Gas meter incrementing with supply isolated

Eventually, after several cancelled appointments, on 27 November my gas meter was removed by SMS, for onward transmission to SGS for OFMAT.  I heard nothing until early January when Ovo advised me that SGS lead times have increased and I would be updated at end-January when Ovo would contact SGS abain. Since then, despite sending emails to Ovo requesting an update, I have heard absolutely nothing. I despair and have emailed Ovo’s CEO - for the second time - to try and get some progress.  My complaint was first registered with Ovo in July 2023.  Have either, or both, Ovo and SGS ceased to operate?  Are any OFMATs being conducted?

They are still active. This stuff just takes longer than ideal to perform I’m afraid. I know for definite that OVO hasn’t ceased to exist and OSINT checks against SGS confirms they’re still actively operating as well.

At last, a few days ago, 5 months after my gas meter was removed for an OFMAT, I have received the test certificate. This confirms that my meter was faulty and incremented under no flow conditions. You would think this was good news for me as it confirms that I would have been wrongly charged for gas that I have not used. No, no, no - Ovo sees it as good news for them. Essentially, the email said “Your meter was faulty. A rebill was required by assessing charges on new meter against old. When we used your most recent meter readings, it has shown we underestimated how much energy you use. We’re really sorry about this …blah, blah…but we undercharged you £239.38. You do not have to pay this money back - you will see a write-off on your energy account.”

Then “If you are happy with this solution, we’re really pleased we managed to sort this for you.  If I do not hear from you by 26 April [just 2 days on!], we will assume you are happy with the action and close this complaint.”

Note, no clue whatsoever as to the actual readings they used to make such sweeping predictions about my gas usage since October 2021 based on less that 5 months readings from my new meter.  And 2 days to respond, after messing me about for 9 months, or the complaint is closed!!. To top it all, before I had even thought about how to respond, Ovo sent an updated account, now “corrected” for their undercharging error!!

However, I have detailed meter readings and I did my own analysis, comparing Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar and Apr 2024 readings with exactly the same months one year previously.  And, not unsurprisingly, every month shows that previous consumption was greater than recent consumption with percentage increases being 34%, 11%, 27%, 31% and 21%. These readings contradict Ovo’s “rebilling” calculation (details not disclosed!) to such an extent that it looks as though my old meter was not only incrementing at 0.5cu.m. per day under no flow, but was also exhibiting a higher than actual consumption error that I hadn’t been aware of.

I responded to Ovo yesterday that I was not happy with, and did not accept their so-called solution, and submitted my readings analysis which clearly refutes their position which will be difficult, if not impossible for them to support.

When my anger with Ovo subsides, it seems I will need to go to the Ombudsman.

Hi @mhol,

I’m sorry to hear this issue is ongoing for you. We don’t have the required account access to look into this on the Forum but if you reach out to our Complaints team below they can work with you to resolve this. 

If you need to discuss your complaint with one of the team you can call them on 0330 102 7400 (Monday to Friday 8:30am to 5:30pm) or email at complaints@ovoenergy.com. You can find our Complaint Handling Statement here, https://bit.ly/3DcsZdj, along with more information on our complaints process here: https://www.ovoenergy.com/feedback.

I hope things get sorted for you soon.