Help please - OVO have taken over my SSE account

The_miser_2

My SSE has now been taken over by OVO or as they put it 'joined the OVO family' 

As a result there  3 things I am having issues with, if possible can anyone offer some input or possible solutions?

1. I have a quarterly account, I used to get a bill every 3 months and paid on receipt of the bill, I do not want a direct debit account and am willing to forgo the savings offered in opening one.

OVO are saying they are billing me monthly, I have asked that as I had a quarterly contract with SSE, and as they have taken it over can please honor it.

 In the interim, I have overpaid so I shall remain in credit during this dispute fearing that if I wait for 3 months they will consider that as being in debt and switch me to a prepayment meter ( I know that's illegal, but that's how smart meters are being misused and once done just how difficult is it to get back onto a normal tariff).

If I don't get satisfaction I will switch to another supplier which still offers quarterly billing.-- As Martins's switching service is currently shut does anyone know of a decent supplier who still bills quarterly?


2. Checking my online account with OVO I see that on Dec 12th, 2022 they have given me 2 usage figures; on the daily use bar graph it reads an eye-watering  89kWh (£31); on the daily breakdown, it reads 17kWh ( which is about right when compared to other days).

I called OVO and a chap told me it was a migration reading, I found this confusing so asked for a written explanation of the two separate figures, he put me on hold for 5 minutes then and cut me off.

 I called again, this time they put me through to customer care who asked me to send in screenshots of both sets of data (this is from their own website) so they can investigate and amend the bill. 

OVO took over the account on the 12th, I have my last SSE bill up to the 11th, the discrepancy is between the 'manual' reading SSE gave for the 11th  and the smart meter reading on the 13th, which does not actually tally with the usage measured for the 12th by the same smart meter.
 Has anyone else had this issue?

3. As a result of this and other smart meter errors over the past year ( estimated usage being recorded instead of real usage, unexplained spikes in recorded usage when no such have occurred). When complaining I am told I have to prove my usage is different from that recorded on the smart meter (how unless I have a separate monitoring device fitted into my supply line?).

 I have decided that having one installed was a mistake, it's definitely not working for me so I want it removed, has anyone had this done yet, particularly with OVO ? 

Astria

British gas still do 6 monthly billing as far as I'm aware, how long for I'm not sure though as most companies seem to be moving over to monthly billing as it's better for the consumer as it's easier to keep track of your usage.

You can have an additional meter installed to ensure the accuracy of the smart meter, but if it proves the smart meter is correct then you will be billed for this work.

ariarnia

hi miser. 

wow. a lot going on in this post so sorry if i can't help with everything. i'm sure some other people will also be along to help with anything i miss or get wrong  

you might not know but ovo actually took over sse about 3 years ago now. so they have been honouring the t&c of sse customers but now there migrating those customers over in batches so they can stop running 2 systems. i dont think the ovo system can support quarterly billing and there not going to pay to change that it when the reason there migrating people over is because running 2 systems is expensive. sorry about that. 

i know some other people with the same issue have moved to edf. but i also know they've had some problems with edf recently. could just be because everyones struggling a bit with customer service given the costs and more complaints but hopefully they'll see this thread and be able to tell you about there experience ( @pseudodox are you around?)

about your billing. if youve only just been switched over to the ovo side of things last month then i wouldn't worry to much about the weird billing on your first bill. they will probably have taken a reading to start the switch but it might not have gone through for a few days so theres a bit of double counting. we've had that happen when changing supplier before and by the next bill its normally sorted. the rates are all basically the same right now so what matters is if the closing reading on your sse final bill matches your opening reading on your ovo first bill (or if the customer service lady is going to reissue it then on that bill. 

about your smart meter. there's actually quite a lot you can do to check if your meter is faulty. @Gerry1 knows more than i do. but its things like turning off all your fuses for an hour and seeing if theres any flashing lights or increase on your meter. lots of things like that to let you work out exactly what the problem is. if you have some reason to think theres a problem then ovo can send someone to investigate and if a fault is found you can get a refund for the extra cost (if theres no fault you will have to pay for the testing which is why you need to check for yourself first). 

i know thats not everything but i hope that's been helpful. 

pochase

1. Ovo does not offer 3 monthly billing. As they don't have to do this, there is no chance that they will change it for you. Their reaction to other users who complained was that they should leave if they are not happy with it.

2. How big is there difference between the two readings. What is the reading on SSE and what for Ovo 3 2 days later.

3. Nobody will replace a smart meter with a dumb meter. 

Gerry1

Why do you want quarterly billing?

It just makes it harder to unravel any issues long after the event, and if you're using excessive amounts of energy (e.g. immersion heater accidentally left on)it's too late to take effective action so the financial damage will be greater.

MikeJXE

Good luck with OVO

I was moved from SSE to OVO in October and my DD went from £91 to £153 although I was in credit

They called me a new customer because they had no history of my usage so I had to start as an average user. 2800kWh electric and 24,000kWh gas despite SSE estimated 850kWh and 5600kWh respectively. Which was in fact over a 2 year period.

Emails, letters and phone calls got me nowhere 

Thank goodness I am moving property in March

Effician

I was moved from SSE to OvO last  March & had difficulties with them from day one, moved to another provider, problem solved.

Robin9

The_miser_2 said:

...., unexplained spikes in recorded usage when no such have occurred). 

Do these "spikes" coincide with the boiler doing it's short auto-starts ?

ev51

FWIW: I was transferred from SSE to OVO a year ago and had quarterly billing with SSE, this was OVO's response when I requested quarterly billing with them:

... unfortunately all customers who transferred from SSE to OVO will be going on to monthly bills. The main reason for this is due to OVO not supporting quarterly billing periods.

However, with your bills, even though you will receive them monthly, you will still be able to pay them quarterly.

So I still pay quarterly (every third bill) and no issues so far.

pseudodox

I see my name mentioned above.  I was likewise handed over from SSE to OVO.  I do not have smart meters & had always provided readings & got quarterly bills which I paid by DD for the whole bill.  Nice low gas bills in summer!  OVO wanted to put me on monthly Fixed DD amount, which would equate to double any kWh usage they could see from my 15 year history.  There was no negotiating with them (they would have been taking 29% of my only income, state pension) so I told them to take a hike & moved to EDF.  I am on monthly Whole Bill DD & all seems to be hunky dory to date.  In fact my first DD goes out tomorrow.  I monitor my usage carefully & when the bill appeared on my account I had over calculated on my spreadsheet by 2p.

I was going to apply for smart meters but there seem to be a lot of issues, although I am aware that it is only people with a problem who tend to post on forums.  So I will hang fire for now, but even when I do get new meters I will continue to check the readings regularly.  I am a control freak!  Which has never done me any harm.  I like having my money in my bank/savings & not in the pockets of OVO et al.  I am fully aware of the winter bills spike as we live in a country with generally cold winter's so paying those bills was never an issue to me.  But I think those who prefer to pay the same each month are as entitled to their choice as I am to mine.

pseudodox

BTW to move to EDF you do have to do it over the phone.  Double check they have your correct address when you give your postcode.  The agent I spoke to must have had fat fingers because they initially tried to move me at a different house as he mistyped the postcode.