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

Hi @JohnG 

Good question.

Your in home display includes the standing charge and vat.

The usage page on the OVO website doesn't include standing charge or vat

https://account.ovoenergy.com/usage

Are you finding your smart meter useful with the rising prices? 

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

I know the 66-67p in the morning is my standing charge, however, my standing charge is 61.11. Why the extra 5-6p? All I have on at night is WiFi and a small fridge so it’s not that. Is it because VAT is added to the meter display amount?

Hi @jmcdonald , if you’re talking about on the in home display (IHD) then it does include VAT

• OVO SMETS2 smart meter In Home Displays (IHD) - Guide Tutorial