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Had Solar Panels and Storage Batteries installed- OVO now questioning low meter readings?

  • 18 November 2022
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We have this year installed solar panels and storage batteries to supply an alternative 240 volt circuit to part of the house to reduce our electricity cost. This has worked out well and our electricty supplied by OVO has dramatically reduced. Now OVO  on entering the latest meter reading is questioning our low meter readings.

Any advice on how we proceed with this? We have no issue with the company inspecting our meter or checking out our solar system.

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Best answer by Emmanuelle_OVO 21 November 2022, 10:58

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BPLightlog
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Hi @rodman is OVO aware at all? Have you applied for the export payment through them?

Our panels were already in place when we joined OVO so our usage has not dramatically changed although we did get in touch with customer support to discuss as our electricity is a lot less than ‘standard’ in summer

Independent volunteer - Sitting in a Faraday cage, waiting for a signal
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Hi, This is totally an off grid system with an additional circuit fed from an invertor. It has nothing to do with OVO or the national grid.

It is a pet project of mine to solely reduce electricty consumption in my house after the huge increases seen that have been levied on us.

We no longer use grid electricty in the main part of the house that we occupy most.

We don’t have mains gas and don’t use electricity to cook or heat the house. We cook using an a lpg system. Our central heating and hot water is from an oil fired boiler (powered by solar generation!). Alongside of the solar energy and off peak charging of the batteries we now use much less electricty. We still have to use some and cant avoid the £15 monthly standing charge that we now have or the VAT.

It isn’t necessarily a less expensive way to live - although there are cost benefits. It was/is a way of using less mains electricity as I felt we where beeing abused by these utility companies.

juliamc
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I think just keep sending meter readings and the system will adjust to your low use. I had an empty house during the summer so only a security light and no hot water use. Eventually the bills stopped coming ! I was doing pay on demand rather than Direct Debit.

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I think just keep sending meter readings and the system will adjust to your low use. I had an empty house during the summer so only a security light and no hot water use. Eventually the bills stopped coming ! I was doing pay on demand rather than Direct Debit.

Thats what I’ve been doing daily at the same time so I could monitor the savings and also to let OVO see the history of the reduction. From reading this forum and others doing regular reading would appear to be the correct approach.

However yesterday the 18th, the reading I tried to put in flagged up as incorrect and a message popped up saying did I want to continue with putting in that reading? If yes it stated that reading will need to be reviewed and possibly an estimate put in place before my reading would be applied. I put it in and that’s where we are on this. It only shows historic readings now up to the 17th. Today being the 19th.

I must admit pay on demand is preferable over DD. I’ve avoided using them for years as I don’t like paying in advance then having the hassle of trying to get monies back if you overpay.. There is no option that I can see on my account web page?

 

 

 

juliamc
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If you’re on a fixed rate plan you’d be charged an exit fee if you stopped paying by direct debit. That info will be in Plan Details. It’s not advised to come off DD as the rates are higher, but if you’re a very low user you may well be happier on pay on demand. Of course the standing charge is probably higher too. 

Emmanuelle_OVO
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Updated on 15/01/24 by Emmanuelle_OVO:

Hey @rodman,

 

Amazing that you’ve had new solar panels and storage batteries installed and that it’s dramatically reducing your usage. 

 

I’ve added a badge to your Forum account 🙂

 

This is a interesting scenario, so thank you for a great thread! I’d advise contacting the Support, advising them of your situation and why your usage has dramatically reduced. They can then submit the readings on your behalf for the time being if you get an error message Online. 

 

We can’t contact the industry to amend an estimated annual consumption (EAC) unfortunately, but we need readings to amend it. The Online Account will flag any readings that are vastly out of line as it’ll assume it’s customer error or the meter is faulty. But Support can over-ride this and leave a note on your account. 

 

 

Hope this helps. 

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I’ve tried contacting supprt several times by phone and so far due to the interminable waiting time to speak to someone I have given up. Life is too short to sit on the phone hoping to speak to someone.

OVO need to get their contact system improved it is not fit for purpose.

It seems that OVO don’t even accept emails anymore. Any I have sent regarding this issue have just been returned with a message saying it won’t be read!

I gave another meter reading last evening and that was accepted with no issue. The account was subsequently upodated to reflect this.

I’ll leave it at that and wait to see what subsequently develops from that reading that OVO flagged up.

 

juliamc
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Result @rodman ! If you needed to try customer support again try selecting the WhatsApp link. It’ll start a ‘conversation’ going, takes a while (one exchange took two days for me) but it means you aren’t waiting on the phone. 

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Would it not be a simple matter of getting OVO to send out a person to read the meter to verify? 

I'm guessing the answer may be that they no longer have meter readers, total reliance on tech now, still worth a call to request 

Alternatively send a photo which will be date and time stamped? 

S
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There must be many people having panels and batteries installed - ours are coming in a couple of weeks.  Surely OVO should be recognising this and accepting explanations readily without going through tortuous waits on phones to "support"?  I understand Octopus give a much better Feed in Tariff so OVO could well be losing our custom. 

juliamc
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I thought you can get the SEG from any supplier - you don’t have to be an Energy customer 

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Thanks,  I'll look into that. 

 

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