I'm on pay as you go, do I get any bill summaries?

Hello OVO Team.

Why is it that OVO don't send bills info, or usage summary to PAYG customers. Use to be with SSE who sends bills summary after every 3 months to PAYG customers but OVO don't offer the same service. I have not received any bill summary or usage information from OVO since over 6 months I joined. Read from the forum OVO send out bill statement to PAYG customer on annual basis. To me thats quite a long period. Why not at most quarterly. Meanwhile, I'd prefer the PAYG to switching to Pay monthly.

Good morning @Felagot ,

Please be advised that the OVO Forum is powered and patrolled by Forum Volunteers rather than OVO Staff. If you specifically need to talk to OVO Staff, please head over to https://ovoenergy.com/help .

Annual statements is the industry norm for PAYG customers I’m afraid. If you want them to come more often, you need to be on PAYM. The reason for this is to comply with industry rules that PAYG statements must be sent at least once a year. However, it’s not particularly efficient to send them more often - and the data just isn’t there half the time to do so, especially with key/card based meters.

Unfortunately, it’s unlikely to change unless the industry rules get changed.

 I can’t view my statements online just because I pay as you go and on a traditional meter to me it’s bullying customers to get a smart meter and to pay by direct debit when some of us just haven’t got the funds to do that I was with British Gas under exactly the same circumstances and I could view my account online and it showed me every single payment I made whenever I wanted, why make me set an account up when I click on login It gives me a page saying that there’s no information I can access so what is the point of making me do a online account ??

when reading articles about this:-

The answers from the OVO support team  can’t even give you a valid reason they seem to think because we’re not being sent an invoice or bill we don’t have a right to see the payments made.

if I’m getting an estimated annual usage figure of around £1300 then surely I can see the payments made and shouldn’t have to rely on your word for or wait12 months for statement to see a record of payments  How do I know them figures are correct?

Hi ​@Lolabud ,

If you’re on PAYG, you’ll get an annual statement sent out once a year - this will tell you everything that’s happened during the year.

If you wish to see things before then, you can ask the PAYG Support Team for the details.

Hi ​@Lolabud 

Please note that there is no need to post the same thing in multiple places, if you do that then it makes it difficult to follow who has replied with what answer and where.

In one of the other posts you added:

As for Smart meters I’ve received several emails in the last month sending me appointment dates which you have made on my behalf to exchange my meter for a smart one when I’ve never requested the change over …

Meters do have a lifetime, usually they are certified for 10 years, and do need replacing when that certification runs out.

Ofgem rules say that meters must have a current certificate and so the energy supplier has a duty to replace a meter when it’s certification is running out, or has run out.

The supplier has to replace any meter that is reaching the end of it’s certification.
Whether you have requested it or not, they have to replace it to stay within the Ofgem rules governing their Licence to Supply energy.

As the only meters that are made now are smart meters then the replacement meter will be a smart meter, there is no other choice.

Hey ​@Lolabud 

I’m glad a couple of our volunteers have already stopped by to help explain this, I hope you found it helpful.

As you’re on Pay as you go, we don’t send out frequent bills, but you will get an annual statement to show all top ups and usage throughout the year.

As you pay for your energy in advance, you don’t receive a monthly bill as you don’t have the same billing as those on pay monthly, and so you don’t get billed as you don’t have a bill to pay each month.

Hope this helps.

The answers you have given me is in the question I asked  I’ve already mentioned about getting my Statement annually and I don’t have a problem with that 

saying why isn’t there an online account for me to view my payments? Nothing to do With getting sent a billI I know how it goes. I’ve been Key cardcustomer for 20 years.
I’m saying why don’t you make an app for pre payment Customers to Have a look at their own accounT

Where did I ask aboutt The longevity of my meter it’s only three years old so I’ve got another seven years left on it. Are you all robots?

The answers that are posted on the OVO Forum are all human, usually either by a Forum Moderator or a Forum Volunteer (such as myself) but sometimes by other users who are passing by. We don’t allow robotic, automated or AI responses however - they pretty much always get deleted unless they actually add value.

TBH when it comes to PAYG, pretty much everything is done on the Meter itself and unless you have Smart Meters, the Supplier has very little visibility into what’s going on anyway, making an online account system virtually useless.

Personally, I feel there’s little to no value in building such a system to cater for a dead/deprecated Meter type for which the infrastructure is actually being slowly torn down. It just feels like development resources that are better used elsewhere. And besides, there’s an easier option anyway - just keep the receipts from the shop (which you should be doing anyway)!

With that in mind, we may sometimes - at our discretion - mention additional stuff you might want to be aware of. Nukecad is correct however - you can’t keep your existing Trad Prepay Meter forever!

Strictly speaking, OVO is required to either replace an expired Meter, or kill the Supply entirely as they can’t bill you using an expired Meter. I know what I’d rather do…

Also worth noting that just because you have had the Meter for three years doesn’t mean it was brand new when it was installed - they do get re-used sometimes so it could actually be much older than that! Given that Trad Prepay Meters haven’t been manufactured in 10+ years I doubt yours is actually just three years old.

Much appreciated 

One last thing  ..am I reading this right regarding your answer you written (second paragraph down)

“TBH when it comes to PAYG, pretty much everything is done on the Meter itself and unless you have Smart Meters, the Supplier has very little visibility into what’s going on anyway, making an online account system virtually useless.”

I was never under the impression it was for the supplier to benefit from its for the Customer to see it’s OUR ACCOUNT NOT YOURS 

YOU DONT OWN The meter! You Rent the serial number and charge me a price for the Energy

Your going on as if your the one Man powering a turbine and sweating your back out  so I can have power 😂😂😂 chow chow 

I was also quite surprised that you say your traditional (non-smart meter) is only 3-years old.

Does it have a date shown on it anywhere?
If not and you feel like posting a picture then someone can probably tell you just how old it actually is from the other numbers on it.

As I said, without Smart Meters, being on PAYG makes it impossible for the Supplier to know anything even close to real-time about what’s going on. It takes time for the data to get back to them after you run a top-up (it’s not necessarily immediate!) and even then, they’d only have data from the last time you shoved the key/card into the Meter prior to that particular shop visit. So any online account would be immediately outdated as soon as you looked at it unless you downloaded the Meter data onto the key/card every day and then went to the shop immediately after doing so.

Under the Gas Act 1986 and Electricity Act 1989, the Meter is legally owned by/the property of the Supplier unless you install your own one and manage to get that approved (very rare for Domestic supplies!). Even if the Supplier is using a Meter Asset Provider to finance them, the same rules still apply.

Please remember that I am a Volunteer who gives my time for free to help out on here and I don’t work in the energy industry at all. As such, I can also choose to withdraw my assistance at anytime at my discretion without giving a reason. Please play nice, otherwise I may exercise said discretion.