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High usage costs shown on my new smart meter In Home Display (IHD) - Are my prices correct?

  • 12 January 2018
  • 56 replies
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56 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +4

Do you have a Baxi uSense controller? If you do, this video shows how to turn pre-heat off.

 

https://youtu.be/FiJsruKEslI

Userlevel 1

Do you have a Baxi uSense controller? If you do, this video shows how to turn pre-heat off.

 

https://youtu.be/FiJsruKEslI

Saw that..however I don’t have that controller.. sigggh.. Thanks for the suggestion tho :) 

 

Userlevel 7

Hey @Amerififer,

 

I can see there has already been some really great suggestions here from other community members. 

 

Just wanted to add, you’ll be billed to the actual meter readings taken from the smart meter, not the figures shown on the IHD. 

 

It might be that the IHD is including standing charge. If you add up the 30 minute usage through the day from the Bright App and add standing charge does that make more sense? 

 

Hope this helps. 

Hello,

 

Over the last few days my smart meter is showing around a 50% increase in cost, with no change in our consumption or time of use.

We have an economy 7 plan an when I first see the meter in the morning, the price has gone from around £4-5, to now being £8-9! Our total day has gone from £8-9 to now around £12!

We have received no communication of any changes (other than the January increase to come) so why has it increased so much?

I have also searched online and found this topic on this forum have been deleted?!

Userlevel 7
Badge +1

Hi @CornishRex ,

Could you show us examples of this please? In particular, your meter readings and usage charts. We’ve got volunteers here who can help figure this out with you.

Im glad im not the only one seeing odd increases on the smartmeter.  I have managed to get my consumption down to an average of 9-16p/hr (yes I have turned nearly everything off), but for the last few days at least I have seen the cost jump to nearly 40p/hr and then after about 10-20 minutes drop down again. This is happening a few times each day when nothing else has been turned on.

Userlevel 7

Could it be a cycling fridge/freezer, @greyab? This appliance isn’t on constantly, but instead turns on every so often to maintain the temperature. 

 

See @BPLightlog’s blog for other possibilities: 

 

 

@Tim_OVO thanks for that suggestion, will have to take a look at that.

Userlevel 1

I was out of the house from about 6 am until 6 pm today.. Heating was set at 12 C… Got in and it showed £1.50 used.. 

Looked an hour later, after bumping the heat up and it shows £5.54 used? Seems an awfully  large jump in an hour.. 

I’m really getting fed up and frustrated with smart meters that can’t connect as they should and then show wrong/odd info..

Should call them OVO as they please meters.. because they rarely at least for me .. work/show accurate info.. 

Thats my experience with them anyway.  This makes it almost impossible to try to even think about budgeting with all the crisis going on.. 

 

Userlevel 4

Combi or standard boiler? If it's a combi you might need to take into account the water pre-heat function on those things. Depending on the temperature where you are it's possible the boiler has been needing to pre-heat the hot water quite often due to the ambient temperature of the cold water in the system being very low. Also, remember about 27p of that initial £1.50 use is standing charge.

Re the big jump after an hour heating. That's not necessarily incorrect, especially if things like your flow temperature are up quite high or you turn the thermostat up from 12 to 21° maybe. That's a lot of heat the boiler needs to put out.

Are you using an OVO supplied in home display that can probably show instantaneous gas use? Have a look at it when you're using as little gas as possible, see what it says, then turn your heating up the same amount you did yesterday, see how much per hour it says you're using.

Userlevel 1

Combi or standard boiler? If it's a combi you might need to take into account the water pre-heat function on those things. Depending on the temperature where you are it's possible the boiler has been needing to pre-heat the hot water quite often due to the ambient temperature of the cold water in the system being very low. Also, remember about 27p of that initial £1.50 use is standing charge.

Re the big jump after an hour heating. That's not necessarily incorrect, especially if things like your flow temperature are up quite high or you turn the thermostat up from 12 to 21° maybe. That's a lot of heat the boiler needs to put out.

Are you using an OVO supplied in home display that can probably show instantaneous gas use? Have a look at it when you're using as little gas as possible, see what it says, then turn your heating up the same amount you did yesterday, see how much per hour it says you're using.

Combi boiler….

had turned the heating from 12 to 16 degrees.. Need to see if i can find info on my Boiler re preheat function.  Its a Baxi 800 series..   Will keep an eye on it thanks for the explanation.. 

Is there an average that a one bedroom , ground floor flat should be using in Gas and/or Electric??? Just curious :)

Userlevel 4

As a guide, our heating uses about £1.40ish per hour while running BUT it's a standard boiler without all the fancy features of a combi. I have read a lot this last couple of weeks about flow temperature control and if that's up too high it can use a lot more gas than you'd like. But, like with anything, don't just go changing stuff if not sure. My mother-in-law bled her radiators yesterday and woke up today with no heating or hot water. My mum woke up to a worktop flooded under the boiler (council think it's just condensation).

Worth monitoring it for a day or two, seeing if it's actually using silly amounts of gas while heating and if so have a word with your installer of you can, or a plumber if you can't.

Either way, these prices need to come down before a lot of people have a lot of problems 😢

Userlevel 7
Badge +5

Sounds like a recurring theme .. although the meters are what all companies use

 

Userlevel 2

Hello all,

Since the new year I've noticed that my daily readings on my smart meter have virtually tripled, I've not a huge hob on or bought some device that uses gas and electric so what could it be?

Thanks 

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +5

Which readings @CinderKona ? Electric, Gas, both? Can you see if they’re actual readings or estimated? Are you looking at your meter itself, the IHD (in home display) or on line?

Userlevel 2

Thanks for replying. It is both gas and electric and I'm looking at the IHD. It just seems a remarkably huge jump.

Userlevel 7
Badge +5

Ok - the rates on the IHD are not always correct. You should check your readings on your actual meters and either on your account online or on the app. 
One other thing is for some tariffs there was an increase from 1st Jan .. have a look for that too in your plan

My IHD keeps jumping to very high usage intermittently (every few seconds) even when I have turned everything except my router and the IHD off. Is this a malfunction.

Userlevel 7
Badge +1

Hey @Susanfl17 ,

That’s interesting. Could you show us photos please?

Have sent you a video of the display

 

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +5

Just wondering if your IHD is not receiving details correctly @Susanfl17 . What about your meter readings? Do you have 30min readings available and does any of your energy usage match?

It’s the meter readings that make up your bill of course rather than the IHD

Thanks will definitely be checking hopefully you are right. 

Hi,

My smart meter is displaying incorrect "used so far today" cost data. For example it’s currently displaying 7.19 kWh used today, however, the cost is £0.23. I’m on a single rate tariff of £0.328 per kWh.

If you do the math, the cost for today should be £2.35, however, it’s showing as £0.23. Based on that, it appears the meter is calculating the cost on a £0.0328 per kWh.

How can I go about fixing this. Is this something OVO can fix for me remotely?

Kind regards

Lee

Userlevel 7
Badge +1

Yup! Easy peasy. Simply get Support to run Update Tariff Configuration and that should fix everything up

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