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Why has my usage doubled since my smart meter was installed?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
November 12, 2018
94 replies
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I live in a 3 bed semi and have for the last 15 years. Recently switched to ovo and then had the smart meters installed .
My usage has crept up over the years like everyone's.

Now on OVO with smart meters and nothing has changed in my home my monthly usage/direct debit has gone to £246 a month that's a second mortgage any ideas why my bills have double since i switched to ovo?

Best answer by Blastoise186

Updated on 17/04/26 by Abby_OVO

Having a smart meter installed won't directly increase your costs. There are no hidden effects on usage, and your tariff won't change. There are two things that will change after getting a smart meter though:

Your bills will no longer be estimated

If you hadn't provided regular reading previously then your bills may have been under-estimated. As we’ll receive a final reading from the old meter when this is removed this could generate a larger than expected bill around the time your smart meters are installed. The good news is that now we’ll be receiving regular readings sent automatically from your meter when we need it you can be sure your bill is spot on. This avoids any nasty bill surprises in future.

On the other hand, if the final reading from the old meter taken by our engineer is under what we’ve been estimating, then we’ll credit the difference to your account.

Your meter will be accurate

The meter will clock accurately. Old meters 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.

If you’ve got solar panels installed, a smart meter will ensure that any excess energy generated by the panels doesn’t make your meter clock backwards. This was a commonly seen problem with older traditional electricity meters.

It might be worth considering what else could have caused the increase to your monthly direct debit:

Plan prices may have changed over time

Another thing to consider is, if you've renewed onto a new plan recently, the unit rates and standing charges will have changed. You can check your unit rates and daily standing charges in the ‘Plan’ tab of your online account or OVO app (download for Android or iOS).

Your Direct Debit calculations are not only based on your current usage

If you notice an increase to your suggested Direct Debit amount after having a smart meter installed, it’s worth bearing in mind other things we check when calculating your recommended Direct Debit. We consider your average monthly usage and also the current balance, plus the length left on your contract. The Direct Debit will need to be increased if you have an outstanding balance or are coming to the end of your contract.

Is there any support available if I’m struggling to pay for my energy?

There’s help available if you’re struggling to pay your energy bills from us here at OVO, from government schemes and charities as well. There are many ways we can help – such as setting up a payment plan for you, which spreads the cost of your energy to make it more manageable. If you want to find out about payment plans, you can request one online here. We’ll take you through what you need to do, and ask you for some details.

Our dedicated team is also specially trained to support you. They can make sure you’re receiving any financial assistance from the government that you’re eligible for, and take you through payment support schemes that are available.

You can find out more about these schemes and where to seek free, independent advice right here.

OVO member but not got a smart meter yet? - Book today!

Interested but not yet an OVO member? - Check out our plans!

Show previous replies

Abby_OVO

Community Manager

Hey @mrsparkles5481

I’m glad to see a couple of our community members have already stopped by with some helpful advice.

Nukecad raised a very good point about the temperature change recently, have you been hit with a cold spell too?

We don’t have access to accounts here at the Forum so it can be tricky to tell exactly what might have caused this change. You mentioned submitting a reading recently, if the smart meter is new and not yet sending us readings, and if there hadn’t been a reading submitted for a while or regular reading submissions before this, it could have an impact on this. If we’ve been estimating usage, an update to the readings would have given us a better understanding of the average usage than previous to the reading.

Firedog asked a good question, when was your smart meter installed?

If you could give us a little more information, we’ll do our best to help further.

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T

thereturn

Rank 2

@mrsparkles5481

How did you get on?

The rates went up recently, I though I was doing quite well but the recent increase showed me I wasnt.

Forgive me, I dont mean to state the obvious.

I turned down my fridges/freezers.Anything that was on standby or even just plugged in during the day is now off at the wall.

a considereable difference, my standing charge is generally higher mon-fri tha n my usage now.

I dont know where you are but if you’re northern, PAYG might be cheaper.

It is in my area.

M

mrsparkles5481

Hey @mrsparkles5481

I’m glad to see a couple of our community members have already stopped by with some helpful advice.

Nukecad raised a very good point about the temperature change recently, have you been hit with a cold spell too?

We don’t have access to accounts here at the Forum so it can be tricky to tell exactly what might have caused this change. You mentioned submitting a reading recently, if the smart meter is new and not yet sending us readings, and if there hadn’t been a reading submitted for a while or regular reading submissions before this, it could have an impact on this. If we’ve been estimating usage, an update to the readings would have given us a better understanding of the average usage than previous to the reading.

Firedog asked a good question, when was your smart meter installed?

If you could give us a little more information, we’ll do our best to help further.

I’ll try and cover all the questions asked in the posts!

I’m up in the NW Highlands of Scotland (so further than Cumbria @Nukecad !)

My smart meter was installed in April @Firedog I was stalling but eventually a space became available to make the switch - given where I live,that’s not easy,know others here where I live that are still waiting now). I monitor what I’m using day to day and that’s where I’m getting the figures. I was using £4 a day at the time of the meter reading, doing nothing different since then and suddenly it’s £7 a day (again,not changed anything- I don’t even put my heating on,haven’t during the cold snaps we’ve had but it’s now slightly milder).

I submitted my last meter reading late ,due to being away during the period the meter readers were due to visit ,and wasn’t sure how to do it given I was doing it with the smart meter for the first time. So is it because I submitted late perhaps that it’s maybe estimated usage rather than what I am using? Been close to a month since it started using more despite not doing anything differently so feel out of pocket slightly..

(to give an idea,I was topping up every seven days,now it’s five)

M

mrsparkles5481

Hey @mrsparkles5481

I’m glad to see a couple of our community members have already stopped by with some helpful advice.

Nukecad raised a very good point about the temperature change recently, have you been hit with a cold spell too?

We don’t have access to accounts here at the Forum so it can be tricky to tell exactly what might have caused this change. You mentioned submitting a reading recently, if the smart meter is new and not yet sending us readings, and if there hadn’t been a reading submitted for a while or regular reading submissions before this, it could have an impact on this. If we’ve been estimating usage, an update to the readings would have given us a better understanding of the average usage than previous to the reading.

Firedog asked a good question, when was your smart meter installed?

If you could give us a little more information, we’ll do our best to help further.

I’ll try and cover all the questions asked in the posts!

I’m up in the NW Highlands of Scotland (so further than Cumbria @Nukecad !)

My smart meter was installed in April @Firedog I was stalling but eventually a space became available to make the switch - given where I live,that’s not easy,know others here where I live that are still waiting now). I monitor what I’m using day to day and that’s where I’m getting the figures. I was using £4 a day at the time of the meter reading, doing nothing different since then and suddenly it’s £7 a day (again,not changed anything- I don’t even put my heating on,haven’t during the cold snaps we’ve had but it’s now slightly milder).

I submitted my last meter reading late ,due to being away during the period the meter readers were due to visit ,and wasn’t sure how to do it given I was doing it with the smart meter for the first time. So is it because I submitted late perhaps that it’s maybe estimated usage rather than what I am using? Been close to a month since it started using more despite not doing anything differently so feel out of pocket slightly..

(to give an idea,I was topping up every seven days,now it’s five)

To add I do have a heated radiator in my bathroom that I don’t have any idea how to switch off.. doesn’t seem to be using any extra

juliamc

Rank 20

@mrsparkles5481 we used to have a heated towel rail in our bathroom that heated up when the hot water tank heated - not connected to the radiator circuit.

M

mrsparkles5481

Hey @mrsparkles5481

I’m glad to see a couple of our community members have already stopped by with some helpful advice.

Nukecad raised a very good point about the temperature change recently, have you been hit with a cold spell too?

We don’t have access to accounts here at the Forum so it can be tricky to tell exactly what might have caused this change. You mentioned submitting a reading recently, if the smart meter is new and not yet sending us readings, and if there hadn’t been a reading submitted for a while or regular reading submissions before this, it could have an impact on this. If we’ve been estimating usage, an update to the readings would have given us a better understanding of the average usage than previous to the reading.

Firedog asked a good question, when was your smart meter installed?

If you could give us a little more information, we’ll do our best to help further.

I think I messed up with the reading which might explain it..

Just got an email from the meter readers who do them in my area on behalf of OVO to submit a new one. So when I went to remind myself of how.. feel so stupid and may explain the jump.

Took it not from the meter installed in my cupboard where my old traditional one was, but from the IHD. The IHD doesn’t give you the E10 peak/off peak readings. Oops.. cost myself a lot and potentially explains why I’m topping up 2 days earlier every week..

Ben_OVO

Community Manager

@mrsparkles5481 glad you got to the bottom of it! And apologies if it wasn’t made clear to you at the time of installation that the reads need to be taken from the meter.

Just to confirm, you shouldn’t have to be providing readings at all if you have a smart meter, as it sends the reads to us automatically. If the meter isn’t sending reads automatically then contact our Support Team, who’ll get an engineer to come and either fix or replace the meter.

You can find some helpful smart meter related articles in our Forum Library section here.

Please let us know if you have any more questions - happy to help!

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M

mrsparkles5481

@mrsparkles5481 glad you got to the bottom of it! And apologies if it wasn’t made clear to you at the time of installation that the reads need to be taken from the meter.

Just to confirm, you shouldn’t have to be providing readings at all if you have a smart meter, as it sends the reads to us automatically. If the meter isn’t sending reads automatically then contact our Support Team, who’ll get an engineer to come and either fix or replace the meter.

You can find some helpful smart meter related articles in our Forum Library section here.

Please let us know if you have any more questions - happy to help!

Definitely wasn’t told that. Now I know. So for the last month it’s been using way more because the reading wasn’t accurate :( Costly mistake,oops.

I’m PAYG though so why would the meter readers send me an email saying I need to provide a reading if the smart meter is providing them automatically? Don’t think that’s the case with PAYG .

Firedog

Super User

So for the last month it’s been using way more because the reading wasn’t accurate

The accuracy or otherwise of meter readings submitted by you or anyone else have no bearing on how much electricity you’re using. You are only charged for the amount passing through the meter.

I asked before where you’re seeing the £4 and £7 daily charges. If it’s from the IHD, then these are only for information and can be very wrong if, for example, the wrong tariff prices have been loaded on to the meter. You should be able to check these on the IHD itself.

Any sudden increase in daily usage (kWh, not £) is caused by something taking more power than before. An extra £3 a day is equivalent to a constant power draw of 500 W, which shouldn’t be difficult to track down. If you see ‘using now’ figures on your IHD of more than, say. 1-200 W when you’re not using anything like the kettle or microwave, you’ll have to start checking what is using the extra. That’s easily done at the Consumer Unit (“fuse box”) by flipping the breakers off in turn to see what makes a big change in the IHD’s ‘using now’ figure. It takes 10 seconds for the IHD to react to a change, so be a bit patient.

Let us know what you find out, or if you need more detailed instructions. It would help to see a photo or two of the IHD’s ‘using now’ screen. Here’s mine just now:

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. |

Ben_OVO

Community Manager

@mrsparkles5481 I didn’t realise you were PAYG, apologies.

@Firedog is absolutely right here - if you sent in an incorrect meter reading it wouldn’t make a difference to your charges, as you’re charged on the meter, not billed as a pay-monthly customer.

You must just be using more electricity now. What sort of heating is at the property? Is it electric? Also, how do you heat up the water? Is that through electricity as well?

Bear in mind - if you have your heating set to a thermostat then, when the weather is colder, the heating will be working harder and using more energy to get the property up to temperature.

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