When is the best time to give my meter readings to avoid estimated bills?

Not really @Bri4life unless the first one hasn’t logged correctly or the app hasn’t updated. You can check what’s recorded by looking at your meter readings 

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

The reading I gave shows up, should I do it again?

It won’t hurt if you do. The system updates daily anyway. They do ask for a reading at the end of the billing period if that might be a reason

They ask for a reading before the end of the month but end up estimating for the 1st of the next month anyway 

We’ve discovered (well @Firedog has) that if you send early on the day following it is used and not estimated

Ha 😂 ha

My online account shows a “best date” for submission but then you always send me an email asking me to submit several days (5) earlier.

From a number of other users, we’ve seen that a submission before the end of a billing period results in an estimated final reading. 
Most have been satisfied by submitting a reading early on the morning after the end of the billing period (which is generally the day after the suggested best date)

I know this has been asked before but I can’t seem to find a definitive answer anywhere. I’ve recently transferred to OVO from SSE and my first bill has just been generated. I entered manual readings on the 2nd of September, my billing period ends on the 2bd of the month, but I still get an estimated bill. Why? How do I get the system to use the readings I submit as the actual readings that should be used for the bill.

You need to submit a reading one day prior to the cycle reset.

Alternatively, if you get Smart Meters and set them to Daily or Half-Hourly readings, it’ll basically get rid of this problem forever.

So are you saying I should submit on the 1st? This Link implies you should do it the day after in my case the 3rd.

I can’t get a smart meter yet as I’m on THTC in the North of Scotland. 

If you can submit a reading early the day after your billing period ends (that’s the same day that a smart meter would get it’s reading for the period), we’ve seen that this avoids estimates. 
OVO were going to change their advice .. it sounds like they haven’t done yet

I will try this next month and see what happens.

Hi There!

I’m hopeful someone can help with my problem.

I was late with my meter reading back in January and OVO have estimated my bill at over £1000 than it should be. I have tried to get in touch with them to rectify the situation but with no avail. I have tried through what’s app and have not managed to chat to anyone through the customer service help line.

would anyone be able to point me in the right direction for how to proceed.

Thanks so much for any help! 

How often do you receive bills? And how often have you submitted readings since January? Can you see your billing history at the website?

If you miss a single reading, you may end up with a bill based on an estimate of your usage, which might be higher than it was in fact. However, this should be put right at the next bill so long as you’ve submitted readings regularly since the one you missed. 

You may be seeing a blue Messenger button in the bottom corner of this window; a click on that should start a chat session with the OVO agents who work over Facebook. Try it on Monday morning; they should be able to access your account and help you find out what’s gone wrong. 

Hi Firedog,

Thanksxso much for your reply. 
 

I have submitted a reading in time each month since January. My avarage usage is around £50 but they have increased my direct debit to £200. I have tried the WhatsApp chat line but I’ll try the messenger chat tomorrow.

Thanks so much for your support. 

Hey @Lynsay 

Sorry to hear about this.

Firedog has come in with some great advice here. Keep us updated here with how you get on with this.

Hi Guys,

Ovo customer services called me today and said the issue will be sorted out in the next 24 hours.

Fantastic! I’ve been trying to sort this out since January, so thanks so much for your reply’s I’m sure that’s what moved things along.

Lynsay

This seems to have worked for me this month.

Just moved to OVO, so that my bills are accurate when should I submit meter readings, the day of the Billing Date, Day Before or Day After.

Hi @ScDc44 from what we’ve seen and experienced, the morning of the day following. It mimics a smart meter reading which is taken just after midnight 

Oooh, that’s a bit ambiguous. If your billing period runs from the 15th of the month to the 14th of the following one, submit a reading as BP advises in the morning of the first day in the billing period, in this case the 15th. 

Meter readings are recorded for billing purposes as being taken at midnight (GMT), There’s a little bit of confusion at the account website, because midnight belongs to two days. The reading recorded for our example 15th will be used as both the closing reading for the period ending on the 14th and as the opening reading for the next period starting on the 15th. Readings on the readings history page are dated and apply at midnight at the start of the day whose date is shown.

It doesn’t hurt to submit readings more often, so if you’d like to check this, next time submit a reading on the last day of the period (e.g. the 14th) and again on the first day of the next period (e.g. the 15th). Then see which one is used to calculate the bill when it’s ready. I’m betting that you’ll see your reading for the 15th labelled ‘Closing reading as of 14th ...’ 

Having supplied actual meter readings for the end of my billing cycle in Sept & Oct,  Ovo seems to prefer to use its own estimates this time round, 

 although starting to roll backwards is something new 🤭

Tom…

That’s odd, I agree, and it ought not to happen. We’ve seen a similar case just recently where an estimate was used for billing when there was an actual manual reading for the same date. In that case, the anomaly was in OVO’s favour, which is admittedly more concerning. The amounts involved are admittedly small, and the aberration won’t endure longer than a month, but even so, there can be no excuse for induced inaccuracy when actual data are available.

@Abby_OVO Could you add this to the other case of an estimate trumping an actual reading? It’s a bit worrying if this practice has become systemic, and it needs investigating.