Why do I have increased gas usage since smart meter fitted?
Best answer by lyall
Updated on 12/06/24 by Abby_OVO:
Great question to check with your new Smart meters. There’s a few things to remember in relation to a change in gas readings you’ve noticed -
Your gas meter units might have changed:
If you had a particularly old gas meter before the Smart meters were installed it might have been measuring in imperial units or cubic feet. As the new meter will measure cubic metres this could explain the change in meter units you’re using each month. Both meter reading units are converted into kWh on your monthly summary and on the usage page of your online account or OVO app (Download for Android or iOS). We’d recommend checking your monthly kWh usage which can give you an easier way to compare your current usage with what you were using before the meter replacement.
Your bills will no longer be estimated:
If you hadn't provided regular readings previously, then your bills may have been under-estimated and therefore appear to increase after a smart meter was installed. As a smart meter sends us a reading when we need it you can be sure your bill is spot on and avoid any nasty bill surprises in future.
Your meter will be accurate:
The meter will clock accurately. Old meters (this does depend on how old your previous meter was) can slow down, or even speed up meaning they're not measuring your energy usage correctly. We'd only expect to see this with very old meters. A brand new meter, smart or otherwise, will clock what you're using accurately.
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I've only got an electric smart meter so cannot comment on the reliability or otherwise of gas readings. My readings still rely on submitting readings from the non-smart meter, however, although our circumstances may differ in size of home and usage, my March 2017 gas reading was 207 units and I think that 75 units is relatively very low for a cold time of year (I have a reading of 53 units for July 2017). It seems to imply that the previous readings were incorrect - in your favour!!!!.
Updated on 12/06/24 by Abby_OVO:
Great question to check with your new Smart meters. There’s a few things to remember in relation to a change in gas readings you’ve noticed -
Your gas meter units might have changed:
If you had a particularly old gas meter before the Smart meters were installed it might have been measuring in imperial units or cubic feet. As the new meter will measure cubic metres this could explain the change in meter units you’re using each month. Both meter reading units are converted into kWh on your monthly summary and on the usage page of your online account or OVO app (Download for Android or iOS). We’d recommend checking your monthly kWh usage which can give you an easier way to compare your current usage with what you were using before the meter replacement.
Your bills will no longer be estimated:
If you hadn't provided regular readings previously, then your bills may have been under-estimated and therefore appear to increase after a smart meter was installed. As a smart meter sends us a reading when we need it you can be sure your bill is spot on and avoid any nasty bill surprises in future.
Your meter will be accurate:
The meter will clock accurately. Old meters (this does depend on how old your previous meter was) can slow down, or even speed up meaning they're not measuring your energy usage correctly. We'd only expect to see this with very old meters. A brand new meter, smart or otherwise, will clock what you're using accurately.
OVO member but not got a smart meter yet? - Book today!
Interested but not yet an OVO member? - Check out our plans!
On the 7th October my Gas CH boiler was serviced. The engineer found it to be dangerous and disconnected my gas supply. On the 18th October we had a new boiler fitted and the gas supply was reconnected. My usage for the 11 full days when we had no gas was above average according to the usage chart on OVO. Tried to get an answer from Livechat. After 1hr 24 minutes was disconnected and no answer. Do they just make the numbers up? What is the point of having a smart meter?
| 8 Oct 2022 | 32.82 kWh |
|---|---|
| 9 Oct 2022 | 33.81 kWh |
| 10 Oct 2022 | 37.28 kWh |
| 11 Oct 2022 | 37.13 kWh |
| 12 Oct 2022 | 36.47 kWh |
| 13 Oct 2022 | 39.85 kWh |
| 14 Oct 2022 | 44.98 kWh |
| 15 Oct 2022 | 48.40 kWh |
| 16 Oct 2022 | 44.97 kWh |
| 17 Oct 2022 | 43.36 kWh |
| 18 Oct 2022 | 39.55 kWh |
Hi
If the smart meter isn’t sending your gas readings to us remotely, we will estimate your usage. You can see if the reading on the account is a smart reading or an estimate here: https://account.ovoenergy.com/meter-readings . If we’ve not had a reading for 5 days or more, you can manually submit a reading using that same link. That will correct any over-estimation and your live billing charges will be updated after a number of minutes.
You can diagnose a smart meter communication issue yourself by following the steps outlined here:
+3- Carbon Catcher***
- 1258 replies
Rather than the usage chart can you show us what the meter readings have been over that period ?
Hello, my enquiry is about the metered volume of Gas I’ve used during the last three months – I live alone in a bungalow, haven’t changed any way of being, nothing new here - except that I had a smart meter for gas and electricity installed in January 2022. My metered volume of gas is showing this year:
7th Sept – 6th Oct : 130.399 : about 3x more usage than the same time last year (40.753)
7th Oct – 6th Nov 185.225 : about 4.5 more usage than the same time last year (43.617)
7th Nov – 6th December 267.239 : about 6.5 more usage than the same time last year (42.244).
I do understand that weather might impact usage, and that I can arrange for my meter to be tested by an OVO engineer at £105 per visit, and that if my meter is incorrect that this fee will be refunded and any monies due returned to me. However, there’s a little bit of conflict of interest in having an engineer from the supplier testing his own kit, where is the incentive for the engineer to find that OVO could possibly be at fault? I do not wish to cast aspertions on any OVO persons, I’m sure that they are all top notch engineers, but can you see my point? Wouldn’t many people have the same concerns?
Does anyone have any ideas as to why the increasingly large numbers in metered volume? A last query, is that since my smart meter was installed on my gas meter under the stairs the box attached to the meter has no digital display, nothing at all showing just a blank screen (whereas the box attached to the electricity meter is showing full display of figures).
+5- Plan Zero Hero
- 2733 replies
Hi
You can also ‘wake up’ the smart meter by pressing a button. It normally is blank to conserve power as it has a battery to provide power for the display and electronics.
You can check your meter readings compared to what is logged on your account. The gas meters can sometimes drop their connection so it’s worth checking if your usage was from actual or estimated readings.
Incidentally the meters are all calibrated and certified for accuracy - this is separate to any energy company checks
Thanks BPLightlog will follow your suggestions, I’ve woken up the smart meter and made notes, but now my online OVO account isn’t registering my logon details, and despite numerous password resets its still not playing ball, so I’ve raised a query with them. On my bills for both gas and electricity, the meter readings have an ‘estimated’ written before the number, when I queried this with OVO, they said that everyone’s bills say ‘estimated’ next to their bill readings, regardless of whether or not they have a smart meter. Strange state of affairs. K
+5- Plan Zero Hero
- 2733 replies
On my bills for both gas and electricity, the meter readings have an ‘estimated’ written before the number, when I queried this with OVO, they said that everyone’s bills say ‘estimated’ next to their bill readings, regardless of whether or not they have a smart meter. Strange state of affairs. K
That doesn’t sound right
Nice post,
Very interesting to hear about the estimated meter readings. This is suspect number 1 in my book. Before we can bring them in for questioning, you need to get into that online account. We’ve made a guide to help here:
Once you get access, have a look at the meter reading section: https://account.ovoenergy.com/meter-readings
If it’s been 5 days or more since your smart meters sent us a reading, you’ll be able to submit a reading. I’d be curious to see the impact.
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