Ovo Energy - Massive charges and don't know what to do

matelodave

Our 2 rate leccy meter (when we had one) had a button which cycled the reading between rate 1, rate 2 and the combined total so it was easy to work out which was wihich.

I'm guessing that yours just shows rate 1 possibly with no indicator and rate 2 with a little 2 in the screen.

I dont know how yours is set up to read the day & night rates unless it automatically cycles between the displays. I'm sure a meter reader doesnet have to come twice - once at night and once in the day to read the different rates so there must be a way to get it to display the two rates.

Try looking at the meter around 6:45 in the morning to see if it shows a little 2 and then changes to the normal screen after around 7 am (might be 8 am at this time of the year)

When you've figured out which is the day rate and which is the night check that the readings correspond with your bill readings for day and night.

You will have to be a a bit methodicall to sort it out but it's not rocket science

victor2

E7 can be beneficial if you use electricity for your heating and hot water. Do you have storage heaters?

Does the meter display keep rotating between two or three different readings? Maybe someone who knows that particular brand of meter will come along and enlighten us, but if you have a photo with a "2" to the left of the digits, I would bet that was the night reading. You shouldn't have to wait until the meter switches between day and night rates to see the corresponding reading. The display should automatically show them one after the other, and possibly a third value, which is the sum of the other two. The meter readers aren't going to visit in the night for one reading and day for the other...

littlerock

Can't OVO come and compare your usage to your devices. It sounds crazy to me.

We live in a large chilly 4 bed Victorian semi detached (high ceilings, all rooms have 2 outside walls) and work from home. We have gas ch but also two pcs on broadband always on, plus various tablets and laptops, a smart tv, microwave, oven, 2 fridge freezers, two showers, electric oven, several fans going when it is hot and so on. Our bill is nothing like yours. Just dug out annual summary for May 2016-May 2017 , 6240 Kwh cost £1,150.

There must be some major error. Why did the Ombudsman reject your appeal and have Ovo been out to check it?

Neil49

I used to be with OVO and was prompted to send them meter readings every month.

From reading this post I can't ascertain where OVO have got the readings from. The OP doesn't appear to know how to get meter readings to send to OVO and it doesn't sound as if OVO have been reading the meter on a monthly basis either.

Have OVO just had a blip and started using totally incorrect estimates which have got out of hand or am I missing something here.

The other thing that can be checked is to see if the meter is faulty (which is something I had some years back). Even with the power switched off next to the meter I was still clocking up a reading. A new meter was installed and I got a refund based on my usage over previous years.

Keep plugging away at them because the whole issue is ridiculous. It just needs someone at OVO with some common sense to get involved.

honeyend

I used to have an E7 meter and every time they sent the bill they go the readings the wrong way round and had to send proof for them to correct it. Tedious.
To get all the readings you do not have to take them at a certain time of day.
You have by now an LCD meter, which will show three reading one after another.ie
1 Then reading number
2 Then reading number
Then another number .
I am rubbish at getting numbers right, they are only there for a few seconds before they change,so I just take picture of all three.
Make sure you include the metre number in the photo, so you can prove its the correct meter. I would also check because of all your problems that its the meter associated with your bill.
If you do understand E7, don't worry a lot of people don't.
Its summer, unless you have the tumble dryer or are boiling a kettle every five minutes, you should not be using the day more expensive rate very much.
To cut your use further turn off the emersion heater, if you have an electric shower, time your use. Put your dishwasher , washing machine on after 12 midnight on a timer. Change all your light bulbs to LEDs. expensive at the start but saves you heaps.
Forget about how much you pay a month, its how much electricity you use a month( or day, whatever) is the important bit. They should only charge you for what you use. It took ages for my oh so smart husband to realise this.
Kept checking the meter, if the numbers are flashing by like a fruit machine and you have only the fridge and the telly on. There is something wrong.
If you live alone and are not heating a huge house with electric, which I hope at this time of year you should not, I would expect a bill for about £35- £50 a month,( it will depend on the price per kw) for the electricity you have actually used.
Because they want you to pay by direct debit, they will add a bit on for higher winter usage, so it may be over £60, you just paying in advance of actually using the electric.

I think there must be something very wrong and you sound a bit at a loss. I would get an electrician to come round who its used to rental properties, get him to check and explain your meter, check your wiring, and look how things are generally being used. He may go, 'hell that's where its all going'
Growing cannabis is one of the biggest users of leccy, you may not be doing it but some crafty neighbour by have plugged and extension in somewhere, have you a socket in the garage?
Good luck.

Carrot007

There is no multirate meter that makes you wait for the appropriate time to read the meter. (How would meter readers fair?)

There does not appear to be a button from the photo so does it cycle though the readings. There has to be a way to read the thing properly!

Robin9

Is this the only meter ? There as a recent thread where there was an old check meter still on the premise and the poster had been reading that.

Does the number on it agree with the serial number as shown on your bill?

Geoff1963

If my maths is right, the bill equates to 12.7 kWh / hour ( = 12.7 kWatts ) which at 220 volts is 58 Amps, continuously.

I think a ring main is only 20 Amps ( so you can't have lots of 13 Amp sockets on full power ).
Two of those wouldn't be enough, so you have to also be using a shower or oven.

Presumably the electricity company cannot charge for a rate, which you cannot have used ( like charging someone for 100 litres of petrol, having stood at the pump for only 5 seconds ). If the main fuse is say 60 or 80 Amps, a bill based on more that must certainly be a mistake ; and anything close, must be suspect.

System

The point that is being missed is that this complaint has already passed through the EO and it has ruled in the supplier's favour. Neither the EO nor the supplier will entertain any further discussion. The OP's only hope is to prove that the meter is faulty. This will require any accuracy test. If the meter is OK then somehow the wiring in the building is faulty (or has been tampered with) in which case Ovo will still expect the OP to cover the cost of energy supplied.

buglawton

kelpie35 wrote: »

I'm with ovo and have an online account where I submit my meter readings on the last day of the month.

I also keep a spreadsheet of units used every month so I know exactly what I have used.

If for some reason one month seemed to jump sky high I would know there was something wrong.

Exactly. Also when you submit readings online you can see the previous reading, so a big jump one reading to the next should be instantly obvious. There's one other reason for getting sky high monthly bills: the leccy company has put you on a budget monthly repayment for previous long period of underestimated usage.

Op posted consistently high monthly (but variable) bills for many months. Mental alarm bells should have gone off very early. At first glance it looks like a faulty meter. If that ongoing situation hasn't magically fixed itself then any fault will still be causing huge monthly readings right now. That can be proven out instantly by any half competent electrician. Or checked DIY by attaching one of those energy monitor meters over one of the main cables. Another really easy check is to turn off everything then count the led blips per minute (should really be zero). Then turn on a predicable appliance like a 3kw kettle and count again. A bit of maths will prove if the meter is accurate. Then turn on all circuits again one by one (do the blips suddenly speed up at any point?) and do a 24 hour reading to reading check.

I somehow feel that the ongoing 'fault' will have magically fixed itself, to follow the MSE rule that threads like this never end with a clean crisp answer!