Using gas whilst away, how is this possible?

Our meter sends readings half hourly, it appears to be sending readings when no gas is being used, eg when we are in bed and everything is switched off, but also recently during the day when we are in the house and know nothing is being used.

So if our meter is faulty we have to pay to have a new one fitted? Really? Why?  We haven't caused the fault!!!!

As for ruling out gas appliances there are only 3:

a gas fire which has not been turned on for over a year - I think we'd notice if that suddenly switched itself on and we certainly haven't smelt any gas leak from it.

A hob, which is around a year old - again, I think we'd notice if that to was switching itself on, our if it was leaning gas, and finally

The combi boiler - again, we'd hear if that was switching itself on, we've checked the settings and it isn't set to heat water apart from on demand, heating is set very low and has never come on overnight, even in winter. No smell of gas in the cupboard where boiler is located. 

So unless there is some other way to "rule out appliances" we've pretty much done that already. As this problem is intermittent, ie happens every day for a few days, and then not at all for a further few days, and so on and so on, a leak is unlikely as, presumably, a leak would be continuous until it was located and repaired, I assume it wouldn't just have a few days of and then return??? We are getting absolutely nowhere with Ovo, no-one wants to help or even suggest any way for us to get help, we've resorted to turning our gas off at the meter as we're so concerned about charges being made for gas we are not using. 

Hi @MrsSB 

Thank you for all of that information. 

The test in question requires the meter to be removed in order to test it. If they find that the meter is faulty during this, you wouldn’t be charged, but if they found that the meter wasn’t faulty, this is the only reason you’d be charged, only of the meter wasn’t faulty.

When they remove it to be tested, they would fit a new one anyway as they can’t refit the same meter. 

The best thing to do will be to contact the Support Team to discuss this as we don’t have access to your account here at the Forum.

Thank you. Your last response actually said "if they found that the meter was faulty there would be a charge"  which is why I queried it.

We have been in touch with Customer Services, and also have emailed Ovo's CEO. We have had numerous phone conversations, and numerous emails, none of which have been any help to resolve this matter. In fact yesterday our gas usage shows charges for mid morning when the boiler, hob and fire were all switched off, we were out of the house, and the gas was actually turned off at the meter!!!  To our simple minds this indicates a meter fault but I expect Ovo will try to wriggle out of it & say it's something we're doing.

@MrsSB I feel like some context on this meter accuracy process might be helpful to you. 

Most people who have higher than expected actual usage benefit from ruling out the most common causes: something to do with their appliances. Most meters tested for a fault are not faulty. For these two reasons we recommend anyone rules out other factors before booking a meter accuracy test. 

As you might imagine, a meter accuracy test that is free no matter what the results would not be scaleable for an energy supplier. After all, nothing to lose in getting it tested right? Instead OVO aims to give you as many ways to rule out alternative causes first, and helps you book in the test if you’re sure. If the meter is faulty, the test is free and your charges are recalculated. Otherwise you’ll be charged for the appointment. 

In your case I still think there’s a chance that your meter has intermittent communication with OVO. Even if we get a daily reading, perhaps we don’t always get half hourly usage data. If that’s true your half hourly graphs will be partly estimated, just like how you describe which sometimes shows the overnight usage and sometimes don’t. So I wouldn’t use the graphs as the only justification to book a meter accuracy test. It’s far better to look at the total kWhs your meters have clocked, shown in your monthly bill, having checked that you’ve had daily readings added for those dates. If the kWh’s are much bigger than you expect, that is something worth exploring. 

Hope this helps,

Tim

That hardly explains why on 2 consecutive days, where actual usage was identical apart from an extra boiling of a kettle on the hob on the 2nd day, the usage recorded on the 1st day was 4.84kWh and on the 2nd day 22.92kWh.  So the boiling of a kettle added 18kWh to our usage, when the 1st day's 4.84Kwh actually included 2 kettle boilings? 

It seems to me that Ovo representatives will suggest anything rather than about the just could possibly be a problem with their equipment. 

And @Tim_OVO  we're quite prepared to pay to get the meter tested/replaced as we are not stupid enough to believe that Ovo will admit to there being a fault and we won't expect to get our money refunded. Funnily enough, most old people have seen enough of life to realise that this is how things work.

Hey @MrsSB 

Would you be able to upload some screenshots on to the Forum, on this thread, so that we can look at the readings? As we don’t have access to accounts we can’t see any of that information, so if you could attach some photo’s we can see what you can and try to help you more where we can. 

Data has been posted on a few threads from @MrsSB , e.g.

My heating and hot water are currently turned off but there’s a charge for gas on my account. Does anyone know why this might be?

Your meter is showing some gas use in the evening. That pattern suggests it isn't a leak. Are you sure you don't have a gas appliance that's switching on at 7 or 8pm? Some combi boilers have a pre-heat function that runs even if you don't use any hot water. Could it be that?