Smart meter issues?

sgoaty

sgoaty

sgoaty

Soldato
Joined
30 Jan 2005
Posts
3,092
Location
Inverness
I'm with OVO energy and just had a notification they're changing my direct debit to £615 a month.
My electricity usually over the past few weeks has spiked to between 500-600kwh a day.

I have gas heating so it's not from radiators.

I'm not sure how this can be possible. As that's like using a tumble dryer for 160-200 hrs a day.

Anyone else had issues like this?
Just wondering if my smart meter has developed a fault or something it's a bit of a worry.
 
so your using 25KW an hour and they don't suspect something is wrong and contact you first?

Surely even for a grow that would be a lot of lights
 
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If this isn't a red flag for them to give you a call anyway give them one to find out what the hell is going on, I still take meter readings at 00:00 and 12:00 every day, the very second I see something off ill be on the phone.
 
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As you have a smart meter you should be able to see either on the IHD or on your account when the high usage started and when it's occurring during the day e.g. constant or at specific times.
 
I also thought something similar when hearing about people being charged thousands because of estimated bills simply because their smart meters were not working and I just sit in disbelief thinking these companies must sit there and just go "oh 6 months with no meter readings from this account, hey ho". Where is the proactiveness? They wait for upset and worried customers to notice and initiate first contact. Surely it should be the energy companies reaching out, saying "Hey, we noticed this doesn't look right on your account, or your bills are all estimated, can we help?". Makes you sick.
 
Firegod said:
g "Hey, we noticed this doesn't look right on your account, or your bills are all estimated, can we help?". Makes you sick.
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I knew a guy who worked for one of the big banks and mis sold PPI knowingly because everyone one was doing it and he would have lost his job if he wasn't.
 
Have you had any new neighbours move in next door to you recently? I have heard of drug dealers tapping into next door's meter and they didn't have a clue until their latest bill landed.

As above, get your IHD and turn off all your electric at the breaker. Some IHDs will also let you view the current meter reading, so compare this with the one shown on the meter.
 
Definitely sounds like somethings wrong, either with the meter or your electrics.

Are you in a flat or a house?

Alternatively something like the meter's connection dropped for ages but has now come back up and they're fudging the numbers?
Make sure the meter number matches between previous bills, details on the website, and the physical meter on the wall.

Definitely have a look to see when it started, and follow up with Ovo.
 
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I did contact OVO but the account is in my wife's name despite me setting it up (with my email and my bank account) up so they wouldn't talk to me she phoned them to get me added to the account but they can't do that without talking to me apparently. I'm away with work so it's not possible to be in the same place as my wife for the moment.

I'm in a detached house.

The increased demand started 3 weeks ago usage went from 30-35kw up to 250 then has climbed to over 500 for the last 2 weeks.

I'll have to talk my wife through it and get her to speak to OVO again :(
 
sgoaty said:
I did contact OVO but the account is in my wife's name despite me setting it up (with my email and my bank account) up so they wouldn't talk to me she phoned them to get me added to the account but they can't do that without talking to me apparently. I'm away with work so it's not possible to be in the same place as my wife for the moment.

I'm in a detached house.

The increased demand started 3 weeks ago usage went from 30-35kw up to 250 then has climbed to over 500 for the last 2 weeks.

I'll have to talk my wife through it and get her to speak to OVO again :(
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Get your wife to email OVO and ask them to add you to the account.
 
Utility companies can be a nightmare to deal with. We had a meter changed on a property, probably 25 years ago. The guy swapped it out and signed a scrap of paper with the final reading from the old meter. Months later we got a bill for thousands for a 3 month period. We disputed it for over a year. This was a property that we rented out, mid terrace with he billing period through the summer. It was impossible to use that much electric but they insisted it was owed. We were luck that we still had the signed meter reading filed. We now tell people they have to sign off on everything they have done in our properties.
 
sgoaty said:
I did contact OVO but the account is in my wife's name despite me setting it up (with my email and my bank account) up so they wouldn't talk to me she phoned them to get me added to the account but they can't do that without talking to me apparently. I'm away with work so it's not possible to be in the same place as my wife for the moment.

I'm in a detached house.

The increased demand started 3 weeks ago usage went from 30-35kw up to 250 then has climbed to over 500 for the last 2 weeks.

I'll have to talk my wife through it and get her to speak to OVO again :(
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Please don't say you knew about this 2-3 weeks ago and have only just taken action?
 
For reference 500kWh/day is like 24/7 charging an electric car on a 7kW charger, powering 3 normal households, heating the house on electric, and constantly boiling 4 kettles, all at the same time.

It's like a continuous 90A load, which is actually more than the supply to older houses is normally rated at.

It seems odd that the anomalous usage increased over time.

I would get your wife to do as Hawk Tuah suggests tonight if possible, you need to know what's going on and get some evidence.
Hawk Tuah said:
Switch everything off at the main fuse, then see if your meter is still registering demand, then film it. Send them the clip.
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sgoaty said:
I did contact OVO but the account is in my wife's name despite me setting it up (with my email and my bank account) up so they wouldn't talk to me she phoned them to get me added to the account but they can't do that without talking to me apparently. I'm away with work so it's not possible to be in the same place as my wife for the moment.

I'm in a detached house.

The increased demand started 3 weeks ago usage went from 30-35kw up to 250 then has climbed to over 500 for the last 2 weeks.

I'll have to talk my wife through it and get her to speak to OVO again :(
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You think thats annoying my octopus account that is in my name for an owned home with my name on it and the person who got my email refused to help me without me providing a tenants agreement, ended up calling them up to find out wtf was going on lol.

Wonder if someone has managed to start nicking your leccie.
 
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I'm away from home with work. The email came as I was travelling so no manual readings. My wife has managed to get some sense from OVO and apparently it's been an error with our account and the readings have now dropped to more normal levels.

Lost all faith in the smart meter system tbh
 
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