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Why is the tariff rate on my smart meter and Chameleon In Home Display (IHD) wrong?



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Userlevel 7
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Thanks.

Unfortunately, there’s nothing OVO can do to satisfy this request I’m afraid. It’s impossible for them to change the behaviour of the IHD to disregard standing charges. That’s at the discretion of the IHD manufacturer at best, assuming it’s not mandated by the SMETS1 and SMETS2 specifications or some other rules. It’s all part of the firmware and OVO has no control over that.

It is probably also worth mentioning that almost everyone else prefers having their IHD show the full daily cost for both the standing charges and usage charges combined. You are the only user to date that I know of on this forum who has asked about having just usage show on the IHD. A rarely requested feature is unlikely to be implemented if hardly anyone is interested.

Another reason for having both combined is for Prepayment customers - where having a fully working IHD showing accurate total costs is crucial. It would be unfair on that significant group to change the IHD behaviour because they ultimately still have their meters take the standing charge from the meter credit every day, so arguably it makes sense that the IHD should show full costs.

In theory, OVO could potentially program just your meters to show a zero standing charge without affecting the actual tariff. However, I already see that causing further issues so I personally feel that the best workaround would be for you to disregard the standing charge portion of the daily costs shown on your IHD and go from there.

Thanks, @Blastoise186, I see the reasoning. If you are going to change the gas costs on my IHD to include the standing charge, could you let me know when that happens.

Can it be done, anyway, as I see that the exclusion of standing charges from gas has been an issue for some time, as shown in this thread:-

Smart meter In-home display puzzle - Why does it show some over-night costs for electricity (but not gas)? 

Userlevel 7
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The easiest fix I can think of would be to get the Support Team to issue the SMETS Command Update Tariff Configuration to both meters, so that it forces a tariff rate update through. It can take 48 hours to run in some cases but should sort this out.

Gas meters also can’t provide real-time usage data because it would drain the battery too much, so you can only get half-hourly snapshots at most. I’m afraid fixing this is impossible at this time.

I would prefer to leave things as they are. As long as I have certainty on the basis of the calc for each fuel, I’ll be confident about setting the budgets accordingly.

 

Userlevel 7

Just to clarify, as a fellow OVO-member @Blastoise186 can’t make changes to your account, @boxticker. This online community is a place for members to share advice but you may need to contact our Support Team if your In-Home Display hasn’t updated your rates correctly.

 

Have you checked out the usage cost graphs available on your online account or OVO app (download for Android or iOS) yet? These offer another place to view this information and budget accordingly.

 

Hope this helps. 

Thanks @Jess_OVO . 

Although I had to “go around the houses” a bit to make contact with the Support Team, once I had made the request the actual rates were corrected on my IHD within 24 hours. I should also clarify that this correction was needed because the IHD was still using the rates from my previous year’s contract. The Electricity rate still includes the standing charge, while the Gas rate does not. I’m content with that.

Yes, I found the usage data very useful in building up a spreadsheet for my budget figures. For the budget rates I employed the same rule for standing charges as noted above for actual rates.

My smart meter was installed in December and started to display a much higher standing charge and tariff at the beginning of August.  We are on a two year contract ending August 2023.   I have contacted OVO several times, twice been asked to switch off the meter and turn it on again 24 hours later - but it is still displaying the wrong information.  All my messages and phone calls are making no difference.  I know I can find out the correct data on-line after submitting a manual reading, but it reduces the value of having the home display.   I’m not sure what to do next.  Would appreciate any suggestions.  Thanks

Userlevel 7
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Hey @bveecon ,

There’s actually a much easier fix for this. Please fire up a Live Chat with the Support Team and ask them to run the SMETS Command Update Tariff Configuration against your entire Site. That should fix everything up for you pretty quickly. :)

Hi Blastoise 186.  Many thanks for your fast response.  I have just tried to contact the LIve chat team and am 150th in the queue.  What I’ll do is give them another try early tomorrow morning.  Many thanks again, your advice is much appreciated.

 

Waste of time,  3 chat sessions over 3 days and each time got fobbed off,  raising a ticket,  the price on my tariff showing on smart meter includes vat,  would be correct if vat was 100%, complete frustration as they won't run Update Tariff Configuration when I said that's all that is needed,  I am on a variable tariff but my meter has changed to 66.52p per kwh so my budget monitoring is way out. 

Thanks for your message.  I have contacted OVO again, so it’s a waiting game to see if they do anything about it.   I do appreciate that they are busy and my complaint is probably trivial compared to others.   OVO can tick the box saying the smart meter has been fitted but they don’t seem to care if it is working properly or not,  That is the crux of the matter - they don’t seem to care.. 

 

Userlevel 2
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If Jess_Ovo is out there listening I have a question.

When I switched to Ovo in late June 22 you reported problems reading my smart meters and had installed the wrong tariff on my gas meter so my IHD overstated the daily cost. I have been monitoring consumption and it would appear that for the entire month of August and beyond you have merrily been taking daily readings and generated an accurate bill at the end of the billing sycle.

Notwithstanding this Ovo has insisted an engineer needs to visit to recommission my gas meter.

If you could remotely amend the tariff on my gas meter I would consider all issues closed and save the engineer a possibly wasted trip.

The question; is it possible to remotely update the tariff or is an engineer visit the only solution?

Userlevel 7
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Good morning @Electric_Twit ,

I’m afraid Jess is no longer active on the OVO Forum, as she’s decided to move to a different team.

If the gas meter is correctly submitting gas meter readings and everything except the tariff rates is correct, there is a remote fix for this issue that I know works brilliantly. I’ve seen it used hundreds of times at my recommendation and it works 98% of the time. That remote fix is the SMETS Command Update Tariff Configuration which should pull down the correct tariff config within 48 hours. The Support Team should be able to either run this directly, or put a request into another team.

Userlevel 2
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Thank you for the reply. Interesting that such an apparently simple fix exists but Ovo insist on an engineer visit. Since my post I coincidentally had an email asking me what was wrong with my IHD. Nothing was the answer, the fault is all yours.

Before I joined Ovo I had a running battle with another major energy company over a misloaded tariff and several other issues including GDPR. It was one of the reasons I moved. to Ovo. This other company sorted the matter promptly though it took a formal complaint and threatening to involve OFGEM if they failed to act!

Userlevel 7
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Hmm… Could you show me photos of everything please? I can try to help with some diagnostics right here.

Userlevel 4

Just looked at my smart meter and compared it with my plan on my app.

Can anyone tell me why they aren't the same please.

 

Userlevel 4

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +2

Hi @Lucky2 

The plan page on the app is excluding VAT

The smart meter display is including VAT at 5%

OK?

 

Userlevel 2

I have a Chameleon IHD3-CAD Home Display and the tariff costs are completely different from those shown in myOVO web account. This is not just a difference in VAT or not VAT pricing, myOVO is showing prices that are 75 to 80% higher.

How can I update the tariff amounts in my Home Display device?

regards

PhilipJ

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +2

Hi @PhilipJ451

Contact the Support Team

https://help.ovoenergy.com/#contact_us_container

And ask them to send the SMETS command to your meter Update Tariff Configuration.

This will refresh the data. 

Userlevel 2

Hi Jeffus, thanks for the advice.

I went through the chat system and they say they will get it updated for me

regards

PhilipJ

 

Please help why is my smart meter showing my tariff at 41.930 and daily standing charge at 50.430 if the price has been capped . I have no gas only electric

Userlevel 7
Badge +4

The first thing to say is that the tariff information in your IHD (in home display - the display unit connected to your meter) isn't always correct and if it's wrong that doesn't mean you're being charged the wrong amount. It's only for information, not for your bills.

 

Have OVO told you what your unit price will be from 1st Oct? You can contact customer services and ask them to send the new rates to your IHD. You can also check the rates that you're actually being charged on the OVO app or website.

Userlevel 4

I’m the same why haven’t the rates changed?

Yes very worrying 41 is extremely high and cant phone till Monday as noone there weekends .

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