Hi all,
I’ve just had a smart metre installed and the daily budget for both gas and electric is set to £1.95 and £1.60 respectively.
I live in a small house and have a gas fired boiler and a few electrical appliances.
Even when idle, the metre speedometer shows that I’m using medium electricity. This is when noting apart from general appliances are on (I.e. fridge, TV on standby, etc).
it’s also telling me I’ve exceeded my budget (set above).
Can anyone explain why this is happening?
Best answer by nealmurphy
Updated on 14/03/25 by Emmanuelle_OVO:
There are a few explanations as to why your smart meter IHD may be displaying high usage:
If your smart meters have recently been installed, it can take up to 6 weeks for your new meters to be fully commissioned and during this time you may see some unexpected figures on your IHD. If your tariff has recently changed this may result in a mismatch between the unit rates and standing charges shown on your IHD to those on your Online Account. If this is the case, you’ll need to contact our Support Team who will run a SMETS Command Update Tariff Configuration.
If your usage on your IHD looks high, don’t fear, you aren’t billed to the figures shown on your display unit. You’ll be billed to the readings sent across remotely from your smart meters themselves, so it’s important to check your statements and the meter readings shown on your Online Account. If you think your smart meters may be faulty we have a helpful guide on this topic:
If you have an immersion heater, make sure it's not been left on.
I'd start by seeing if you can turn everything off (except fridge etc.) and see how low you can get the 'Now' usage. Then turn things on one by one. Anything that heats will use a low of electricity including things like halogen bulbs.
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+2Updated on 14/03/25 by Emmanuelle_OVO:
There are a few explanations as to why your smart meter IHD may be displaying high usage:
If your smart meters have recently been installed, it can take up to 6 weeks for your new meters to be fully commissioned and during this time you may see some unexpected figures on your IHD. If your tariff has recently changed this may result in a mismatch between the unit rates and standing charges shown on your IHD to those on your Online Account. If this is the case, you’ll need to contact our Support Team who will run a SMETS Command Update Tariff Configuration.
If your usage on your IHD looks high, don’t fear, you aren’t billed to the figures shown on your display unit. You’ll be billed to the readings sent across remotely from your smart meters themselves, so it’s important to check your statements and the meter readings shown on your Online Account. If you think your smart meters may be faulty we have a helpful guide on this topic:
If you have an immersion heater, make sure it's not been left on.
I'd start by seeing if you can turn everything off (except fridge etc.) and see how low you can get the 'Now' usage. Then turn things on one by one. Anything that heats will use a low of electricity including things like halogen bulbs.
OVO member but not got a smart meter yet? - Book today!
Interested but not yet an OVO member? - Check out our plans!
I have had a Smart Meter Installed today. The IHD3 has a daily budget set for £1.16 (this is how it came, I didn’t set this). We have storage heaters and can easily use £25 per day in very cold weather. How can I change the daily (or monthly) budget to £25? When I press the right arrow it increases by 1 pence -- so I’d have to press it about 2,500 times to get to £25 -- this isn’t practical.
What happens when we reach the budget of £1.16 ? Does an alarm go off? Does it turn our electricity off? I don’t want an alarm going off in the middle of the night, so might just have to leave the IHD permanently switch off?
Thank you for any suggestions.
+5The IHD is just a monitor and will not stop your supply.
You can set it as you suggest - the idea being that generally once set any changes would be relatively small. There are different registers for daily, monthly settings.
When your budget is exceeded, it will display a message to that effect. They are designed to give information for you to act on should you wish to
I’m surprised you can only adjust the In Home Display (IHD) target in increments of pennies
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