Using gas whilst away, how is this possible?

I have a similar experience.  Back in February (2023) when my appliances were turned off for a full 24 hours my usage, as shown by the online graphs, was reading zero.   Now it reads betwen 0.19 and 0.23 kWh per day when no gas is being used.  OVO have so far failed to provide any explanation for this.

On days when I do use gas - at certain times only when the boiler is on (just heating water at this time of year) the meter continues to clock up usage at this rate during the times when no gas is being used.

Hi @JCPW 

It's possible that one of your appliances has started leaking a very small amount of gas. There is an allowable amount of gas leakage in a domestic environment and your readings appear to be within that limit, even if you're in a small property.

I discussed this possibility with my heating engineer, who thinks it’s highly improbable but not totally impossible.  The OVO chat person (who has presumably been trained not to alarm customers) was adamant that it couldn’t be a leak and one of my appliances must be using some gas.  I have eliminated that possibility by powering off the boiler for 8 hours and reading the meter directly to confirm 0.006 cu M (= 0.063 kWh) clocked up.  This equates to 0.19 kWh per day as expected.

Further study of my online usage data shows ths began on 29th March and has been happening consistently ever since.

We had our gas hob removed a couple of years ago. The engineer who removed it told us that it was leaking. Not enough for us to notice and within the permitted amount but enough for him to measure. He wasn't at all surprised so I'm not sure why your heating engineer thinks it's unlikely.

Your options at this point are to accept the small amount of leakage or ask OVO to test the meter. There is a charge for this which is refundable if the meter is found to be faulty. Be aware that meters have a permitted error. I don't know what that permitted error is but your discrepancy is very small so might fall within that error.

The tolerance is 10% either way. If the meter is well within that, you sacrifice the test fee.

We also had a leaking gas hob in our last house, the engineer said it does happen sometimes. Got picked up by the engineer when he was servicing our gas boiler in the kitchen. 

Thanks

I decided that at most it will cost me about £7 over the course of a year and add about 13kg to my CO2 emissions so I’m going to take the hit and ask him to check it out next time he comes to service the boiler.

cheers

J

Good afternoon

I have had the smart meter for just over one month.

Unfortunately I have been quite ill. On discharge from hospital, I noticed I am being charged between 31 and 35p each night for gas. My gas hasn’t been used.

I emailed OVO I received this reply

Hi C, Thanks for getting in touch with us. My name is W…... I'm a account management team member here at OVO, and I'm happy to help you with this.

The 30p charge is standing charge. I have added a explanation of standing charge below.

I thought that was odd, as I remember reading the standing charge is added.

I went to my daughters for five days after discharge. I arrived home this week and queried again the monies taken overnight because it was bothering me. It’s only 30 odd pence but it mounts up over the year.

I received another response stating:

With regard to billing, unfortunately, standing charge is not included with your consumption. We bill you for your month's worth of consumption, add the charge and VAT

This amount is not billing you on the amount of units you use in a month. This means, even though you are not using gas, you will still be billed 31p a day. We will continue to bill you standing charge as long as OVO Energy is your supplier. The reason we require this is due to us servicing your meter. For example, if your meter breaks or is faulty, we will complete a free meter exchange.

Does this mean we are being charged nearly £115 a year to service the smart meter???

Money Saving Expert has a good general  article on Standing Charges. It is not just the cost of the actual meter as you will see

https://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2023/07/martin-lewis--why-are-energy-standing-charges-so-high--what-can-/

If you feel strongly you could lobby your MP for changes in the way Ofgem manage they price cap. 

Hi @C Bates , it’s worth noting that it’s not a charge for the smart meter as such but it’s levied for any meter. Virtually all energy companies have standing charges (actually maybe all these days)