Solved

Why have I been charged more than my fixed monthly amount?

C
Rank

In the month of March, we got an alert from our bank that over two hundred pounds was to be paid from our account for our energy consumption. We quickly stopped the payment as it had not left the account. We had a fixed charge agreement with OVO Energy of £99 per month and that was what we had paid each month since we moved into our house. Since March tried several times to call OVO Energy but could not reach them as my calls were placed on hold each time for hours until I hung up.

A few days ago we got a letter from OVO Energy that we had a debt of £2,239.60. That is far higher than our actual debt. For the first time, I took pictures of our bills for all the months we have lived here from December to May on the smart meter. The total is £1,029.44. Considering that we had paid the fixed charge of £99 in January and February amounting to £198, our actual debt is £839. I have sent a mail to OVO Energy attaching the pictures of the monthly bills.

What do we do now?

icon

Best answer by Jess_OVO 6 June 2022, 13:43

View original

15 replies

nealmurphy
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +2

Hi @Chudi Egbuonu you say you took pictures of the bills on your smart meter? Do you mean the price displayed on the in-home display unit or the info from your online account? 

Your online account should have the correct info if the smart meter is sending regular readings. Your display on the other hand may not have the correct tariff data loaded and could be less accurate. 

First, check any online or paper bills are based on actual and not estimated readings.

C
Rank

Hi @nealmurphy,

Thank you for your response. I don't have an online account that the meter feeds with readings. However, I am on the fixed rate which means that my tariff will not change for the duration of the contract. I also discovered that the two letters I have received from OVO Energy have two different account numbers. The account number on the letter sent to us claiming we were in debt to the sum of £2,239.60 is different from the account number on the paper bill that they sent to us at the end of December. Since then, no letter was sent to us until the one with a different account number.

Jess_OVO
Rank
Userlevel 7

Updated on 14/09/23 by Abby_OVO 

Hi @Chudi Egbuonu and welcome to the OVO online community,

 

 

The account number on the letter sent to us claiming we were in debt to the sum of £2,239.60 is different from the account number on the paper bill that they sent to us at the end of December. Since then, no letter was sent to us until the one with a different account number.

 

Just to clarify, was the original letter you received addressed to ‘The Occupier’? If so we’d generate a new account number when creating an account in your name so once this new account is created anything addressed to ‘The Occupier’ will no longer apply to your account.

 

Great to see a fellow OVO member offering some tip-top advice on what might be behind those higher than expected charges. Just to clarify, as you mention having a fixed plan. The fixed element of this plan is the price you pay per unit of energy as well as your daily standing charges. Whilst we’ll recommend a monthly payment amount (based on previous usage at the property or national average usage in your type of property) when you start the plan, this monthly amount isn’t fixed. We’ll recalculate the Direct Debit amount based on the usage information we receive from your smart meters. There’s more advice on this Direct Debit review process in the guide below.
 

 

 

In the month of March, we got an alert from our bank that over two hundred pounds was to be paid from our account for our energy consumption. We quickly stopped the payment as it had not left the account. We had a fixed charge agreement with OVO Energy of £99 per month and that was what we had paid each month since we moved into our house. Since March tried several times to call OVO Energy but could not reach them as my calls were placed on hold each time for hours until I hung up.

 

It’s disappointing to hear of the difficulty you’ve had reaching the Support Team to discuss your payments. Just to check the contact number you’ve been using, you should be able to reach the Support Team (usually within 15 minutes) when calling us on 0330 303 5063. The opening hours on this line are 9am - 5pm, Monday - Friday.

Powered by Re-knowable Energy!
C
Rank

Hi,

Yes, the first letter was addressed to The Occupier. However, like I stated in my mail to OVO Energy, when they tried to take £237 from our account 28 March, I checked checked the meter and recorded the readings: Dec (18-31): £22.14, Jan: £60.10, Feb.: £61.34, Mar.: £61.73. Some days later when it occurred to me to take pictures of the readings, they had become higher.

When I got the letter of 16 March saying we were owing£2,239.60, I checked the readings again and took pictures which I attached to my mail to OVO Energy. They were: Dec.(18-31): £99.44, Jan,: £224, Feb.: £207, £207, Mar.: £200, Apr.: £171, May: £128. The total of these is £1,029.44. When you take away £198 for the £99 we had paid 28 January and 28 February, the balance is £831.44. That is far lower than the claimed £2,239.60.

Also I can only attribute the change in the meter readings from March to the increase in energy costs which should not affect us going by our fixed rate contract. I hope OVO Energy gets back to me with the correct amount we are owing so that this matter can be settled ASAP.

Thanks,

Chudi

nealmurphy
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +2

Hi @Chudi Egbuonu 

I think it would be beneficial for you to record the usage measured in kWh on the meter. It sounds like you have looked at the cost each month that was shown on your display unit, not the meter. The display can only provide an accurate cost if it has the correct tariff information on the smart meter. This is not always the case.

Does the kWh reading on your meter match the reading on your bill?

C
Rank

Hi @nealmurphy,

I recorded both the costs and the usage in kWh for all the months. The pictures I took also shows both. I have mailed the pictures to OVO Energy. The costs that the OVO Energy customer service staff gave me for the months in question do not even make sense. Imagine saying my bill for one month was over £600 and over £500 for the other months.

Thanks for your response.

Chudi

Jess_OVO
Rank
Userlevel 7

I really empaphise with the confusion, @Chudi Egbuonu.

 

Without full access to your account here it’s tricky to determine exactly what your monthly charges have been based on. Have you been checking the figures on the ‘Billing History’ page of your online account?

 

@nealmurphy has hit the nail on the head, if these figures were taken from your In-Home Display we’d need to double-check that this device is loaded with the correct unit rates and standing charges. Equally if there’s been any drop in communication with the smart meters the figures showing on the ‘Usage’ pages of your online account may be estimated for certain months, which is why we’d always direct you to check your monthly costs on the bill itself. You can download previous months bills via your online account and confirm the meter readings we’ve used to calculate the charges here too.

 

I hope this helps to clear things up.

 

 

Powered by Re-knowable Energy!
B
Rank

Hi everyone, I’m a OVO newbie and so far I am bamboozled with the whole thing.

 

I was sent an email by OVO to say that I would be paying 65 pounds every month with direct debit. However, how would they know how much I would be paying every month because I could potentially be using less than 65 pounds. Can I just not update them with meter reads monthly for them to calculate? Or is it set at £65?

BPLightlog
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +5

Hi @bee91 . You will have an ‘expected annual consumption’ figure which is usually shown on your plan (online - not on the app at present).

This is based on historical figures to try to arrive at a monthly figure. Not sure what you’ve been used to but they try to figure an average level to smooth the payments. This is all presuming a monthly direct debit customer 

Independent volunteer - Sitting in a Faraday cage, waiting for a signal
B
Rank

I understand this, but this should not be fixed because usage could change monthly. If I’m spending 40 pounds and I’m getting charged 65 how is that making sense?

 

 

BPLightlog
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +5

I understand this, but this should not be fixed because usage could change monthly. If I’m spending 40 pounds and I’m getting charged 65 how is that making sense?

The idea (I believe) is that the monthly payment remains at a level so that 12 x the amount pays for the whole year balancing higher months with lower. You can query it of course with customer support

Independent volunteer - Sitting in a Faraday cage, waiting for a signal
B
Rank

Yes, I’m going to contact them tomorrow, but they take a long time to pick up the phone. 
I tried to contact them by the chat line, but some of them don’t really have a clue what they’re saying or don’t have the answer. I will see how it goes but if I’m not happy, I think I’m going to change supplier. I was actually quite happy with SSE. I used to give them Meter reads every month and they used to bill me based on that.

T
Rank
Userlevel 1

Yes, your monthly DD payment will have calculated based on past or expected consumption and designed to even out over the year. In the winter, with heavier usage you may well be using more than £65 pounds worth and in warmer months less so it smooths out. I have been with OVO almost since they started and they have always been very fair and, if I accrued too much credit, they lowered my DD and if I looked like it wasn't enough they suggested the amount it needed to go up to. They did this with plenty of warning and always saying that if I would have problems with the increase, to contact them. All energy firms seem to be struggling to have enough phone advisers because the current financial situation has meant the number of enquiries has increased so much. But I have always found them fair and helpful.

S
Rank

I’m looking for advice and my next steps. For four months now I am being charged two payments on my OVO account. I’ve spoke to countless managers and customer complaint team and no one has given me an answer or sorted the issue. I am shocked by how poor the customer service has been. I have sent photos each month of the double payment and keep getting told that they don’t know how that is because they can only see one payment and that they have sent it to the payments team. They now owe me 4 months worth of payments and I do not want it to get to the 5th. Someone please help!

Abby_OVO
Rank
Userlevel 6

Hi @StaceyE 

 

Sorry to hear about this.

 

I’m going to have out Forum Support reach out to you to see if they can help you further with this. Please look out for Private Message here soon: 

https://forum.ovoenergy.com/inbox/overview 

 

Location: Electric Avenue

Reply


Terms & ConditionsCookie settings