OVO Energy - anyone else tried to use these?

SnakeDoctor_2

Another thing about OVO’s Gas Smart Meters is the fiasco regarding kWh used, Meter Units and Bills.

The old style meters were read in Meter Units and then your Bill converted these to kWh using a formula that includes Calorific Value. The Calorific Value changes from time to time but that was taken care of on the Bill (with my last supplier I got billed every month).

What happens with OVO Smart Meters is that the Calorific Value is downloaded to the Smart Meters every time that it changes and (presumably) the correct kWh is calculated as the gas is used.

Sounds good so far, but, when OVO read your meter the first thing that they do is convert the kWh back to Meter Units and put the Meter Units figure into their billing system – which then converts it back to kWh using the current Calorific Value. Crazy or what?

With OVO only billing you once every 6 or more months the Calorific Value that was used to calculate the correct kWh at the time of usage could have changed umpteen times since your last Bill and I’ll bet that when your Meter is read that they don’t upload usage by kWh by Calorific Value. So, you could be getting charged too much or too little. Us poor customers have no way of finding out which it is but it’s doubtful that we’ll be getting charged too little. They’re bound to have looked into this and made sure that we don’t get charges too little.


I found out all this during a long email exchange with hello@ovoenergy.com

victor2

SnakeDoctor wrote: »

Another thing about OVO’s Gas Smart Meters is the fiasco regarding kWh used, Meter Units and Bills.

The old style meters were read in Meter Units and then your Bill converted these to kWh using a formula that includes Calorific Value. The Calorific Value changes from time to time but that was taken care of on the Bill (with my last supplier I got billed every month).

What happens with OVO Smart Meters is that the Calorific Value is downloaded to the Smart Meters every time that it changes and (presumably) the correct kWh is calculated as the gas is used.

Sounds good so far, but, when OVO read your meter the first thing that they do is convert the kWh back to Meter Units and put the Meter Units figure into their billing system – which then converts it back to kWh using the current Calorific Value. Crazy or what?

With OVO only billing you once every 6 or more months the Calorific Value that was used to calculate the correct kWh at the time of usage could have changed umpteen times since your last Bill and I’ll bet that when your Meter is read that they don’t upload usage by kWh by Calorific Value. So, you could be getting charged too much or too little. Us poor customers have no way of finding out which it is but it’s doubtful that we’ll be getting charged too little. They’re bound to have looked into this and made sure that we don’t get charges too little.


I found out all this during a long email exchange with hello@ovoenergy.com

That is indeed crazy, especially if they are using a calorific value detrimental to the customer.
In the past (with E.ON and EDF) and a "non-smart" meter I have recorded the daily CV figure published by the National Grid for my region and compared the average of that over the billing period when a bill was produced. In every case, the CV used on the bill was slightly lower than the average, making the bill a matter of pennies per month less than it would have been had the published CV been used. OVO appear to be doing the same now I'm with them, but I still don't have a smart meter.

SnakeDoctor_2

victor2 wrote: »

That is indeed crazy, especially if they are using a calorific value detrimental to the customer.
In the past (with E.ON and EDF) and a "non-smart" meter I have recorded the daily CV figure published by the National Grid for my region and compared the average of that over the billing period when a bill was produced. In every case, the CV used on the bill was slightly lower than the average, making the bill a matter of pennies per month less than it would have been had the published CV been used. OVO appear to be doing the same now I'm with them, but I still don't have a smart meter.

I would not recommend anyone to get a Smart Meter. I got mine 6 months ago and I'm still trying to get information out of OVO so that I am able to get the info out of the meters that I could easily get out of the old meters.
As for the In Home Device - a complete waste of time. It still shows the wrong tariff and doesn't cater for Economy 7

tangoev

Have been with OVO for two years and now switched to Scottish Power. The switch has been painful but not due to OVO. We switched reluctantly as the OVO night rate is significantly higher and we want to charge a Nissan Leaf at night.

OVO fitted a smart meter. These devices are of zero benefit to the consumer. To the provider that give accurate real time reading and no longer need to send a man in a van or wait for the consumer to read a meter. In the house they offer no benefits at all. All the talk about seeing what you are using is hogwash. Yes is shows little graphs and gives you costs per day but these give no real understanding of usage. Also a Smart meter is close to impossible to read. Gone is the clear, easy to read dials, replaced by a line of numbers that are displayed for a second with no indication of what they refer to.

Scottish Power do not have the ability to read Smart Meters. So we are forced to read a Smart Meter the hard way.

tangoev

SnakeDoctor wrote: »

I would not recommend anyone to get a Smart Meter. I got mine 6 months ago and I'm still trying to get information out of OVO so that I am able to get the info out of the meters that I could easily get out of the old meters.
As for the In Home Device - a complete waste of time. It still shows the wrong tariff and doesn't cater for Economy 7

Indeed the same situation. Have an OVO smart meter that is impossible to read by a human And impossible to read by Scottish Power.

Tonanti216

siouxiqueue wrote: »

I thought it would be a good idea to switch to OVO. Sadly their admin is not up to scratch. Does not instill any confidence in their delivery ability. I have only just received their confirmation letter, some 3 weeks after originaly application. Their direct debit date is not convenient. I have requested a change and received no reply. I noticed that the amount they want to charge is not competitive with my current supplier. They want to charge me £30 per fuel for the privilege of the inconvenience they have put me through with their tardy administration.

Anyone else experienced these suppliers?:(

OK, I recently signed up to this company and what you say does not gel with my experience at all.

The DD was not what I wanted, I called them (didn't email) and they changed it.

They told me there would be a delay with the gas switch which was what I expected.

Nothing left to say about your comments I'm afraid.

Tonanti216

Arion wrote: »

I've recently switched from Eon to Ovo and ,apart from a 4 week delay getting Eon to repay £60 I had in credit, everything went smoothly.

However, please see the following chain of emails sent this week.

MY QUERY
I’ve recently joined Ovo from Eon.

So far I’ve manually given two sets of meter readings, but I have Smart Electric and Gas meters fitted. Is it not possible for you to get your readings via the smart meter technology?

OVO REPLY
...[FONT=&quot]With Smart technology the meter installed is typically linked to the company that installed it and a new supplier is not always able to communicate with the meter to take readings. I have spoken to our Smart Metering team who have confirmed that we are not currently able to communicate with your meter and so I would ask you to provide monthly readings so that we can accurately bill your account...


MY RESPONSE[/FONT]

You answered my question, but didn't explain why Ovo have a smart energy meter team, but cannot access my smart meters.

Surely access to my smart meters data should have been transferred from Eon to Ovo when my switch was completed.

Or is it the case that my smart meters are effectively 'dumb meters' and shall remain so until Ovo install their own?

Your comments/advice are welcome...

Could it be that EON won't give access to the Smart Meter Data? Surely its the same as trying to log into someone elses PC without the access code/Password

SnakeDoctor_2

Tonanti216 wrote: »

OK, I recently signed up to this company and what you say does not gel with my experience at all.

The DD was not what I wanted, I called them (didn't email) and they changed it.

They told me there would be a delay with the gas switch which was what I expected.

Nothing left to say about your comments I'm afraid.

Wait until they tell you that they want to switch you to a Smart Meter.

reeac

I've been with OVO for nearly 2 years now and have generally been very happy with them. BUT ..


I had a Smart Meter installed at their request but as we have no mobile reception here it can't transmit data so I have to send them readings. The three booklets that came with the SM were at Primary School level at best and didn't include instructions on how to get readings from the SM nor from the IHD. I contacted OVO who sent me instructions for getting various readings from the SM so that's OK now [although why the booklets didn't include this info. I can't imagine. I have now stapled a printed copy of the OVO e-mail in one of the booklets].


My big beef, however, is that my balance with OVO now stands at over 3 months DD payments and I want to reduce these payments in order to taper the balance down. The website currently won't play ball in this respect and directs you to an 0800 number and I just spent over 10 minutes waiting on their phone line to no avail. I had to listen to the most appalling pop music interspersed with suggestions that I could get assistance via their website. This forum seems to be the best hope for attracting their attention. I'm quite happy for OVO to owe me 1 month's worth of DD but 3 months and rising is too much.

victor2

reeac wrote: »

My big beef, however, is that my balance with OVO now stands at over 3 months DD payments and I want to reduce these payments in order to taper the balance down. The website currently won't play ball in this respect and directs you to an 0800 number and I just spent over 10 minutes waiting on their phone line to no avail. I had to listen to the most appalling pop music interspersed with suggestions that I could get assistance via their website. This forum seems to be the best hope for attracting their attention. I'm quite happy for OVO to owe me 1 month's worth of DD but 3 months and rising is too much.

At least you should be getting 3% interest on the credit balance!
I'm with OVO, but don't have smart meters. I did have a problem with a meter reader visiting, taking the readings for both gas and electric meters, but only one reading appearing in my online account, and it not accepting my own readings as they were too close to the meter reader's. What resulted was a bill for only one utility.
I got it sorted through an online chat, took about 5 minutes for someone to join the chat with me, but then they took my readings and generated a new bill for both utilities.
Have never tried phoning them, as the online chat sorted it out.