sadly, this sounds familiar. If your reported consumption in kWh appears to be three times what it should be, can you please check that the conversion from m³ to kWh is being done properly on your bill? We’ve seen several cases where the m³ figures were being treated as if they were ft³ (actually x 100). Unless your gas meter is more than about 20 years old, it’s unlikely to be measuring in cu.ft, and if this mistake has indeed been made on your bills, the kWh figure will be 2.8 times higher than it should be.

The calculation is explained in detail here: Gas meter readings and bill calculation - www.gov.uk 

 

Hi, I just did the calculations and I believe you are correct. Our smart meter was installed before we moved in around June last year, and I believe Ovo was still doing calculations with the old meter unit ft³  instead of m³.  Thank you so much. 

Emmanuelle_OVO
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I’m glad that Firedog managed to identify the issue! Pop back if you need anything else @Anocas 

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.

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