It sounds to me like your statement cycle is set to the 15th, so if you really don't want to see the word Estimated on your bills, just add the reads on the 14th of the month, and your statement will be up to and including that read...

If you submit reads on the 13th, OVO will estimate forward 1 day. If you add the reads on the 10th then OVO will estimate forward 4 days...

I'm not sure where that advice of giving reads on the 13th came from, but clearly the 14th is your best "readings day".

Of course, it almost doesn't matter. The next time you Do submit reads it all catches up with itself. But if you want to see Exactly what you've used, with no estimation, submit reads the day before your bill comes out

Or Yes, get smart meters. Had mine fitted a year ago, and they're Ace. No need to do readings, bills always exact, My OVO usage graph shows Where my money's going. Nothing Dreaded about it...

Meter readings, usage and estimates

Sorry to hear about the confusion caused by the differing dates you were advised to give your meter readings. If you haven’t had smart meters installed, we’ll send you a meter reading reminder a few days before your monthly summary is created. The easiest way to submit these readings is on the ‘Meter readings’ page of your online account or OVO app (download for Android or iOS), 

Ovo Always remind when to give meter reading. My question is, why OVO add additional 3kwh every time they send bill? They always remind to send your meter reading on the 9th of the month which I do. Then I tried also sending on the 12th because this is the reading closing date and they still add 3kwh on my gas bill. I’m not using smart meter. 
Actual reading on the 12th= 55348

Estimated readin/ 12th = 55351

And when I send on the 9th they still add 3kwh same with electricity. They always do this…

Pleas help,thanks.

Howdy @mharcpg ,

This isn’t actually as bad as it sounds. It gets automatically corrected the next time you submit a meter reading after that bill is generated. So you don’t need to worry. :)

Hey @mharcpg,

Sorry for the issues you’re having.

@Blastoise186 is correct, as we have a live billing system whenever you submit a meter reading your account balance will update accordingly. We have a great guide about this topic here:

But I appreciate it must be frustrating if you are submitting a meter reading but the bill is estimated. 

Can you send a screenshot of your monthly statement where it shows the reads you’ve been billed to. Also- a screenshot of your monthly statements page which will show your statement dates. 

Let’s get to the bottom of this!

Is it something I’m doing wrong.  I pay my account online on receipt of my bill. I am asked to send a meter reading on the 7th of the month which I do and then OVO estimate my bill until the 10th. It then takes a week to actually see how much I have to pay. All other companies you put in your meter reading and pay immediately it takes less than a minute, OVO endless checking.

Hey @JBenson,

Welcome to the OVO Online Community,

OVO have a live billing system so whenever you submit a meter reading your Online Account balance will update accordingly within 24-48 hours. This means you can check how much you’ve used in between your billing cycle.

We’ll ask you for a meter reading with a few days notice, so that customers will have the opportunity to take a reading with fair warning. You can submit your reading on the 9th of the month and it will appear on your bill.

Or, you can get a free smart meter upgrade and you won’t need to submit manual readings at all!

Hope this helps 

 I have sent my gas and electricity readings on day requested. On my bill it acknowledges my reading but underneath this a final estimate reading is given. This is what the bill is then based on. Why? Are ovo estimating a final reading for 11.59pm on night of meter reading date. Seems pretty crazy if this is the case. 

Heya @Mitchinator 

The bill would use the actual reading up until the point you submitted it. Any estimates beyond that will be automatically corrected the next time you submit an actual reading.

You might want to consider getting Smart Meters though to prevent this issue completely. https://smart-booking.ovoenergy.com .

Hey @Mitchinator,

Welcome to the OVO Online Community,

We do request meter readings in advance of a statement being produced, this is so that we give customers enough warning.

I’d check back on your previous statements to see the date the statement in billed up to, you can then submit a meter read on that day.

Although, as @Blastoise186 has helpfully pointed out we do have a live billing system, so whenever you submit a read your account balance will update. We have a great guide on this topic here:

Hope this helps. 

Can someone please explain for me.  Got fed up with waiting on the phone and to be honest the message reply left me non the wiser.

My billing period is from 3rd - 2nd and the "Best day for next reading" is 2nd.  On the 2nd Feb I submitted my what I thought was a closing read for the month,  only to see under my read "Closing read as of 2nd Feb" an Estimated read".

The person on chat says a closing read needs to be 3 days before. So when should I submit a closing Bill read?

Hiya!

Ideally, I’d do it a couple of days before the billing cycle resets. That’ll give enough time for things to go through.

However, having a smart meter would fix this completely. It may be worth considering one

Thank you @Blastoise186will submit a read a couple of days before and see what happens.  No Thanks to the smart meter.

Because OVO have what they call a "live billing system", you may still see an estimated reading a little bit higher than you submit manually when your bill is created. 

It does take some getting use to compared to some other companies.

It is common question from new customers to OVO.

I don't work for OVO, i am just a customer like you. 

Sorry for the late Thank you @Jeffus As a newbie I guess it takes a while to settle in. Thanks again.

As requested, after being forced onto monthly billing without my agreement, I submitted ACTAUL readings.

The bill has now been produced and even though they are shown, the ACTUAL readings have been ignored.

Off-peak has been increased by 25% and Peak doubled!

Why did I bother after I did as requested and then have it ignored.

OVO uses live billing. I suspect your actual reading got used to calculate everything up until the point of the actual reading. If you missed the window, the next bill will factor it in.

You might want to consider smart meters though, as that would completely eliminate this problem.

1.   The reading was submitted on the day requested.
2.    The “estimating” software obviously does not look at previous usage correctly and just doubled the actual.
3.    OVO will NOT install an Economy 10 Smart Meter

Smart Meter support for Economy 10 is coming soon. Once ready, OVO can fit a Smart Meter and set it up for E10 for you.

I can confirm from personal experience that the above-quoted advice works. In my case, the billing period runs from the 17th of each month. The final day of the billing period is therefore the 16th, and my monthly bills cover the period from the 17th of one month to the 16th of the next.

Every month the system urges me to submit a reading on the 16th (the so-called “Best day for next reading”). This recommendation may seem like common sense, but when I followed it my actual readings would invariably be superseded by (none too accurate) system-generated estimates. I tried submitting actual readings as late as 11.45 pm on the 16th, but it didn’t resolve the issue.

Eventually I learned to ignore the “Best day for next reading” - it isn’t the best day. I now submit an actual reading each month on the morning of the 17th; i.e. the first day of the NEW billing period, not the last day of the OLD one. Postponing the reading by just one day has eliminated the problem entirely. No more annoying estimates!

I would urge OVO to fix the confusing “Best day” advice. It’s surprising how frustrating it can be to have your actual readings effectively rejected every month - it implies that you aren’t being believed. It also leads to bewildering fluctuations in past bills as older estimates are silently updated. 

The ‘best day’ for readings experience noted above sounds useful and worth adjusting to reduce any agitation from unexpected estimates. As this isn’t directly seen by the product team it might be worth highlighting in the Ideas section of the forum.