Letter advising no reads- But smart meters are working!?

I check my OVO account daily, just so I know how much energy we're using. Therefore, I was surprised today to get a letter from OVO warning me that I might be building up a debt as they've not received a smart meter reading for over 9 months. When I look at my account it clearly shows meter readings for every day.

I also took part in all the Shift and Save events so surely this is a mistake? Unfortunately I can't speak to anyone at OVO as it is a Saturday which is frustrating. I'm now terrified that we're actually in debt when I thought we were managing our account sensibly.

Has this happened to anyone else?

Do your meter readings show the word Smart alongside them? Does your account balance look right in regard to your bills and the amount you’ve paid? Does the letter have your correct name address account number etc.? 

Thanks for replying. Yes, the meter readings have smart written next to them and all the details are correct. The account balance is as expected,  I've checked it every day for the last year!

Then I would think it’s highly likely to have been a mistake at OVO Towers. You could try sending a private message on Twitter or Facebook to Ovoenergy to see what they say. 

I hope it is! I'll see if I can do that, thanks. 

I also received a letter today saying no smart meter readings for 9 months. I went straight on the OVO app and readings for elec and gas are up to date and also checked reading history all good going back 12 month. Payments up to date as they charge daily. Very confusing.

Not just me then! I'm guessing as your letter says 9 months as well it is just an error, bur confusing nevertheless. 

Relieved to know it’s not just me who received this letter & is also baffled by it. Always check my app & take screenshots etc. Clearly shows they get daily readings and they are correct. My meters, app & smart meter all have the same readings for today too. Hoping it’s just an error but will be phoning in Tuesday.  

At least 3 of us then! Hopefully it will be sorted out easily...

There have been a couple of similar instances reported recently @ian_macky . It seems safe to say it’s an error but useful to keep an eye on your readings. Smart meters do occasionally slip out of connection 

And another one now…

I have the opposite problem.  My current bill says they cannot state a charge for gas as the meter is not sending readings - send a reading.  When I click on ‘ send a reading ‘ it states that the meter is sending readings automatically and there is no need to do anything!  The meter reading page shows no readings are being sent and the usage page shows no gas readings since the 7th May.  I can’t see a way of sending a manual reading.  Anybody any ideas?

Hey @ian_macky @Dubby

We recently encountered several reports on the Forum of an issue regarding letters being sent out warning customers that we’d not received a meter reading for over 9 months, despite successful readings from smart meters. We really appreciate all of our community members’ feedback on this issue.

We raised this matter internally and this is now under investigation. It does appear that there’s been a system error that has led to this, but the team will be looking into this in more detail, to see why and to prevent such an error in the future. All further communications have been stopped for the time being while this is investigated.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this matter.

Hey @Actongrumpy,

Sorry about the issues you’ve run into.

We don’t have account access here at the Forum so we can’t see any details like your meter readings. It is unusual but we have been getting reports of this on the Forum elsewhere today, and we have raised this internally to get some more information on this.

I've also received a letter saying the same but checked account and all readings are from smart.

This was quite worrying when I first read the letter.

It was a bit of a shock, especially when it suggested I might now be in debt...

Hey @Dubby 

Sorry for the concern caused by this - to reassure you - you’ll be billed to the meter readings on your account, have a check at your latest statements to see how much you’ve been billed, and that you’ve been billed to actual meter readings.

Take a look at these handy posts to find out more on how to view your bills and how we bill you:

• OVO Energy Live billing platform and monthly summaries - What do I need to know? F.A.Q.

• Haven't downloaded the OVO App yet? Here's why you should... Blog

Abby_OVO wrote:

Hey @Dubby 

Sorry for the concern caused by this - to reassure you - you’ll be billed to the meter readings on your account, have a check at your latest statements to see how much you’ve been billed, and that you’ve been billed to actual meter readings.

Take a look at these handy posts to find out more on how to view your bills and how we bill you:

• OVO Energy Live billing platform and monthly summaries - What do I need to know? F.A.Q.

• Haven't downloaded the OVO App yet? Here's why you should... Blog

 

That's good to know, thank you. However, why was that letter sent out, particularly when it was clearly wrong?

Hi

Yes, we have received one of these letters as well, and also stating a 9 month timeframe, which doesn’t make any sense; so I’m glad others are querying this too. Our account has always shown up to date energy usage, and the Smart Meter icon on the account page has always stated OVO is receiving information from it. Also, supporting the idea this may be an error, how could it take 9 months for a company to realize its meters aren’t working?

I look forward to seeing what OVO's response to this is.

Hey @Dubby,

That’s a very understandable question and we have raised all of this internally. When we have any more information on this, I will come back on this thread to let you know more.  

Thank you

Hey @annacalm 

Sorry for any confusion that may have been caused by this letter. 

It is unusual, and we’ve had other reports of the same letter in other topics so we have raised this internally. Thank you for the feedback on this, we’ll see if we can find out more. 

I’ve linked to a similar thread that is active at the moment with reports of the same letter: