Random smart meter readings caused billing issue?

Hi Abby the series meter on the bill matches the meter yes. Even if it is a smart meter and is somehow correcting with OVO after 3 years of not , the readings are way way off 

I’ve noticed over the weekend there looks to be a trilliant attachment onto the meter in the cupboard. I’ve noticed the WAN light is not on at all, the HAN is blinking red and the power is green. 
 

would that shed any light on the issue? 
 

Looking into it online it would suggest the meter isn’t sending a reading to OVO. So although perhaps not working, for whatever reason, doesn’t explain the incorrect meter readings being supplied to OVO from ‘a smart meter’ being billed against my account 

when I moved into the property circa 3 years ago, there was no IHD present for info 

Thanks for that info.

I'd though they had now got to the stage of diminishing returns, ie.

“not happening with the few that are now left unadopted so it's going to be easier to exchange them for new SMETS2 meters”.

If they are not quite there yet then it can't be far off.

Hey ​@callumrust 

No it definitely still doesn’t explain why it’s changed over all of a sudden. I’m going to flag to some teams and see if we can get any further advice here.

​@Nukecad there’s a little more about it on the DDC website but they don’t say how many are left. I’d believe it’s mostly the one’s they struggled updating and that’s why they’re having to work so closely with suppliers to get the last completed. 

Thanks abby_ovo , any help would be greatly appreciated 

While you’re waiting for something to happen, there is a little utility that works with SMETS2 meters and, I think, also worked with at least some SMETS1 meters. All it does is query the information that DCC have about your connected devices. It would be interesting to see what it turns up, if anything: https://homebrew.n3rgy.com/. Enter your MPAN and tick the tiny confirmation box before clicking Check meter.
  

[n3rgy is a trustworthy organization, part of the SMS empire that plays such a large part in rolling out smart meters to the nation.] 

Firedog 

I have done as you suggested , I can screen shot the info and post ? Excuse my ignorance but there isn’t anything that I shouldn’t be posting to do with the results is there ? 
 

an overview; 

Communication device notes a ‘warning meter connection under system can be unstable’ 

IDH notes ‘warning display firm ware is older than expected’ 

I don’t have an IDH for info want there when moved in 

gas proxy function notes ‘device configuration has not been completed’ 

Well, that’s encouraging - I think. I wasn’t sure whether the utility would be able to detect the meter at all. 

You can happily copy and paste the report from below “Errors indicate real issues” to the bottom. Once pasted here, replace the last four digits of the GUIDs and of the MPAN with ****. The MPAN is uniquely linked to your address, so anyone knowing it may be able to find out where you live. The GUIDs are the globally-unique MAC addresses of the devices’ network interface cards, so someone savvy with the right software could theoretically be able to connect to them, although I doubt they’d be able to get past DCC’s authentication barrier unless they happened to be in your back yard.

That’s brilliant news ​@callumrust, thank you for keeping us updated. The billing team will estimate the period with the out of line readings to the usage shown on your new meter. 

 

Seems the comedy roadshow continues …….

email from OVO  today asking to show meter reading and meter number and account has been adjusted to shown£400 debt based on the fraudulent 14000 reading.

just aswell I sceeen shorted my reading history, as again fraudulently it’s been adjusted to make the 14000 (incorrect reading) look correct , again just an absolute nonsense 

the engineer even noted the meter reading when removed it clear as day , but OVO still persisting with the BS reading of 14000 , I really wonder if anyone has any sort of idea what’s going on at OVO 

criminal 

Wonder if anyone at OVO can explain why my manual (CORRECT) reading from June has been adjusted to shown incorrect reading? Absolute shambles 

see above the adjusted made up reading and my below screenshotted correct one thank god for screen shot eh?!!!! 

One question that I would be asking is how a smar meter fitted on 29/07/2025 with a zero reading can possibly be sending Smart a reading of 14015 only 23 days later?

To me it seems pretty obvious that it’s an error and something/somewher has it down as starting at 14000 rather than zero.

If the new meter started at 00000 there is no way that you could have used that much power in 23 days.

Maybe use Live Chat and send them that image of the meter readinsg lable.

Edit to add:-
I note those screenshots were from yeaterday.
Is it still showing the same thing today or has it changed again?

It could be that what you were/are seeing is an intermediate stage in an ongoing correction.
You can sometimes see thing like that as they happen with the “live Balance” online, whereas with traditional style billing you wouldn’t see anything until it was all done.
 

Morning ​@callumrust, I hope you’re well.

Sorry to see what’s happening here. To confirm, it’s most likely that the new meter details have not yet been updated on your account, and the old meter details are still showing. When a meter is replaced it can take up to six weeks for the new details to be updated on the account as, during this time, data flows are passed to and from the Industry before the details are amended on the account. This process can take up to six weeks , however is normally a lot quicker.

My recommendation here, as ​@Nukecad has advised, is to get in contact with our support team. Send them the photo of the red label that you sent in this thread, and also a picture of the front of the new meter, clearly showing the meter serial number. At the very least, they’ll be able to put the account on a billing hold whilst the new details are updated. Hopefully they may even be able to update the new meter details on your account immediately. As soon as the meter details and readings are updated, your new reads will show on your account, and the balance will be rectified.

Let us know how you get on.

Mon 18th August my gas usage on thr OVO app is showing as 11.6 Kw but has been charged at over £1820 this is for 1 days useage obviously a massive billing error best way to get this corrected please

What you describe doesn’t sound right at all. Although it may just be a glitch in the app that won’t actually affect your bill.

Could you post an image of the error please, so that we can see what you see and advise from there what may be going on.

If we can work out what has happened then we may be able to put your mind at rest here.
Or at the least if you know what may have caused it then it will be easier for you to explain that when you contact customer support.

is it from the usage page like this:

Or is it from “Billing>Charges and payments>See details” like this one:
 

Or maybe you are meaning something else?

Usage is 11.61kwh charges £1,821, photo 2 readings for 18th Aug seem out of order,

thanks for your help really worrying 

Thanks for those, as you say it’s obviously wrong.

I’m sure that you’ve spotted where, and how, it went wrong:

That’s obviously a rogue reading from who knows where; real meter readings don’t jump backwards like that.

(At a wild guess I’d say the error is probably from DCC (the metering company) and that’s a reading from someone elses meter that has somehow been sent to OVO as being yours).

However there is no need to panic here.
Your monthly bill will use the first reading of your billing period subtracted from the last reading of the billing period.
eg. This is mine from 24 June to 23 July, you can see it only uses the first and last readinsg to get the usage for the month:

So unless your billing period happened to be the 18th to the 19th of each month -which it isn’t - then that error will not actually get billed for.
(It’s only showing on your current Live Balance on the app, the Live Balance can sometimes show odd things that you wouldn’t see with ‘monthly-only’ billing).

As today is the last day of your billing period then your billing tomorrow should show your correct use and cost using the 25th Jun reading subtracted from the 23rd Aug reading.

So I’d say wait at least until tomorrow, or Monday, to see what your actual bill for July-August says then.

If you are still worried then I’d contact support using the Web Chat so that you can upload those images, pointing out that obvious reading error.
You can use the ‘Chat with us’ button here: https://www.ovoenergy.com/help#contact_us_container

Thats excellent thanks very much makes sense about 1st day and last day of billing period any problems will do online chat as you suggest i noticed on around the day the issue occurred a neighbour  had some work done on their smart meter this maybe produced the spurious reading 

​@John lloyd-Williams  one more thing.

i also noticed that your current billing period seems to be a day short, 25th - 23rd?
At least that’s what your screenshot says.

So I’ve editied the above to say probably wait until Monday 25th Aug to see what your actual bill says then.

Ok thanks

Isnt that because today is the 23rd current billing period until today ?  

Ahh, that may be why.

(My own period is 24th to 23rd so would be saying 23rd today in either case)

So it's still Monday that you need to check your bill for the full month.

Really helpful thanks for your assitance 👍😃