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Why can't I view my historic usage information following a switch away?

  • 22 November 2021
  • 4 replies
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Userlevel 7

My fixed price plan for gas and electricity supply by Ovo ended on 21 Nov.

Since this morning, 22 Nov, I can still log in to My Ovo but it no longer shows me electricity usage information, whereas the smartphone Ovo Energy app does.

I the past, I was supplied by Ovo at two other addresses and, because moving was a complicated process with overlaps, there were periods when I even had 3 accounts live at once.

Even though the other two accounts have been closed for months now, I am still able to see usage etc (via the web portal and using the smartphone app) at those addresses up until their final supply dates.

Here’s the bug: what I can see is obviously determined by what Ovo thinks it is supplying me with today - Ovo thinks it is supplying me with gas only, and all the electricity usage information has disappeared from My Ovo (for all three accounts).

I suspected that it was a “feature” that still let me see historic information for the other accounts, but was happy with that so didn’t report it as a bug.

But I feel I ought to be able to review my usage for the final day of electricity supply by Ovo, and this denial of access is all rather abrupt, so this time I’m reporting it as a bug.

The smartphone app, more reasonably, continues to show me electricity supply information, (even for closed accounts) and if the last day of half-hourly info for electricity usage it shows me is 19 Nov, at least it shows me that - the web portal now denies access to all my electricity supply info, ever.

To put it bluntly - the web portal is using the current, live supply info to control what it shows in the way of historic supply information, including from other accounts. I have previously reported that the web portal can get hopelessly confused over addresses: I told Ovo that I was “Moving out” of the other two addresses and it then persisted in showing me messages about moving out of my still-active supply address.

Fortunately, I know how to use Ovo’s not-supported-for-public-use API, and the historic usage data is still accessible there, for electricity as well as gas, so I have been able to download it anyway (including electricity, including for 20 Nov). For whatever reason, the usage data for 21 Nov is currently only for gas. Perhaps the only reason that I can see any data at all on My Ovo is that Ovo (wrongly) thinks it is still my supplier of gas. (I received an email this morning about moving to the variable tariff for gas today. I am, but not supplied by Ovo, I’m not.)

Perhaps the reason it has no electricity usage data for 21 Nov is that it thinks I switched at midnight on 20/21 Nov. But that’s not right either. For clarity, the switch was for electricity and for gas, and the last day of supply by Ovo was 21 Nov, i.e. the last day of my fixed price plan.

[Edit: update - actually the smartphone app is losing access to usage data now. I suppose things get updated in stages. At this point, the “yearly” info is available, i.e. consumption resolved by the month, but not “monthly” or “daily”. Meanwhile the web portal hasn’t changed. All frequencies still there, but only for gas.]

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Best answer by Jess_OVO 23 November 2021, 12:07

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Userlevel 7

Updated on 20/01/22 by Jess_OVO

 

A very strange usage disappearance you’ve spotted here, @Simon1D

 

I’m taking this one to the team to check what data should be seen following a switch - as we agree it makes sense that you should still have access to the historic data even following a switch. We’ll be back with an update as soon as we hear more on this front.

 

 

Here’s the bug: what I can see is obviously determined by what Ovo thinks it is supplying me with today - Ovo thinks it is supplying me with gas only.

 

Just wanted to follow-up on this point. Have you double-checked that your gas switch completed as expected? Occasionally there are times when the switch of one supply might be slightly delayed so it’s always worth checking any discrepancies you notice. Our Support Team (or your new supplier) can confirm the actual switch dates of both your gas and electricity supply.

 

Hoping we can get to the bottom of things for you.

 

I’m so sorry for the delay in getting an update on this one, @Simon1D.

 

We’ve checked in with our App team who’ve advised that your historic usage data shouldn’t be affected by your recent switch. If you’re still missing the expected data this is best raised to our Support Team who’ll be able to raise a tech ticket on your account to address this account-specific bug.

 

 

Userlevel 7

 

Just wanted to follow-up on this point. Have you double-checked that your gas switch completed as expected? Occasionally there are times when the switch of one supply might be slightly delayed so it’s always worth checking any discrepancies you notice. Our Support Team (or your new supplier) can confirm the actual switch dates of both your gas and electricity supply.

 

The present position is that Ovo (web portal)  says the gas switch will happen on or around 6 Dec, the new supplier says they expect to be my supplier from 7 Dec.

It remains a mystery to me why both switches didn't happen at the same time, on 22 Nov, and I wonder if the processes to handle switching are anything like bug-free. Certainly the new supplier knew it was happening, for both electricity and gas, since early Nov, but their online summary of progress for gas remained stuck at the first stage "industry checks" for much longer, till yesterday, in fact. This means they're waiting to get confirmation from the old supplier, I believe, so it would appear this wasn't forthcoming for gas in the way it had been for electricity.

Looks to me like a question for Ovo to answer, as they are the old supplier.

Userlevel 7

I’m so sorry for the delay in getting an update on this one, @Simon1D.

 

We’ve checked in with our App team who’ve advised that your historic usage data shouldn’t be affected by your recent switch. If you’re still missing the expected data this is best raised to our Support Team who’ll be able to raise a tech ticket on your account to address this account-specific bug.

 

On a related usage data note, Simon - We’ve forwarded all the painstaking work you’ve made to try and figure out the inconsistencies you’ve spotted to our Kaluza developers so Tim will be in touch with regards to the insight you've been providing. We’d really like to thank you again for your efforts in carrying out such detailed analysis.

Userlevel 7

In case anyone at Ovo cares, now that my switch for gas has been completed too (on 6 Dec), I can’t see historic data for gas either. In fact, on logging in, I’m presented with a choice between the 3 accounts that were active once upon a time. As long as I was being supplied at one address, I could see the historic usage for the other addresses, but now that I’m no longer being supplied with either gas or electricity, at any address, I can select one and click on continue, but nothing happens.

I’ve now deleted the app from my android phone (why would I keep it?) but as far as I remember the app would still show historic usage as it should.

But the problem with the web interface remains as I originally described it: historic usage of energy is only accessible if that form of energy is still currently being supplied at another address. When that last supply contract ends, so does access to all the historic data.

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