Why is my overnight usage shown on my smart meter In Home Display (IHD) so high?

I have an average that’s actually really low. It literally never costs more than £1 a day in electricity for me to run my flat. :)

And this is with an overpowered gaming laptop and way too much Ubiquiti UniFi kit!

As I went to bed last night 12 midnight, I turned everything off except my small under bench fridge and freezer , my smart metre read £42.36 when I got up at 630am it reads £43.37 that’s one pound and a penny that seems an awful lot for 6 hours I don’t use that throughout the day , what’s going on EDF

Hi @Ray Sis 

Most of the overnight cost is likely to be down to the standing charge. Did you confirm what your standing charges were for your tariff and also the amount of kWh usage being shown for the overnight period? If you can post these here then we should be able to work out what's going on. I assume your smart meter is set to send 30 minute readings? If it's not then it would be worth changing the setting as it gives a much better insight.

Yes I’m with EDF gas and Electric today as I’m writing this I noticed my readings last night at 12.15am was £42.36 when I woke this morning 530am it read £43.37 that’s £1.01 I know we pay a standard charge but a pound and a penny in 5 hours seems quite a lot I only have my under bench fridge and freezer on and nothing else apart from my wi- fi 

Hey @Ray Sis,

Welcome to the OVO Online community,

Due to the Energy Crisis prices have increased substantially, you may find that your standing charge has increase to over 50p. If you have an online account or any recent statements you should be able to check your unit rates and standing charges. 

Hope this helps. 

@Ray Sis @Alibongo I would look at your half hourly usage graph  - it’s on the OVO account so I assume EDF also gives you that. Can you compare a few different days and post a pic of the graphs here, please.

Fridges and freezers are on 24/7 and use quite a lot of energy., particularly the older models. Even if i’m Away 5kWh per day is standard, and ply 8 kWh per day when we’re here.

Here is ours just for comparison when we are away

3 Sep 2022    1.21 kWh
4 Sep 2022    1.20 kWh
5 Sep 2022    1.26 kWh
6 Sep 2022    1.23 kWh
7 Sep 2022    1.16 kWh
8 Sep 2022    1.16 kWh
9 Sep 2022    1.19 kWh

In built fridge freezer. Plus a few appliances that hopefully draw very minimal electricity, like two in built ovens etc. Never bothered turning those off, but i might do as a test next time we are away. Just means resetting two clocks. I could also see if unplugging the washing machine makes any difference (although i think that is off as it has a mechanical dial) and the dishwasher.  Not going to be big savings for me obviously. 

Other things we have that may draw a little power when off and we are away are two power showers and anything to do with the gas boiler and associated controls. 

I suspect @Blastoise186 is very good at getting his electric use down when he is away?

Be curious to know what other peoples daily electricity is when they are away? 

I suggest for the next morning you post the kWh figures as well as the £ figures, both from the In Home Display, so we can compare the cost vs kWh. 

OK? 

Yeah, my usage does go down a bit when I’m not around. All my tech has a “Deep Sleep” mode of some kind so that it drops power usage right down if it’s not doing anything for a certain amount of time. :)

Hi

I have similar problem. 4 weeks ago, a smart meter was installed, unfortunately I did not get IHD. What I noticed is that every night 3kw been added (from midnight to 7am when I usually wake up). There is nothing on during the night apart from fridge/freezer and few other appliances on stand by mode.

It was mentioned that people can see 80p charge from very early in morning (probably standing charge), but in my case I wake up with 3kw already added to my account every morning.

Since the smart meter was installed my consumption went up (at least 50kw).

I have solar panels and use washing machine, tumble dryer, dishwasher etc during the day so definitely I don.t use the energy which the smart meter shows. 

Hi @PDK 

Can you show your 30 minute usage graph for a typical day where this has happened? It may help us narrow down whether this usage is a spike or increased baseload at certain times.

Hey @PDK,

Sorry for the issues you’ve had.

A fridge and other appliances on standby using 3 kWhs overnight sounds about right. You say your usage has gone up 50 kWhs since you had the smart meter installed... what are you comparing these figures to?

If you are comparing it to last months usage on the Online Account, could it be because August was a sunnier month with longer days? Were your bills before estimated? 

I’d advise checking your meter readings and seeing if we are getting half hourly readings, then cross checking your usage graphs. This may give an indication as to when you are using the most energy. We have a great guide you might find helpful:

• How to view your usage data on the OVO app Tutorial

If your usage continues to appear high, it may be that you have a faulty appliance which is using more energy than it should, or your meter may be faulty. We have a useful article about this topic here:

• I think my meter is clocking too fast - How can I test if my high usage is due to a faulty meter?

Hope this helps. 

I am comparing with the previous month (before smart meter). There is no change in my usage. Unfortunately, I can’t see the usage (every 30min) as my smart meter doesn’t work as a smart. I have to send readings every month (the bill is not estimate).

That is the only data which I can see when I logged in to my account.

Hey @PDK,

Sorry for the issues you’re having.

If your new smart meter isn’t working and sending us readings, and your previous meter was traditional. Then it is likely that the figures you are comparing are both estimated.

It can also take up to 6 weeks for everything to be up and running smoothly. Do you remember if you chose for readings to be sent half hourly, daily or monthly?

The best thing to do is get your smart meter up and running. We have a great guide here you might find helpful:

• Identifying Smart Meter Issues on your online account or OVO app Tutorial

Have you completed a smart meter health check? This will help us diagnose the communication issues:

• Second generation (S2) Aclara smart meter health check (SMHC) Tutorial

Hope this helps.

Three different mornings all before anything happens as just woken up……

Just heard from OVO that incredibly since 1st October they knew of a problem as the home displays had the decimal point in the wrong place……. Incompetence!

Why does my IHD show gas usage when everything is off. Yesterday it showed £0.65/hr when everything was off. This continued for more than half an hour. The previous night the history showed gas being used between 3 and 7am but again nothing is switched on. There are no leaks as verified by the gas safe certificate issued last month. OVO tell me they are getting all the readings and everything is okay but I dispute this if the display is telling me a different story. I have completed the smart meter email questionnaire but it can take 47 working days for an answer. Not good enough. Its bad enough paying these rising energy costs but to steal additional funds as well has to be criminal.

Hi @69etype ,

OVO only uses the meter readings sent to them by the gas meter for billing purposes. Usage data and anything shown on your IHD are not factored into your bills at all.

It’s also worth noting that the IHD can only refresh gas usage roughly once every 30 minutes, as the gas meter only pings a heartbeat every 30 minutes.

Could you show us some photos please?

Those will most likely be snapshots from those periods.

It’s very, very possible something fired up during the night and was recorded doing so. Let me ask @Jeffus and @juliamc to stop by. They’re more experienced than I am at tracking down the culprits.

I don’t have any gas appliances now except the hob, however previously when I switched off the pilot light on our old warm air heating unit I saved a significant amount of gas. It wouldn’t have shown as a single peak of use like that though. How is your hot water heated ? There was an incidence the other day of a system reheating a hot water reservoir in a fancy tap, though again that was throughout the day. 

Are these usage figures being passed on to the account or could it be just on the IHD (in home display!)?

Hi @69etype

Like @Blastoise186 and @juliamc i don't work for ovo, we will all see if we can help spot anything that might help in your conversations with OVO. OK? 

1. Could you post your usage for a day when you think there is an issue? 

https://account.ovoenergy.com/usage?datePeriod=daily&unit=kwh

This is mine for example copy and pasted from the ovo website. 

After midday