Using gas whilst away, how is this possible?

Hi @Melchett

The advice by the first two posters referenced checking your account to see if your gas readings are being estimated. Could you let us know? https://account.ovoenergy.com/meter-readings/history/gas

Here is an example of what you should see. A gas meter reading every day with the word smart next to it for the period you are concerned about. 

Hello all,

Thanks for your replies - apologies for being slow in replying but I’m still working away from home … so in theory there shouldn’t be any gas use!

Looking on my account there does seem to be an issue though:

According to my account the meter readings are actual not estimates, but there doesn’t appear to have been a reading since 15 Jan and I’m being asked for manual inputs.

Despite this, the usage section of my account is showing significant gas use this week, even though the house is empty and the thermostats are all turned down:

So despite it being an empty house since PM 15 Jan  the chart above is showing 168.77 kWh worth of gas over 3 days but with no meter readings being submitted according to the meter readings bit of my account.  So now I have to admit I’m lost for an explanation other than to say I think I was right in the first place in saying there’s something not right with my account & meters.

I wonder if your meter has stopped sending readings. If it has, OVO will estimate your use until they receive another reading.

What date is the latest reading you can see? Can you send OVO a manual reading and see if that resets the numbers?

The meter has definitely stopped sending readings - 15 Jan is the last recorded reading and the website is telling me to manually send a reading.  Which I can’t do because I’m working away from home - and why I know for sure there’s no gas use because the house is empty.  

Yet Ovo are seemingly unwilling to acknowledge the blindingly obvious questions of how have I used hundreds of pounds worth of gas when the house is empty.  And if the meter is not sending readings why - and how - is the daily usage chart showing £22 worth of use over the same period if there are no meter readings being submitted???

Getting into formal complaint territory now with the lack of responses beyond  ‘energy prices have gone up’.

Don't stress about the daily usage figures. You won't be billed against those figures, as long as you send in a new meter reading as soon as you're able to.

So much for smart meters! But when the website is showing hundreds of pounds of gas being used then I think my concerns are justified, especially given the lack of response from Ovo.

Worst decision I ever made moving across to them and thinking it would make my life easier! I’m now clearly going to have to revert to manual readings because the system isn’t trustworthy.  Unfortunately easier said than done when I’m working away from home.

I wouldn’t mind, but I used to keep my own records and submit my own readings every month - I never had a single issue or dispute when I was submitting my own readings. Been nothing but problems of one sort or another with this smart meter.

When I go away I turn off both heating and hot water using my Tado app so I expect gas usage to be zero for those days when I am away the full 24 hours.

In the past (up to February 2023) when I check my usage online it does indeed show zero gas usage as expected.  However when I went away for a few days in early April the daily usage shows 0.22kWh per day in month view but generally 0.18kWh in day view, with the relevant number of half hours showing 0.01kWh and the rest showing zero.

For the february zero days when I switch to day view I get the “Looks like we couldn’t find some of your usage data” message that will be familiar to many customers.  Not absolutely sure but I think this used to work before April.

My theory is that OVO have updated their site to fix some bugs, (including the one that prevented them from billing me correctly for another account - luckily now seems to be fixed).  Unfortunately they seem to have introduced a different bug related to zero readings now.  It seems that handling zero readings is quite tricky - how do you distinguish a zero reading from no reading or an invalid reading?  The other account problem began when the property had zero usage (someone turned off the fridge , which is normally left on when there is nobody home).  So I suspect that there is a design fault with their systems relating to zero readings.  Or maybe this what, when I was a software enginer, we used to refer to as a ”feature” rather than a bug.  (something that is a lot of hassle to diagnose and fix so you pretend it’s working ok)

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced these phenomena or has other theories about what is going on? 

Just noticed there is a bug in the Meter Readings page too.  despite the fact I can view all my April usage to date monthly, daily and half hourly online this page recons the meters haven’t sent them any readings “recently” but there was a manual reading on 25th March.  I have smart meters so I don’t send manual readings…..

Hi @JCPW it sounds like there may have been some estimated readings which might explain the difference to expected. 
Yes smart meters send data but can lose connection from time to time so it’s important to check what’s recorded against your account from time to time. If you look at the meter readings you should see if they’re Smart - Estimated - or Manual

https://account.ovoenergy.com/meter-readings/history/electricity
and

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

Over the last week or so our gas usage online, and on the app, has been registering small amounts overnight when we are asleep in bed with no gas appliance being used. We do have a combi boiler, but we've had this for around 5 years and overnight readings have consistently been 0.00 from when the heating goes off at night until it comes on again in the morning. 

I've contacted OVO about this. Initially they asked me to send screenshots to show what was happening (do they not have access to the records they provide us with?). Then they suggested it could just be the meter catching up due to poor internet connection - really? It's never happened before (I keep an eye on the account so would have spotted it) and if it's catching up why would it not do it in one go rather than up to 7 or 8 times during the night?

And then they asked me to keep a record of what the meter was showing when the heating goes off at night and before it comes on in the morning to see if the reading changes. This involves me, a 72 year old, crawling on my hands & knees into an understairs cupboard with a torch, & having to get myself turned round inside the cupboard to get out again, then shuffling on my backside into the living room so I can use the sofa to help me get up again - an absolute nightmare!! And takes no account of the fact that the meter shows, for example, 8768, when the actual reading could be 8768.1, so if eg 0.6 is "used" overnight it will still show 8768 in the morning.

Has anyone else had anything like this happen? We are convinced it's a smart meter problem (is it also mis-recording all day?) but Ovo are having none of it.