Daily credit balance reduction frequently more than usage cost (including standing charge and VAT).
Meter health check completed but no explanation to date despite several calls providing full details.
Best answer by Jess_OVO
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Userlevel 7
+1
- Plan Zero Hero
- 6253 replies
-
4 January 2022
Hi there
Hmm, that’s interesting. It’s worth noting that the charges calculated under the Usage section in MyOVO work slightly differently to the charges calculated via Billing History. The former pulls data directly from your Smart Meter (if you have one) while the latter is calculated by OVO’s billing platform. Things like rounding and smoothing can cause them to get out of sync sometimes, but the Billing History is usually the one you’ll want to rely on.
Have regular meter readings gone in the entire time? If you don’t put readings in, the system uses estimates which aren’t guaranteed to match your actual usage.
With that being said, the Smart Meter Health Check is just one of the steps used during diagnostics. It sounds like someone in the Support Team is investigating this for you, but it may take a few days for them to come back to you. The team has just come back from an extended set of Bank Holidays, so the reply might be a bit more delayed than usual.
Hi Blastoise186
Thanks for your reply.
Ovo confirm that my smart meter provides readings every 30 minutes so all info is up to date.
I have recorded the daily balance reductions and usage costs since 9th November and about half the reductions agree to the penny with usage costs plus s/c and vat which suggests the system is generally ok.
However, most of the rest show, for example, a balance reduction of £8.09 compared to usage costs of £2..24 plus s/c 0.47 and vat plus 0.14 totalling £2.85. Overcharge for 1 day of £5.24!!
The usage costs are confirmed by Ovo but they say they do not have access to the daily balance reduction which I can view online - seems strange.
I am waiting for the 45 day time required for Ovo to reply following the meter check carried out on 19th November so an answer is imminent.
Until then I feel I cannot rely on the accuracy of the billing system.
Thanks for your help.
ps (Do you work for Ovo ?)
Userlevel 7
+1
- Plan Zero Hero
- 6253 replies
-
5 January 2022
Hehehe, no worries. :)
You’ll be surprised how many people ask me that! But nope, I’m just a forum volunteer on here. Only a handful of community members on here are actual OVO staff and they’re all tagged with things like _OVO at the end of their names to help you identify them.
My real job is in cybersecurity somewhere else...
Thanks again.
You seem very knowledgeable on Ovo routines so thought you may be an insider.
Glad you are on our side.
My issue now referred to resolution team and they have already failed to call me within the agreed time so still waiting.
Keep zapping.
Userlevel 7
Sorry to hear of the discrepancies you’ve noticed between your usage pages and account balance,
As ever our community volunteer (and bug-zapper 
!) has raised a really important point here:
Hmm, that’s interesting. It’s worth noting that the charges calculated under the Usage section in MyOVO work slightly differently to the charges calculated via Billing History. The former pulls data directly from your Smart Meter (if you have one) while the latter is calculated by OVO’s billing platform. Things like rounding and smoothing can cause them to get out of sync sometimes, but the Billing History is usually the one you’ll want to rely on.
Whilst the ‘Usage pages’ of your online account and your daily usage costs shown here are designed to help you manage your usage, they should be considered more a guide than your actual billed usage (which you can check on the ‘Billing’ pages). For a number of reasons the figures may not always align exactly but as long as we’re receiving regular daily readings from your meter your billed usage will be accurate.
Have regular meter readings gone in the entire time? If you don’t put readings in, the system uses estimates which aren’t guaranteed to match your actual usage.
A great place to check this is the ‘Meter Readings’ page of the OVO app (download for Android and iOS) which should show you the readings we’ve received from your smart meters over the past month. If any dates are missing here this could indicate we temporarily lost communication with your meter on this date. In this case we may have estimated the usage for this day which could help explain the discrepancies you’ve noticed.
Our Support Team will have full access to the readings we’ve received so will be best placed to get to the bottom of things for you.
Do keep us posted with any updates - whilst we don’t have access to your account here we’re always on hand to give more general advice which could be useful to others finding this thread in future too. 
To Jess Community Moderator.
As a newcomer to the forum not sure if your alliance is to the company or customers or you are neutral.
Disappointing that you requote Blastoise general comments about meter readings and rounding and smoothing but make no reference to the detailed discrepancies that I have highlighted, eg 18th November costs.
I do have a smart meter and readings are submitted half hourly as stated by Ovo staff.
It would help if someone with some degree of authority could call me to discuss this as a reduction of £8.09 against costs of £2.85 cannot be explained as roundings.
All the figures I have quoted originate from “My Account” access to the Ovo site.
There are numerous examples of potential overcharges as well as many examples of balance reduction overnight agreeing exactly with usage costs plus s/c and vat so my query cannot be brushed aside as a smoothing / rounding exercise.
Perhaps you can arrange for someone to call me ,perhaps yourself, to discuss this in detail.
I am continuing to record figures daily and am considering using the forum to suggest other customers do likewise. In the meantime how have confidence in the accuracy of charges.
Userlevel 7
Sorry for any confusion,
Whilst this community offers the perfect place for OVO members to share general advice and is monitored by OVO staff (that’s me 
) to check the advice given is accurate, it’s not the best place to raise detailed account-specific discrepancies.
If you haven’t already we’d recommend reaching out to the Support Team to discuss this in more depth. The quickest way to reach the team is via our Live Chat here.
Hope the team can get to the bottom of this one for you.
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