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TomThumb
Rank 6
TomThumb
Rank 6
July 14, 2020
Solved

I have three meters - Why is my Monthly statement wrong again?

  • July 14, 2020
  • 101 replies
  • 3997 views

Hello all.

I only joined OVO in March, so I’ve only had 4 monthly statements so far & every 1 of them have been wrong.

As a new customer I’ve been keeping an eye on my account, just to make sure my direct debit payment covers my actual usage costs.

I’m guessing I have a different setup to most, as in the fact that we have 2 gas meters & 1 electric. only 1 gas, 1 elec are smart meters.

The normal view on the illustrative statement is correct up until my monthly statement has been produced, so the billing on all 3 meters is in sync. Albeit as long as a manually supply my dumb meter reading.

But my actual bill so far every month has only incorporated any 1 of the meters, or 2 of the meters or even once after a phone call to OVO to let them know, it had been amended to show a combination of 2 different meters.

Every month I place a call to OVO to let them know my monthly statement is wrong again & eventually OVO produces a correct statement.

I’m almost certain it’s the 3 meters & not the usual 2 that are the problem.

I did have the smart meters turn dumb for 6 weeks in May- June with the IHD also showing no data, a power cut during the night restored the service, I lost the daily smart meter readings for a week the end of June so yet another phone call to OVO, but OVO we’re still receiving readings, my OVO account is now showing smart meter readings OK but is not showing any usage data for July.

I've had more conversations with OVO in 3 months than I’ve had with any energy supplier over the last 10 yrs.

How hard can it be to get my actual monthly statement correct.

 

Tom...

Best answer by TomThumb

Updated on 18/10/23 by Abby_OVO

 

Sorry to hear of the difficulties you’ve had with the billing on your account since switching to OVO with multiple meters.

 

Usually, even with more that one gas meter associated to your account you should receive a monthly summary covering the combined usage on both meters. The easiest way to view these monthly summaries is via the ‘Billing history’ page of your online account of OVO app (download for Android or iOS).

 

Exact appearance may vary

 

If you notice any errors or missing usage on these monthly summaries, reach out to our Support Team who can take a look in to the details of your account and raise this to our technical team if it’s not something they are able to resolve immediately. 

In this example the combination of a smart and non-smart gas meter caused an unexpected technical bug. See the comment below for the action taken to resolve this unusual issue.
 

 

 Having given OVO 9 months to resolve my billing issues to no avail, I changed  my approach this month & I decided to raise an official complaint on this matter.

 

This resulted with an informative chat with the technical department & fingers crossed a full resolution.

 

 Previously I had requested that my traditional gas meter be moved to a separate new account, leaving my 2 smart meters in place, but after the customer service agent consulted with management, the answer came back as a NO.

 

This time however, ovo have agreed to this & a new account has been setup for the sole use of my dumb gas meter.

From a customer point of view, it’s the best possible outcome.

If all goes well?

 

I will gain accurate monthly bill’s,

 

I will see usage history across all 3 meters, 

 

It will make my energy usage / costs / bill’s & statements a hell of a lot easier to manage,

 

Im guessing my traditional gas meter will still have a conflict with it’s projected Vs actual kWh’s usage & costs, given the fact this meter is heavily used during the summer & has zero usage over the winter months,  I will be in a better position to identify any mismatch as this meter is no longer grouped with the remaining 2 smart meters. I’m also hoping that ovo’s backend system will see this as a trend & adjust it’s estimates accordingly for this supply?

 

I won’t have to call ovo every month to complain about my account & bills,

 

The only drawback is I’ll have to click to switch between accounts on a drop down tab 😳👍

(I can cope, bring it on)

 


What I did ascertain from the call with the technical department, 

The only error found on my account was a validation error for my traditional gas meter for this month?

The old billing system can’t cope with 3 meters!

The new billing platform can’t cope with 3 meters ? (I never got to test it!)

Ovo had no clue of what was broken, so didn’t know what to fix?

Ovo should have listened to my suggestion of 2 account months ago! (wishful thinking)

 

Hopefully after next months bill / statement, if all goes well, I can post an update & finally mark this as case closed? 


Tom...

 

 


 

 

101 replies

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TomThumb
Rank 6
TomThumbAuthor
Rank 6
October 14, 2020

Update 

I spoke to customer service at ovo today as my IHD is still reporting only 10% of my actual gas usage in ££.

So ovo are sending out the latest ihd to hopefully fix this issue.

Also on reading my account notes & my ongoing billing / statement issues over the last 6 months, the cs agent said he would flag my issues as urgent & bounce it back to the the billing team again, as there is still no sign of my Oct 11th statement.


While on the line, I did enquirer about adding a separate account just for my 3rd (none smart gas meter) as this would greatly improve my account management & hopefully resolve my billing issues that I suspect are due to having 3 meters on a single account.

The cs agent did have to make inquiries to this, but the answer came back as a NO, it’s not possible.

So much for my wishful thinking.

 

Tom...

 

 

3 meters: Smart Gas & Smart Elec / Traditional Gas meter
Transparent
Rank 20
Transparent
Rank 20
October 14, 2020

@MikeEwrote:

If that's true it's unbelievable that my smart meter losing the connection with my energy provider means a new meter has to be fitted.

This won’t always be the case, Mike.

I was one of the first sites to get a SMETS2 installation and there were lots of technical problems to resolve. As I was interested to be more involved, I offered my site to OVO to use for testing software updates.

That was very useful for both parties. I obviously learned a lot about Smart Meters and the overall Demand Side Response strategy of which they are the foundation. You can see the results of those experiences when you read my posts here on the Forum!

The downside of having beta-code sent to my Comms Hub is a high risk that an update might place it in a state where it loses external communications. At that point, of course, you can’t send any more code to fix the problem. :confounded:

We still don’t know why your Wide Area Network channel has gone down, but there remains the possibility that it could still be sent a SMETS_reset command and spring back to life. There are at least two ways to achieve this, one of which requires a site visit.

 

Right, it’s 7pm; I need to go outside and feed the hedgehogs :slight_smile:

Save energy... recycle electrons!
    M
    Rank 6
    MikeE
    Rank 6
    October 14, 2020

    @MikeEwrote:

    If that's true it's unbelievable that my smart meter losing the connection with my energy provider means a new meter has to be fitted.

    This won’t always be the case, Mike.

    I was one of the first sites to get a SMETS2 installation and there were lots of technical problems to resolve. As I was interested to be more involved, I offered my site to OVO to use for testing software updates.

    That was very useful for both parties. I obviously learned a lot about Smart Meters and the overall Demand Side Response strategy of which they are the foundation. You can see the results of those experiences when you read my posts here on the Forum!

    The downside of having beta-code sent to my Comms Hub is a high risk that an update might place it in a state where it loses external communications. At that point, of course, you can’t send any more code to fix the problem. :confounded:

    I didn't know you were a beta tester. That explains it !

     

    Right, it’s 7pm; I need to go outside and feed the hedgehogs :slight_smile:

    😆

    Seriously I have never heard of anyone keeping hedgehogs as pets !

      M
      Rank 6
      MikeE
      Rank 6
      October 14, 2020

      We still don’t know why your Wide Area Network channel has gone down, but there remains the possibility that it could still be sent a SMETS_reset command

      It can't be that easy or OVO would have issued the command while I was with them.

       

      I don't know whether it's true or not but E.ON have said that they can't do anything until ownership of the meters is transferred to them and that can only happen once OVO has sent me my final bill (takes up to 6 weeks as you know)

       

      E.ON did say that they were willing to carry out a site visit if they can't get the meters working with a remote command.

      I will have to wait and see if they keep their promise but I am not holding my breath as I have no faith in customer services any more.

       

      Transparent
      Rank 20
      Transparent
      Rank 20
      October 15, 2020

      I don’t think I could claim to be a Beta-tester, @MikeE. My input to the process was limited to telling OVO what the indicator LEDs were doing. But, yes, I’m always happy to receive beta-level code because I’m not concerned about things going wrong.

       

      As for the hedgehogs, they’re not pets! They are completely wild and free.

      But it’s risky having juveniles around at this time of year. They need to reach 600g in order to survive winter hibernation. So I’m providing a base level of nutrition with kibbles in addition to the numerous woodlice, earwigs and earthworms which they have to search for.

       

       

      Save energy... recycle electrons!
        Tim_OVO
        OVO Staff
        Tim_OVO
        OVO Forum Legend
        October 15, 2020

        @MikeE your new supplier should take over control of the smart meters from your supply start date….

         

        @Transparent feed them up quick! I wonder if they will return in the spring to expect their 7pm kibble dinners… :chipmunk:

        Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there! My green tech: Aclara SGM 1411-B smart meter, Chameleon IHD6
          M
          Rank 6
          MikeE
          Rank 6
          October 15, 2020

          @MikeE your new supplier should take over control of the smart meters from your supply start date….

          Quote:

          "2020-10-15 11:20:30 Pallab : Yes, we'll get the remote meter readings from the smart meter. ☺️

          2020-10-15 11:24:09 Pallab : We're still in the process of completing the switching formality with the old supplier. Once this is done. The smart meter will work as normal ☺️

          2020-10-15 11:28:36 Pallab : Yes, the smart meter will start to work by the end of this month.☺️"


          I will just have to wait and see if it does happen.
           

            M
            Rank 6
            MikeE
            Rank 6
            October 16, 2020

            https://click.email.vimeo.com/u/?qs=036bd01c77fa3c6116ee20f09d03d207bcd1c1fdb9eb5fbfe2bd0aacc288cdd6ded62c0d06a0d85739d643df9cad0c828ab3ee7b1f0fd4e51a60dab7159d58f7

             

            My smart meter is working again 😎 

             

            I only just woke up and it's quite dark.

             

            Just one query, why couldn't OVO have done this reset my meter remotely ?

             

            If they had I would still be with them now and renewed my contract next July. 

              Transparent
              Rank 20
              Transparent
              Rank 20
              October 16, 2020

              And is today the formal “switch day” that E.On gave you?

               

              why couldn't OVO have done this reset my meter remotely ?

              It sounds like they could’ve done!

              Save energy... recycle electrons!
                M
                Rank 6
                MikeE
                Rank 6
                October 16, 2020

                And is today the formal “switch day” that E.On gave you?

                No 1st October was the switch date although I was told that I would have to wait until the end of the month for the reset attempt so they did it a fortnight early !

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