So Energy : Added ‘Industry Data’ usage to my bill

martin_ll67

So Energy has on the 15th August added some 3365kwh on top of my normal metered usage ! Changing my meter reading overnight from 8900 to 12,265!

I called them and the came back after 10 minutes on hold to say that it’s Industry data added on as well as your meter readings. I asked them what that was as I should only be billed what I use!, and they simply said they’d go away and see if the bill needs recalculating and would come back in 4-6 weeks !
Interestingly they billed me in this period for about 1150kwh not the 3365 they added. So their system appears to be doing random things.

Anyone else getting these anomalies, as they wouldn’t confirm or deny if anybody else had the same problem. Does anyone on this forum have this issue with so energy ?

Thanks

Martin

QrizB

Welcome to the forum!

So Energy has on the 15th August added some 3365kwh on top of my normal metered usage ! Changing my meter reading overnight from 8900 to 12,265!

What does your meter actually read today? And what did it read when you last read it?

WiserMiser

More info needed, please.

• Are we talking about, gas, electricity, or both?
• Are the meter readings, Smart, Meter reader, Actual, Customer, or Estimated?
• If Customer or Estimated, do the meters have rotary hands, mechanical digits, electronic screens or are they smart? Some meters can be very hard to read and it's all to easy to make a mistake.

Weirdly, meter readings can also be tweaked by The Mysterious Third Party, even if they're smart. This usually happens when switching suppliers, but perhaps that's a (slightly confused?) reference to the 'Industry Data'.

MWT

This could also be a 2-register reading problem where a legacy reading from a second register used in the past has been added to total…

It would be interesting to see the total import reading on the meter compared to the total reading on the bill…

Ildhund

In a different forum, I read about a customer who had noticed a 'rogue' meter reading on his online account. It was labelled 'Network actual', but it didn't fit into the sequence of readings before and after. It came to light that this was an administrative move which wouldn't affect billing. The reason? This account was being migrated on to MHHS, and the process requires a meter reading taken on migration day. It appears that the operative handling the migration enters a number in the right ball-park to enable the migration to take place. Of course, there isn't a pre-defined label for this sort of artefact, so the billing department picked a likely one.

I wonder whether something of the sort is happening with other suppliers; we've already heard about Change of Supplier processes being interrupted by odd MHHS requirements, and I expect we'll hear of more oddities as the migration picks up speed. It's due to be complete by May 2027, but I won't be holding my breath when we get there.

Some possibly helpful background:

What is the Market-wide Half-Hourly Settlement (MHHS) Programme?   The MHHS Programme is a major initiative in the UK electricity market to move all electricity meters to a half-hourly settlement basis. This means that instead of relying on estimated consumption or annual readings, energy consumption data will be recorded and used for settlement every 30 minutes.  What is the primary objective of MHHS?   The primary objective is to improve the accuracy of settlement - the process of reconciling the electricity generated with the electricity consumed. Currently, Smart electricity data for settlement is based only on monthly readings. This allows suppliers to see how much energy has been used but not when used.    Moving towards half-hourly settlement will help suppliers forecast the energy customers need more accurately, and buy electricity to meet that need in advance. As a result, they’ll only buy the necessary amount of electricity for their customers, and encourage customers to shift usage to cheaper times of the day.   This will help stabilise the grid, reduce carbon impact, and ultimately lower the cost of energy for UK consumers. Better forecasting will allow purchases from renewable sources rather than expensive, carbon-heavy generators.  If you have traditional non-smart meters   If you don’t have smart meters you’ll still be changed to MHHS. You won’t notice any change but, if you do ever have smart meters fitted, then the smart meters will provide the half-hourly settlement data.

martin_ll67

This is for Electricity only.
The meter readings before were smart aleays readings (ive been with them over a year so not any transitioning issues.).
It was suddenly in 11th August that they started to show a Manual reading showing nearly 4000 more units used.
The bill however showed and charged for about 800kwh of usage when it should be about 180kwh.
11Aug - Smart - 8586 10.5 dayuse

11Aug - Manual - 12,538.918 0

They now repeat this in the portal showing the daily use mimicked above the real smart readings.

They’ve not responded since my first complaint and it’s been 7.5 weeks.

I guess another call to them and consider ombudsman ?

martin

Swipe

I feel your pain as my national database estimates are 3 times higher than my usage due to a mess up by E.On Next that was never rectified even though I was assured it was. I'm still affected by this at my new supplier but paying via variable direct debit negates this. If you raised your concern earlier as an official complaint with So Energy, I'd definitely take it to the Ombudsman as they should only be using industry data to generate estimated usage and not for billing if they have the actual smart meter readings.

baldilocks10

I had a fight with Eon Next over 'industry data'
They told me just after the cancellation period after switching that me payments need to change (in the up direction)
The email was worded in a demanding way. I refused and manually reduced my DD amount on their website. When I complained they said that they go by this industry data. I asked them maybe a dozen times to provide this data and they said they couldn't.
I know my usage inside and out. This would have meant an increase of around 20%.
MY complaint was about this and the sneaky way they tried to apply this in their email and its wording.
My complaint went to the ombudsman (funded by energy suppliers) who supported Eon Next in his finding. He didn't answer my query as to why Ofgem specify that all suppliers must provide evidence that backs up increase. Surprise surprise.
My usage since has been exactly as was inputted at time of switch and I've heard nothing from them or their sneaky emails since thankfully.