How and when do I submit an opening meter reading?

We have moved to Ovo from eon. Ovo have informed us continually that they will start supplying our energy from the 20th of this month and that we should give our opening readings by the 25th. I have tried on both the website and the Ovo app but giving readings isn't an option on either. I've tried ringing to no avail. So what do I do now?

Or if you're not on Facebook @Paule, you could send an email with your readings to them.

OVO will send this reading to the National Meter Database, ECOES, who send a notification of the switch to E.On. It is the responsibility of the receiving company to handle all aspects of the switch. You do not need to contact E.On yourself.

The entire switch process can take 4-5 weeks. It isn't unusual for your old supplier to take another month's payment in the meantime. But if you've left the Direct Debit "live" at your bank, they will automatically repay it when they issue your Final Bill.

Don't panic in the meantime. It is extremely unlikely for the process to fail!

Checked my emails which I don't do often and I find out my supplier has changed..asked to submit a meter reading and when I'm finally set up to do so there's a message saying it's too late to submit a reading..why can't readings be submitted at any time so as to keep our accounts up to date as much as possible

Have a look at this topic, @Phil65 - loads of info on what happens if you don't submit your opening meter readings! 🤓

Hi @Fernie,

I've moved your post onto this topic, which explains why we need customers to provide an opening meter reading ☝🏼

Spark use the same model of smart meters as us, so you can find out how to take a reading here.

As explained above, the readings need to be checked by a third party, so we'd need you to provide them to us, and we then pass them on.

Hope this helps!

Erm @Fernie If it has a touch-screen, then you're looking at the display on the In-Home Device.

You need to go to the meter itself.

The third-party referred to by @Nancy_OVO is ECOES, the National Electricity Meter Database. They are the guardians of the GB domestic supply grid. They check meter reference numbers, locations and reading history. So when you change from one Supplier to another, it is ECOES who ensure that there are no errors and that the meter is assigned to the correct company.

The system works, and has helped thousands of people when there have been mistakes made with billing.

Hi @Fernie - I'm not sure this is a good sign! Has this meter been disconnected? Could you take a photo and post on here so we can help further?

We provided opening meter readings for both our gas and electricity on the 15th March and received two separate emails confirming receipt of those readings.

The day before yesterday we received an email reminder for new meter readings ahead of the 15th April.

Now, having just checked our account online, whilst our gas reading does show in our history as a previous reading our electricity reading does not.

Please can we confirm then whether or not that reading was in fact received and if not how we might provide it again in order to receive a proper valuation for our bill?

In the meantime, please can we also confirm that it was necessary to create a separate account in order to use this forum? Only, we didn't seem to be able to link or use our prevailing details.

Finally, sorry, please can we confirm that making use of this forum does not affect our Self Service Reward?

Many thanks!

Hi @VagrntSol It can take 5-6 weeks before your account is fully open. Although the switch process is administrated by the Receiving Supplier (OVO in this case), most of the timings aren't under their control.

OVO will have Registered the Switch with ECOES, the national electricity meter database, and Xoserve, which is the equivalent for gas. They them initiate a sequence of Notifications to the Relinquishing Supplier, and DCC if you have Smart Meters.

It is very important that the Notification sequences occur. Not only do they confirm that the meter reading for the switch date is correct and agreed by all parties, but it's an opportunity for verifying other data such as meter numbers and Post Codes. This also ensures that you really have requested a switch rather than someone else do so fraudulently, without your knowledge or consent.

Continue to email OVO with manual readings. And don't worry. This is perfectly normal.

So sorry @Amy_OVO! Having come back to the forum today to launch a further query, we've realised it was in fact you who moved our original topic to this thread and replied accordingly.

Thank you so much then for all your help (let alone your patience meanwhile) and likewise to @Nancy_OVO, @Transparent, and indeed everyone else for their equally helpful posts here!

Hi there @Lupin and welcome to the forums.

Sorry for the trouble there! I do have some good news as well. If you need to reach the Support Team at OVO, the details can be found at the bottom of this page. Simply click on the option you’re after and the details will pop up.

As for getting the readings you’re after, there’s actually a bit of a hack for this if you’re struggling to read the meters yourself. Assuming you’ve not come on-supply with OVO yet, E.ON should be able to help out here.

If you have a chat with E.ON and ask them to pull On-Demand Readings via SMETS Commands, they should be able to grab them for you and you can then pass these onto OVO.

On the other hand, if you’ve already come on-supply with OVO, have a chat with OVO’s support team and they’ll try to figure something out. I hope this helps

Failing that, feel free to snap a few photos of your meters and pop them in your next reply. As long as the displays are visible, I’ll try to give you the readings from here.

Thanks for letting us know. Are you on Economy 7 by any chance?

If you are, then TOU1 is the reading for the Day rate, while TOU2 is the reading for the Night rate. If you’re on a Single-Rate tariff though, TOU1 is the only one you’ll need as that covers everything.

Do you know what meters you have? I can dig up a guide that might help you to get the other readings if needed.

I understand @Lupin .

Please bear in mind that the forums are volunteer led, and as a volunteer I don’t have direct access to your account and therefore can’t make changes myself.

The number you’re looking for to reach OVO is 0330 303 5063 and as a new customer, you’re after Option 3 on the menu. OVO can change you from Economy 7 to Single Rate easily, and they’ll also be able to remotely switch Economy 7 mode off as well if needed.

Interesting situation @Lupin …

Technically E.ON are correct. It is the responsibility of your new Energy Supplier to handle all aspects of the switch.

However, there are a numbers of checks which occur during the switch process. These include a series of Notifications between your old and new Suppliers and the National Electricity Meter database called ECOES.

There are established methods to verify readings you have provided and to estimate those which you have been unable to obtain. If E.ON disagree with these, then they have a short window of time in which they may provide evidence of alternative readings. But such objections are extremely rare unless the customer’s usage has actually put their account into deficit.

So you are fairly safe to leave it for OVO to resolve any discrepancies.

 

As for your SMETS2 Smart Meters, they actually have to sent a command to retrieve readings. It’s not totally automated.

However the Meter’s Communications Hub stores all your readings for the last 13 months. So there’s plenty of time to correct any errors.

Please don’t be concerned that things haven’t gone as smoothly as they might. It’s not your fault.