Ovo Energy charging to check a meter

mccluggage

I had a smart meter fitted last year, November time, and on checking my usage for month ending 13th January 2021 and the one ending 13th January 2022 my off peak usage has tripled. I have lived in this house for over 30 years and this cannot be right. I contacted Ovo and they said that they could see nothing wrong and that if I wanted my meter checked it would cost me £140 and I would only get that back if they found something wrong. I know that something IS wrong as the off peak usage is actually way down this year - less heaters on, water not heating up for more than 15 minutes a night - but if they check it and say it is still correct what recourse do I have? I can't afford to spend £140 and lose it if they say the meter is right after all - I can't disprove what they say. I've never been in such a high debit situation on the account.

Robin9

Electric ?     Please  can we have readings of on peak and off peak?    What is your heating - storage rads etc ?

mccluggage

All Electric - Economy 7. Tariff is 2 year fixed energy - Economy 7. Month to January 2021 - off peak usage 438.132 kWh at 9.60p, month ending January 2022 off peak usage 1312.493 at 13.96p. I know that the cost per unit has increase with this new tariff started October 2021 but usage has tripled which is not right.

Verdigris

Perhaps your old meter was under-reading?

mccluggage

It's possible but for 31 years?

Verdigris

If it was like that from the start, they may not have noticed. It's only when usage suddenly changes (not in their favour, generally) that supplier sit up and take notice.

MattMattMattUK

mccluggage said:

It's possible but for 31 years?

Yep, entirely possible.

You can always run a test, turn everything else on at the wall and run something with a known fixed consumption for an hour (a 1kW fan heater should consume 1kWh for example, to see if it is reporting correctly. You could also turn everything off at see if anything shows as being used. 

You could also try @Gerry1 's meter sanity test.

Have you done the meter sanity test?  If it's not inside your flat but in a communal cupboard or meter room then what you think is your meter might in reality be supplying someone else's flat or even all the heating and lighting for the communal areas of the block.

Gain access to the meter, preferably after dark and as late as possible, turn absolutely everything on especially the immersion heater, washing machine, tumble dryer, oven etc.  Find the meter with the serial number shown on your bill and look at the red LED marked '1000 Imp/kWh' or similar.  It should be flashing like crazy.  Then unplug all sensitive electronic equipment and switch everything off at the consumer unit.  Go back to the meter, watch the red LED like a hawk for at least five minutes and make sure it never flashes once.  Rinse and repeat if in any doubt.

Finally, do a rough and ready accuracy test by plugging in just one item of known high usage, a full 3kW kettle is ideal provided that you're quick enough to complete the test before it boils.  Count the number of flashes per minute and calculate the power being drawn.  For example, if the LED is marked '1000 Imp/kWh' then you'd expect to see about 50 flashes per minute.

mccluggage

Thanks very much for the information, that's my Friday night entertainment sorted!

QrizB

Ignore me, I type too slowly!

Gerry1

Check that the register that increments during the day is not being billed at the night rate and vice versa.  Your old meter may have been billed with the registers transposed, so the bad news might be that you'll now paying the correct rates after years of underpayments.

Cardew

Assuming you have storage heating and an immersion heater, 438kWh for a whole month in January is very low.

What was the consumption for your peak rate for the corresponding periods?