Ovo Energy bill correct ? .

Fast_Muchly

Hi ,
        We are in a normal Semi detached with a slight extension. An old insulated loft building is 1962 built .We have a 10 year old condensing boiler which is Worc Bosch with a hot water storage tank this has 8 normal radiators attached to it and the thermostat is in the hallway usually at around 21 c but turned down to 19 c at the moment . We dont have the heating on all day as ive looked this up and its an old wifes tale that this actually saves money . So its one from around 6am to 9am  and the comes back on at around 4pm and goes off at 10pm . We have an electric over but gas hob . The storage tank is kept hot by gas and has a insulated cover but can be heated by electric dont know if this would be cheaper . 

We seem to be using an extreme amount more gas than our neighbours and i cant seem to work out how their conversion factor is getting to the amount of KWH they say we have used the gas meter is cubic feet ( their is a big red zero ABOVE WHERE IT SAYS CUBIC FEET not sure if that has any significance its the same meter since house was built in 1962 ) . 

Our last bill just for gas was around £250 having used around 41 units .

This month with the cold its gone up to at the moment with 2 days to go before reading time at 74 units used .This is going to be a WHOPPING £450 just for gas and its going up in Jan pmsl . 

Ive just been sent and i kid you not an ovo email that says from jan 1st our annual estimated cost is 19000k , YES YOU READ THAT right 19k . 

We cant afford to pay the stupid direct debits they wanted so even though its slighlty more expensive we have gone to pay as you go to gain more control over what we are using . They were wanting over a £1000 a month this is getting ridiculous its a normal semi detached NG19 9DF is our area . 

Im enclosing a last months bill so people can have a look and see if you can work out the conversion factor to the the KWH used and its its correct please , also will show a few other things . 

molerat

The glaring error I can see is they are almost doubling your billed kWh use.  41 imperial units is around 1312 kWh - around 32 kWh per 100 cu ft which is 1 imperial unit. The calculation formula to get kWh is units x 2.83 x 1.02264 x calorific value / 3.6.  An estimated annual use of 178044 kWh is just ridiculous.  Formal complaint is due. 

edit. It looks like that 29th Oct estimated read has thrown a spanner in the works.

Alnat1

Hot water tank - is the cover a "jacket" or is the tank itself insulated and feels only slightly warm to the touch? How long are you heating hot water for each day and to what temperature? Do you have TRVs on all your radiators so you can keep less used rooms cooler than the living room? How much insulation in the loft? Does your house have cavity walls and have the cavities been insulated? Do you have modern double glazing and doors? Does your house have a chimney and if yes and it's not being used, have you installed a chimney sheep or similar?

Answers to the above might give some indication why your house is using a lot of gas.

[Deleted User]

molerat said:

The glaring error I can see is they are almost doubling your billed kWh use.  41 imperial units is around 1312 kWh - around 32 kWh per 100 cu ft which is 1 imperial unit. The calculation formula to get kWh is units x 2.83 x 1.02264 x calorific value / 3.6.  An estimated annual use of 178044 kWh is just ridiculous.  Formal complaint is due. 

edit. It looks like that 29th Oct estimated read has thrown a spanner in the works.

I agree. They've used the right equation and got the right input number, but doing it in two halves seems to have messed everything up.

Fast_Muchly

molerat said:

The glaring error I can see is they are almost doubling your billed kWh use.  41 imperial units is around 1312 kWh - around 32 kWh per 100 cu ft which is 1 imperial unit. The calculation formula to get kWh is units x 2.83 x 1.02264 x calorific value / 3.6.  An estimated annual use of 178044 kWh is just ridiculous.  Formal complaint is due. 

edit. It looks like that 29th Oct estimated read has thrown a spanner in the works.

So are you saying from last months bill that it just doesnt add up .Take out of the equation what they say we are going to use this month .

What i want to know is their working out correct does 41 units equate to that amount of Kwh actually on the bill remebering we are cubic feet . 

Thankyou .

What is an average calorific value i know it changesslighty but what is roughly the figure so i can argue over the phone plz . 

[Deleted User]

No, as molerat directly said, 41 units is 1300 kWh (ish).

It's nothing to do with the cubic feet conversion though.

molerat

Fast_Muchly said:

molerat said:

The glaring error I can see is they are almost doubling your billed kWh use.  41 imperial units is around 1312 kWh - around 32 kWh per 100 cu ft which is 1 imperial unit. The calculation formula to get kWh is units x 2.83 x 1.02264 x calorific value / 3.6.  An estimated annual use of 178044 kWh is just ridiculous.  Formal complaint is due. 

edit. It looks like that 29th Oct estimated read has thrown a spanner in the works.

So are you saying from last months bill that it just doesnt add up .Take out of the equation what they say we are going to use this month .

What i want to know is their working out correct does 41 units equate to that amount of Kwh actually on the bill remebering we are cubic feet . 

Thankyou .

That bill does not add up.  2377 kWh is around 74 imperial units.  The formula they are using is correct but they have somehow managed to mess up the number of units you have used likely due to that 29th Oct estimate being lower than your 15th Nov actual read.  It will need someone from CS to go in and manually sort it out.

Your 74 units use is around 2370 kWh and should cost around £280 including standing charge for a month.

Fast_Muchly

Hi 
         To confirm just rang Ovo and they have admitted our readings are totally out of sync with what they have and its been flagged up they are going to have someone look into it and get back to me in next few days . 

I have said im not paying the bill till it is .

This is the whole reason we have come of direct debit and i feel we want some compensation as looking at it we are prob due back between £200 to £300 as its happened on a previous bill as well . 

[Deleted User]

If you end up having paid the correct amount for your usage, what is there to get compensation for?

Fast_Muchly

Deleted_User said:

If you end up having paid the correct amount for your usage, what is there to get compensation for?

To be quite honest freezing my T**s off more than i should be and the worry of coping with payments of what they were asking plus paying for gas due to them asking for to much on a monthly basis due to their workings out being wrong and us coming off direct debit thus paying more for pay as you go rate . 

[Deleted User]

If they had taken you off DD, you might have a point.

You chose to do that though, and you don't get compo for throwing your toys out of the pram.