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azam216
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January 25, 2024
Solved

My bills have increased this month, am I being billed correctly?

  • January 25, 2024
  • 32 replies
  • 2102 views

i think there might not be anything i can do since the gas per unit prices has increased in jan 2024 as announced before.

 

so OVO take my readings automatically which is correct, however i regularly chekc my account, it was £90 last i checked 2-3 days ago, when i checked yesterday, it has now shot up to £215...talk about having a heart attack lol.

 

my mum is on holiday so im currently in the house by myself in a three bedroom, i only use the heating for 5 hours per day since start of december. il show picture showin december 2023 and then this month:

 

^ left hand side is gas for decemebr, right being january this month.

 

how has it gone up 6x?

my last bill was £160 for gas and elec, now i could potentially pay in the next bill £330-£350

 

can someone help me with this please? is there a way round this at all?

Best answer by azam216

Updated on 05/12/25 by Ben_OVO

 

Hey guys, as I thought...OVO are now saying it's justified, please see their reply below:

 

I know you mentioned that you were worried we may have been accidentally billing you to cubic feet instead of metric units. I have had a metering agent in my team investigate your account and they have confirmed that your meter has never been billed to imperial units before and the billing is accurate.

Your meter is on daily readings however I have noticed that it does skip a few days likely due to signal issues which means that the usage may look larger on some occasions due it accounting for multiple days of usage so when calculating your gas usage please remember to divide the amount used over the missed days as well to reflect your actual usage.

Regarding the high usage compared to your last billing period I have taken a look at your account and can see that from the 10/11/2023 to the 9/12/2023 your gas charges were £139.23 which does fall in line with this month's usage so I would advise taking a look to see if you have any new appliances or if your using your heating more than usual which is to be expected during winter.

To confirm, the meter is being billed accurately to metric units and we have been unable to detect any faults so the increased usage is likely due to a change in your household. For energy savings tips please feel free to consult your online account or check out the below links:

https://helpforhouseholds.campaign.gov.uk/energy-conservation/

https://www.cse.org.uk/

 

^^ wat U guys think?

 

We’ve got some other topics on the Forum which may also be helpful:

 

32 replies

Firedog
Super User
FiredogSuper User
Super User
January 25, 2024

That looks scary. Can you please show us the meter readings for this month and last month? That’s what the usage figures you show are based on, so there may be an error in converting readings to consumption. We’ve seen conversion errors before, so if this is what has happened, you can relax for a bit.   

Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA | It may look as if I know what I’m talking about, but don’t let that fool you. |
A
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azam216Author
Rank 4
January 25, 2024
25 Jan 2024 08077.881 Smart
A
Rank 4
azam216Author
Rank 4
January 25, 2024
15 Dec 2023 07851.023 Smart
Firedog
Super User
FiredogSuper User
Super User
January 25, 2024

Thank you. That’s not a lot of data - I was hoping to see all your daily readings. Not to worry, though, because we can make some deductions from these numbers alone.

In the 41 days from 15 December to 25 January, you used  227 units of gas, or on average 5.5 a day. This should translate to about 62 kWh a day, yet your figures from 11 January are much higher. What I think has happened is that the account has suddenly started treating the gas usage as if it were measured in cubic feet instead of cubic metres. As a rule of thumb, you can multiply gas units in cubit feet by 32 to get kWh, but multiply units in cubic metres by 11.

This should be obvious from the billing details: just compare the gas used with the kWh figures - if the kWh are ~32 times the gas units, you’re seeing the same error as several other customers. The system thinks you’re reporting cubic feet, not cubic metres.

You’ll have to contact Support and tell them what you’ve found out, and ask them to get the billing team to correct the error.

 

Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA | It may look as if I know what I’m talking about, but don’t let that fool you. |
    A
    Rank 4
    azam216Author
    Rank 4
    January 25, 2024

    Thank you. That’s not a lot of data - I was hoping to see all your daily readings. Not to worry, though, because we can make some deductions from these numbers alone.

    In the 41 days from 15 December to 25 January, you used  227 units of gas, or on average 5.5 a day. This should translate to about 62 kWh a day, yet your figures from 11 January are much higher. What I think has happened is that the account has suddenly started treating the gas usage as if it were measured in cubic feet instead of cubic metres. As a rule of thumb, you can multiply gas units in cubit feet by 32 to get kWh, but multiply units in cubic metres by 11.

    This should be obvious from the billing details: just compare the gas used with the kWh figures - if the kWh are ~32 times the gas units, you’re seeing the same error as several other customers. The system thinks you’re reporting cubic feet, not cubic metres.

    You’ll have to contact Support and tell them what you’ve found out, and ask them to get the billing team to correct the error.

     

    thank you massively for that, im really grateful. i have emailed them, i hope they can fix this asap...this gave me a heart attack lol

    A
    Rank 4
    azam216Author
    Rank 4
    January 25, 2024

    Thank you. That’s not a lot of data - I was hoping to see all your daily readings. Not to worry, though, because we can make some deductions from these numbers alone.

     

    Date Reading Type
    25 Jan 2024 08077.881 Smart
    24 Jan 2024 08072 Smart
    11 Jan 2024 07900 Manual
    15 Dec 2023 07851.023 Smart

     

    ^ thats the only ones that appear on my account, would this change ur answer or it doesnt make a difference?

    Abby_OVO
    Community Manager
    Abby_OVO
    Community Manager
    January 26, 2024

    Hey @azam216 

     

    Sorry to read about this issue.

     

    Glad to hear you’ve already emailed the team about this. It might be worth giving them a message too, that way you could put your mind at easy a little sooner.

     

    It’s tricky for us on the Forum to tell exactly what might have gone on here as we don’t have access to accounts. We’ve had a few other topics about the issue Firedog mentioned, I’ve linked to these below, so may be worth checking these out before contacting the team if you do;

     

     

    As I said, we can’t be sure this is the issue without the full picture of the account which the Support Team have. Let us know how you get on with this.

    Currently Playing: She's Electric
    Jeffus
    Rank 20
    Jeffus
    Rank 20
    January 26, 2024

    Thank you. That’s not a lot of data - I was hoping to see all your daily readings. Not to worry, though, because we can make some deductions from these numbers alone.

     

    Date Reading Type
    25 Jan 2024 08077.881 Smart
    24 Jan 2024 08072 Smart
    11 Jan 2024 07900 Manual
    15 Dec 2023 07851.023 Smart

     

    ^ thats the only ones that appear on my account, would this change ur answer or it doesnt make a difference?

    Do they stop on 25th Jan?

    Normally you would expect a smart reading every day if everything was working OK.

    A
    Rank 4
    azam216Author
    Rank 4
    January 26, 2024

    Hey @azam216 

     

    Sorry to read about this issue.

     

    Glad to hear you’ve already emailed the team about this. It might be worth giving them a message too, that way you could put your mind at easy a little sooner.

     

    It’s tricky for us on the Forum to tell exactly what might have gone on here as we don’t have access to accounts. We’ve had a few other topics about the issue Firedog mentioned, I’ve linked to these below, so may be worth checking these out before contacting the team if you do;

     

     

    As I said, we can’t be sure this is the issue without the full picture of the account which the Support Team have. Let us know how you get on with this.

    il keep you guys updated, something tells me they will fob me off but we will see

    A
    Rank 4
    azam216Author
    Rank 4
    January 26, 2024

    Thank you. That’s not a lot of data - I was hoping to see all your daily readings. Not to worry, though, because we can make some deductions from these numbers alone.

     

    Date Reading Type
    25 Jan 2024 08077.881 Smart
    24 Jan 2024 08072 Smart
    11 Jan 2024 07900 Manual
    15 Dec 2023 07851.023 Smart

     

    ^ thats the only ones that appear on my account, would this change ur answer or it doesnt make a difference?

    Do they stop on 25th Jan?

    Normally you would expect a smart reading every day if everything was working OK.

    well bear in mind 25th jan was only yesterday lol

    Show more replies
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