Wrong Smart Meter fitted?

Hi ​@walterjamessyrett ,

Could you show us the meter please? And are you still with OVO right now?

no no

Ok.

If you can’t show us the meter, it’s hard to give advice on what to do. And if you’re no longer with OVO, you can’t make a complaint to OVO - you’d need to ask your current supplier.

Should your account have been an Economy 7 one and it wasn’t? If this was the case, did you not notice that all of your electricity was being charged at just one rate rather than the two rates that you would have been charged at before the meter change? Compare your bills to see what I mean by this. How long did this go on for? 

​@walterjamessyrett 

Could you explain just why you think the ‘meter’ was the wrong one?

I think that what you actually mean is that you were on the wrong tariff, the more that you explain what you mean then the better answers people can give you.

Hey ​@walterjamessyrett,

Could you please clarify your situation a bit more?

You mentioned that you recently moved and had a meter change. Does this mean you moved into a new property and then had the meter changed afterward? Was the meter exchanged due to a fault or for another reason? Additionally, you mentioned being on Economy 7—was this in your previous residence or at the new property?

Any more information you could provide would be helpful for the community to give you more advice.

Hi Chris, we moved to *Removed by mod* some 8 years ago and I cannot remember who we paid for electricity as I have condensed all my filing ! At some point we switched to OVO and then took advantage of the offer to have a SMART meter fitted, I was aware that we were on Economy 7 but I just paid the bills from you without query, we later switched to Scottish Power  We have now moved again to *removed by mod* and remained with Scottish Power, it was then that I noticed we were Economy 7 and our account with Scottish Power now shows the two meter readings etc.

Hope this clarifies our position and I look forward to hearing from you.

Hey ​@walterjamessyrett,

Thank you for sharing more details! Just a quick reminder to avoid posting any sensitive personal information, as we’re a public forum and it’s important to keep your privacy intact. I've taken care of your personal info in the previous messages.

Now, about your smart meter concerns—can you tell me more about why you think an incorrect one was fitted? Do you have any information or evidence that suggests your billing was off?

I noticed you mentioned receiving the final bill when you switched to Scottish Power, which usually means you agreed with the amount at that time. If there was a billing issue, it would have been better to bring it up at the point the final bill was being agreed between you and OVO.

It’s possible that your closed account might not be in our system anymore, but don’t hesitate to reach out to our Support Team for help! While we can't access account details here, we’re more than happy to offer advice and support wherever we can. Let us know how we can assist you!

Hi Chris, hopefully you will appreciate that an in depth knowledge of the workings of the electricity system in the UK was not one of my features. I normally just pay the bill or accept the DD. The reason why I thought it was the wrong meter is because that was my first thought, what else would have caused the problem? I am nearer 100 years of age than 50 so most of my facilities are slowing down or stopped so whereas I was once a very confident person that is no longer the case, in recent years I admit I am prone to making mistakes and accepting my electricity bills was one of them particularily as we were very careful to put the immersion heater on overnight to get the benefit of Economy 7. I can never remember launching an in depth quest to see if my bills were correct or not. I think I have contacted OVO direct and this communication is plan B. Any help would be much appreciated as I am lost in this world of electricity.

Hey ​@walterjamessyrett 

Sorry to hear about this, and that you haven’t got any further forward as yet.

We don’t have account access here at the Forum to look back at the final bill you did receive way back when so we can’t be sure what may have caused an issue along the line, though when moved to Scottish Power the meter readings would have been agreed and settled between OVO and Scottish Power so it would be odd for this to change all of a sudden following a switch away. 

If Scottish Power have been able to take 2 readings since you switched to them, that would suggest to me the correct meter was installed - unless Scottish Power then came out and changed the meter again before these Economy 7 readings were feeding through. It could have been using the total reading on a flat Economy 7 tariff? Do you happen to have the old final bill to hand? That might help us make some other suggestions, but to get into the specifics of what may have occurred, I’d recommend getting in touch with the Support Team who can access all of the data used at the time.

I would maybe even double check Scottish Power have used accurate opening readings, as that could also have cause a difference between what you’d expect. They have to accept the readings we provide to them at the time of switch so it would be interesting to know what they used to open the account.

Do let us know how you get on.

I find it extremely interesting that when you recall and type recent events in cronological order that somewhere further down the line someone will come up with a statement that is just not true. 

From moving into CO4 some 8 years ago there were at least 2 suppliers of electricity, OVO and SP, although my understanding was that we were on Economy 7 at no time did the bills show this and I have NO records to prove this. Recently we moved to CO3 and requested that SP supply our electricity and low and behold the bill reflected that we were on Economy 7.

I rest my case, Time for the OMBUDSMAN to make a decision?

Hi ​@walterjamessyrett 

I’m afraid that you still have not said just what you believe has been a problem here?
 

You do say:

my understanding was that we were on Economy 7 ………. and low and behold the bill reflected that we were on Economy 7.

So you were on the tariff that you thought that you were on.

Please explain why you believe that that is a problem ?

(PS. Before you can complain to the ombudsman you first have to go through the company complaint procedure. Have you raided a complaint with either company?)

Let me try and put it as simple as possible. In the last 8 years or so we have lived in two different flats in Colchester with the understanding that we were on Economy 7. Our bills never reflected Economy 7 untill very recently, last few weeks, we are now charged under Economy 7.

Comprende ?

By a process called deduction we are owed a refund ?

NB I have no paper records of my accounts !

PLEASE HELP ME !

There is nothing to say that charges on an Economy 7 E7 tariff will be any lower than those on a single-rate tariff. It’s only if night-time usage constitutes a significant proportion of the total that E7 will be more economical, and otherwise it could be considerably more expensive.

Most modern smart meters are capable of managing both single-rate and multi-rate tariffs, so ‘wrong smart meter’ doesn’t make much sense in this scenario.

Unless you have hard evidence of your consumption during the period in question and a record of what you were charged for it, no-one will be able to help you make a claim.

Hi Firedog, the most sensible answer I have had so far, even though I suspect you are a John ! Wrong meter was just the first thing I thought of, no proof. Today I am celebrating 50 years of married bliss to the same woman and tomorrow I celebrate 80 years of life with the same body. I do not give up, I am not a quitter, I hope to find an acceptable conclusion.