Does the usage on my Smart Meter IHD include the standing charge?

Thanks for that. Regarding smart-meters - I already know which items consume a lot / a little so I’m not sure it helps there much. It is good not to have to read meters and send the readings.  I also have PV panels so it’s also indirectly useful in telling me if I’m using more than they are generating.  I’m guessing the real aim is to move to demand-led pricing and given that smart meters will tell the supplier exacly when we are using energy it will enable them to charge more at peak times  possibly smoothing out demand peaks a bit?

Does anyone know if the daily standing charge is added to your electric daily on your smart meter? 
 

Every morning my electric has clocked up around 50p from midnight till around 8am. 
 

I understand that things on standby use energy but if I use 50p per 8 hours that’s £1.50 a day before my actual daily usage is added. Yet, my daily use is varies from £2 to £2.50. Were a family of 4, the washing machine is on daily, tv is on all day and I’m currently home on maternity leave. 

Surely something can’t be right with this overnight amount and I use plenty during the day and would expect this to cost me more if this is right for everything being on standby. 
 

Any thoughts would be appreciated. 

Hi @NW111

The costs you see on the smart meter IHD (in home display) include the standing charge and VAT

Usage overnight will include things like fridge freezer likely to be the most then smaller things like broadband, stuff on standby etc 

Does that help? 

If the electric does include the standing charge then yes, that does help thank you. 
 

But my gas is £0.00 in the mornings, do they not do the same with the gas?

The gas price on the IHD should also include VAT and the standing charge.

You can ask the OVO Support Team to send the  SMETS Command Update Tariff Configuration

This will refresh the tariff information on your smart meter and in home display just in case it has got out of sync.

I’ve only had the meter since Feb and it’s never shown a usage for gas. 
 

I will try to contact them and see. They seem to have disabled the option to email them and it doesn’t seem worth while ringing them up just for this. 
 

thank you for all of your help. 

The main benefit of getting a smart meter is that you'll no longer need to take manual readings for your gas and electricity. With a smart meter, all that data is sent to your supplier automatically. On top of that, a smart meter, with its in-home display, is a good way for you to track your energy usage.

My smart meter does not seem to include the standing charge. At say 8am it says 39p, but my (terrifying) standing charges of 49p+ for electricity and 27p+ for gas are clearly not included.  Any ideas? 

I contacted them and they said mine is the standing charge and the gas that shows nothing will be added at some point in the day. I’ve never seen this added on. I’m not too worried as I’m still fixed onto a cheaper tariff for now but I would want it to be telling me properly if I were on these ridiculous new ones. 

Hi @SarahMarie

Sometimes the tariff information on the in home displays can get out of sync. 

Ask OVO to send the SMETS command Update Tariff Configuration. This has fixed similar issues for a lot of people. 

 This should send the correct tariff information to the smart meter in your home.

It does affect your bills in any way.

The in home display will include standing charges and VAT when working correctly. 

HELLO MY BILLing is from 25  of the month to the24 of the nx on smart meter menu when l press balance is the amount from  the 25 of previous to the presant month and is the standing charge included thank you

Hi @jackrussell That’s a very good question!  I assume you’re looking at the In Home Display for those figures. I’ve just looked at mine and No - the total for the month so far is only the last 6 days (writing this on 6th January). My billing period runs from the 13th.

The standing charge is included on the display though, sorry I can’t recall if VAT is too, possibly not.

So if your billing  is a    split month  you cant    check       how much your bill is for the month when reading due as there are some days in the previous month?? ie dec25  to january24

You get a much more accurate picture at the OVO website or using the OVO app on a smart phone. To see your current balance (how much you’ve used and how much you currently owe), visit Billing details - OVO Energy 

Hi Jeff

I cannot seem to find definitive information about charging anywhere and after a frustrating conversation with OVO recently I’m still no wiser. You say ask OVO to reset the display but it’s nigh on impossible to speak to anyone without a lengthy wait - and different information depending on who you speak to.

My home display appears to update my variable electric usage every minute or so and my variable gas usage every 30 minutes or so. Is that correct?

And if so are these variable charges displayed as vat EXCLUSIVE or INCLUSIVE? 

And for my reference how frequently does OVO get that information that I am seeing - at the same time? Or at different times? 

My display also indicates 50p electricity usage c.2 or 3 minutes after midnight, every day. As this equates to c 20% of my daily usage - I don’t use 50p every hour for the rest of the day!-  am I right to assume this is the standing charge for electricity? And again is it vat EXCLUSIVE or INCLUSIVE? 

BUT confusingly the display shows no similar flat charge at any point in the day for Gas? So no standing charge for gas? Any reason? 

And as for the way the OVO bill shows the Government credit - as a charge to my account - this makes usage and costs very difficult to track! 
 

I’d appreciate clarity on the above. Thanks for your help…

Try using the options at https://help.ovoenergy.com as they tend to be faster.

Once you get through, as the agent to run the SMETS Command Update Tariff Configuration.

Hey thanks for answer - much appreciated! 
just checking - I’m asking agent on a phone call or is there a smart chat option? I’ve lost confidence in speaking to people at the moment given last couple of calls  🥲

Thanks for posting these questions, @addinghamfj -

I’m not sure why @Blastoise186 suggested a tariff upgrade for the In Home Display (IHD). I’ll do my best to answer your questions one by one:

Yes that sounds right to me. It’s based on the gas meter sending usage data every 30 minutes to the comms hub located above the electricity meter.

These costs should be exclusive of VAT. But this may depend on the model of IHD you have…

This depends on your smart meter reading frequency. The shortest is every half an hour, then daily or monthly. Our Support team can amend this for you. 

Yes that sounds like the daily standing charge being applied, exclusive of VAT.

I’d expect this to get added, but it’s not always at the same time of the day. 

Hope this helps!

Tim thanks very much for your answers. Sadly and frustratingly you’ve not managed to answer all my points. I’ll continue to pursue this with OVO if I can summon the energy but why aren’t these answers clearly laid out on the OVO web pages. AND why does the booklet being sent out by PDF only reference one type of IHD that bears no resemblance to mine and have NO usable information about tariffs displayed. 

The in-home display IS important to those of us tracking our usage. If the information is inaccurate or suspect then it creates a lack of confidence in householders being able to predict expenditure when overspending is just not an option. I do however appreciate there’s a need for some flexibility but surely some decent straightforward info should be available.

Thanks for confirming. The daily charge I’m seeing of 50p DOES relate directly to my daily standing charge rate for electric INC. VAT (47.81p x 5% = 50.02p) so I can only conclude that my gas standing charge is NOT being calculated and displayed as when I don’t use my gas in a day no gas charges appear on the IHD.

Having now researched various answers around this forum@Blastoise186 is actually suggesting I ask an OVO customer agent not for a tariff change but for a system reboot ( what appears to be called running the SMETS Command Update Tariff Configuration.). I will do this at some point and report back if this kick starts my gas standing charge being added in to my daily charges. 

Your answer re. vat: These costs should be exclusive of VAT. But this may depend on the model of IHD you have… this just seems designed to send customers crazy that OVO runs two options - inc. vat or ex. vat. Information should be clearly stated. The booklet has NO reference at all to how tariffs are displayed on the IHD nor do the OVO webpages - well not easily discoverable…

Given I can’t get a grip on whether my gas standing charge is being displayed or not because it’s applied randomly during the day or possibly/probably, in my case, not applied at all…. you can see why this is frustrating.  Anyhow armed with your answers and those of @Blastoise186 I’ll try and bottom it out and let you know my success!

Once again thanks for trying to help me.

Many people are indeed tracking their usage more closely these days which is why I began looking at the various data feeds on offer. There’s a whole thread on that but for me the bottom line is that depending on what you want to see, different systems are better in different situations. 
Because I like to see comparisons I do use the OVO usage info to look back and compare to prior months or years. But from day to day, the Bright Energy app has a useful graphic comparing specific days or recent weeks or even months. 
Here’s an example: 

Also not documented but you can switch off individual days by clicking on the indexed name. It gives a really good comparison of day to day changes and is also only a few hours behind real time

That’s brilliant @BPLightlog thats v useful as I’m trying to work out if solar will really be useful for my heat pump and if so how many panels, and can I get away without battery storage.

As more and more people are checking energy usage very closely now, it is confusing when the IHD shows a value and you have no idea if it includes extras (Std Chg + VAT).

I realise that they should do but from reading several posts it is not obvious and in my own case the standing charge for electricity is there almost immediately (early hours) but for gas it doesn’t appear until later in the day. 
Is there not a way to regularise this or at least indicate somehow?

On the apps I keep mentioning, it is either switchable or more obvious which is the case

eg Hugo app

BPLightlog wrote:

As more and more people are checking energy usage very closely now, it is confusing when the IHD shows a value and you have no idea if it includes extras (Std Chg + VAT).

I realise that they should do but from reading several posts it is not obvious and in my own case the standing charge for electricity is there almost immediately (early hours) but for gas it doesn’t appear until later in the day. 
Is there not a way to regularise this or at least indicate somehow?

On the apps I keep mentioning, it is either switchable or more obvious which is the case

eg Bright Energy app

 

Is that a screen shot of the Hugo app? 

Yes @Jeffus. I switch between Hugo, Loop and Bright depending on what I want to see … mixed up my description 🤦‍♂️

I’ll correct my post