Tweet
I buy my gas from OVO Energy. I joined them just over a year ago on a fixed rate deal and at the time provided initial meter readings. I've just renewed my fixed rate, but when I read the meter again, while the Electricity reading was very close to the estimated reading on my last bill, the gas one was vastly different. OVO allow you to get an estimated bill as soon as you have entered the reading. This came up as £1300 for the last month, giving me an annual consumption three times my usual usage - clearly incorrect. I talked to OVO telling them something was wrong and all they could suggest was to have the meter checked at the cost of £100+ which I would get refunded if the meter was faulty.
I thought I should check readings daily for a few days before initiating this and the readings came out at about the rate you would expect for my normal annual consumption (about 20,000 Kwh as opposed to 60,000 on the new bill). I then sorted through my records for the meter reading that I had provided a year ago and discovered the issue. My gas meter has 8 digits - the reading was 0388.1.120. I tried entering this a year ago and OVO's site rejected it, so I assumed the digits to the left of the decimal point were the significant ones, so entered 0388. In fact I should have entered 03881. Changing the initial reading, my consumption now comes up as just over 20,000 Kwh.
I rang OVO confident that they would correct an obvious honest mistake and they told me that as I had reported this 3 days over a year from the first reading then they couldn't do anything - this isn't quite correct - I called them to report the issue just within the year, but they didn't suggest I check my initial reading then, or say anything about the year rule. They are resistant to changing anything, despite me pointing out that the new reading conforms with the estimated annual reading (which is I assume based on usage supplied by previous suppliers) and that they provide no guidance for meter reading on their website.
They are now checking with my previous supplier, but given they never read my gas meter and only ever supplied estimated bills, I don't think that is going to help.
Can anyone tell me:
- Is their 1 year rule legally valid?
- Are they likely to be able to make me pay for gas that I clearly haven't used?
thanks
I thought I should check readings daily for a few days before initiating this and the readings came out at about the rate you would expect for my normal annual consumption (about 20,000 Kwh as opposed to 60,000 on the new bill). I then sorted through my records for the meter reading that I had provided a year ago and discovered the issue. My gas meter has 8 digits - the reading was 0388.1.120. I tried entering this a year ago and OVO's site rejected it, so I assumed the digits to the left of the decimal point were the significant ones, so entered 0388. In fact I should have entered 03881. Changing the initial reading, my consumption now comes up as just over 20,000 Kwh.
I rang OVO confident that they would correct an obvious honest mistake and they told me that as I had reported this 3 days over a year from the first reading then they couldn't do anything - this isn't quite correct - I called them to report the issue just within the year, but they didn't suggest I check my initial reading then, or say anything about the year rule. They are resistant to changing anything, despite me pointing out that the new reading conforms with the estimated annual reading (which is I assume based on usage supplied by previous suppliers) and that they provide no guidance for meter reading on their website.
They are now checking with my previous supplier, but given they never read my gas meter and only ever supplied estimated bills, I don't think that is going to help.
Can anyone tell me:
- Is their 1 year rule legally valid?
- Are they likely to be able to make me pay for gas that I clearly haven't used?
thanks
Comment