I would just like to say

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Stanleysteamer said:
Altho all French users of electric have two rates each day, do you know if having a white meter in the UK is worth it? We've never had one and thort you could only get it if you had night store heaters or summat. Our house came with the immersion heater connected in such a way that you had to make a real effort to get it to NOT work only at night during the low cost rate time.
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Eye has been finking about this for a while. Eye has an economy 7 meter. Int uk there is also an economy 10. The number is the amount of hours yer get cheaper lectric at oft peak hours. The hours vary slightly but it's somefink like 11pm or 1am, onwards for e7. E10 has 7 hours at night and 3 in the day. Typically in the afternoon.

If yer gorra economy 7 or 10 meter then yer dun't have to use it like that. Yer can chose not to have an economy package which is somefink I'm finking of at the moment. Yer pay a bit more for lectric in the non economy hours, and pay less in the economy hours. If you have no economy option then yer pay a flat rate somewhere between the 2 all the time.

E7 or e10 meters are great if yer use enuff leccy during economy hours to benefit. It's great if yer gottid storage heaters or a lectric car to charge. Eye choose not to do washing over nite assit's a fire risk. Me washer is quiet so eye could gerrup at 6am to put it on. Eye have a mechanical variable timer which can go up to 2 hours so eye can leave fings on to charge at nite. Fings like the microwave are switched oft. Only me alarm, fire alarms, oot side light pir sensors and heating controller run at nite. Bin switching fings oft fer years.

Ovo quoted me the price difference of 1 sov per month saving by dropping the economy option. My heating and hot water is gas. Everyfink else is leccy. So eye fink eye will make the move. Not worf it for me at the moment but eye would like the option to go back one day.
 
Stanleysteamer said:
If they get really heavy DO contact the Ombudsman, they can't break into your house without a policeman present and some sort of warrant. And the judge would have to be convinced they'd good reason for that, I'd have thought.
Fully understand your anger, I'd be incandescent and not polite either. In fact I'd refuse to talk to them at all.:(:(:(
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If yer refuse to talk to them then yer on a slippery slope to enforcement. Yer handing them no other option by doing that.

Talk to them on the fone or write by email. They reply to emails after a few days.
 
marjon said:
I did think that, but thought that’s too low.

Not sure how you can get it that low, without using candles;):).

last year we used over 4k kWh:(
But only paid for 400 and…..no standing charge:D:D.

J
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Most cooking is with a microwave. The oven takes time to heat up and more time to cook. So it's quicker and cheaper. Gas usage is low anorl. Especially after fitting a clever heating controller that allows me to pick which rooms get heat and when and what temp they're set to. Ealier eye added more time periods to each room so the heating dun't come on when it's cool int morning int summer, so we don't heat up me cassul before the sun comes oot and heats it for free.
 
Hippo said:
How low is low? We only use about 60 lectric units a month.
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OVO have only taken over a month ago and they have put my use up as 58 units for that time. Until the death of my husband it was higher as he used to put all lights on 'just in case he needed them' - but that changed 20 months ago when it was SSE providing it.
 
Hippo said:
They all listen. Sometimes peeps fall out with their suppliers. I was questioned as to why my meter readings were low when me castle was unoccupied. The first fing they fink of is the meter is faulty. Hence gerrin a replacement fitted. But if yer tell them yer dun't use much leccy and why, they will understand. Eye assume they put a tick on yer account to keep a record yer a low user and the reason why. Gerrin a smart meter fitted int a problem. There's lots of spoof theories on the web that it is. Ovo will accept pic readings via their fone app of you can email them.

Direct debits are negotiable, but all suppliers have been told by Oftgen to monitor accounts to reduce the risk of potential bad debt. Ovo have no choice in this. Same for others. A recent discussion wiv my supplier ovo advised they have had to put in new policies to monitor accounts differently to before. The sweep of direct debit increases across the UK is partly down to this as well as the generation costs going up. Them's who picked a lucky time to go into a fixed price deal are lucky. Mine ended several months ago.
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I admire your support for OVO. They have only just taken over from our previous SSE provider and so far have been very heavy-handed in their approach to dealing with the customer. They have all the records of each customer's accounts so should be able to work out the good payers from the bad ones. I find it unacceptable to be under suspicion of 'cheating' just because my usage is low and to be 'threatened' with an engineer's visit to install a smart meter with absolutely no choice in the matter and further to this to demand I send in another meter reading less than a week after I had sent the previous one in. I find this method of doing business unacceptable .
 
derwendolly said:
I admire your support for OVO. They have only just taken over from our previous SSE provider and so far have been very heavy-handed in their approach to dealing with the customer. They have all the records of each customer's accounts so should be able to work out the good payers from the bad ones. I find it unacceptable to be under suspicion of 'cheating' just because my usage is low and to be 'threatened' with an engineer's visit to install a smart meter with absolutely no choice in the matter and further to this to demand I send in another meter reading less than a week after I had sent the previous one in. I find this method of doing business unacceptable .
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I'm not a fan of ovo. I had to pick another supplier when moving away from british gas. Ovo were not the cheapest but many of the smaller companies were offering silly deals that were too cheap. It's no wonder so many went bust. To be fare to ovo their web site is easy to use and they always reply to emails. They have a call centre to talk too anorl.

Reading though this it looks like they took over. On said date they were told what the last reading was on the date of transfer. They won't know the previous reading history with SSE. A month later they ask for a meter reading and it's low. They ask for monthly readings in order to keep your account billing accurate. If not they estimate the reading for you but need a reading at least every 3 months eye fink. Their policy is to push for a smart meter but they don't enforce the need to change like some suppliers do. If ever yer meter is broke'd then a smart meter will be fitted as they don't use the old type anymore. There's nowt to worry about - anuvva topic.

Eye can appreciate yer upset but yer can't fight them. There's a contract to supply and certain fings they have to check. Talk of restricting access etc... it has to go a long way for them to take that sort of action. If yer dun't talk with them about the situation then it will get handed over to the 'problem fixing' department or wot ever they is called. It's a last resort to apply for access to a meter they own to view it or work on it. The eggsamples on youtube of doors knocked down etc are eggstream cases. There's a lot of duff advice on youtube about how to block them. All very silly.

The best way forward on this is to confirm to them yer a low user by email or fone. Show them a pic of the meter. Make sure the reading is clear. Email that to them. Do the same a week or 2 later. On each occasion tell them the date of the reading. Same again 1 or 2 weeks later if yer feel the need. They will see the meter reading clocking up and therefore understand the meter ain't broke'd. That will assure them yer ain't gorra broke'd meter and yer ain't bypassed it. Naturally yer should remove said bypass cable when taking the pic. Put it back later but allow said meter to clock up the reading a bit first. Eye got fed up of the bypass cable so eye has wired me upstairs sockets direct to the supply instead. So we use some power and get some free. ;)
 
Hippo said:
I'm not a fan of ovo. I had to pick another supplier when moving away from british gas. Ovo were not the cheapest but many of the smaller companies were offering silly deals that were too cheap. It's no wonder so many went bust. To be fare to ovo their web site is easy to use and they always reply to emails. They have a call centre to talk too anorl.

Reading though this it looks like they took over. On said date they were told what the last reading was on the date of transfer. They won't know the previous reading history with SSE. A month later they ask for a meter reading and it's low. They ask for monthly readings in order to keep your account billing accurate. If not they estimate the reading for you but need a reading at least every 3 months eye fink. Their policy is to push for a smart meter but they don't enforce the need to change like some suppliers do. If ever yer meter is broke'd then a smart meter will be fitted as they don't use the old type anymore. There's nowt to worry about - anuvva topic.

Eye can appreciate yer upset but yer can't fight them. There's a contract to supply and certain fings they have to check. Talk of restricting access etc... it has to go a long way for them to take that sort of action. If yer dun't talk with them about the situation then it will get handed over to the 'problem fixing' department or wot ever they is called. It's a last resort to apply for access to a meter they own to view it or work on it. The eggsamples on youtube of doors knocked down etc are eggstream cases. There's a lot of duff advice on youtube about how to block them. All very silly.

The best way forward on this is to confirm to them yer a low user by email or fone. Show them a pic of the meter. Make sure the reading is clear. Email that to them. Do the same a week or 2 later. On each occasion tell them the date of the reading. Same again 1 or 2 weeks later if yer feel the need. They will see the meter reading clocking up and therefore understand the meter ain't broke'd. That will assure them yer ain't gorra broke'd meter and yer ain't bypassed it. Naturally yer should remove said bypass cable when taking the pic. Put it back later but allow said meter to clock up the reading a bit first. Eye got fed up of the bypass cable so eye has wired me upstairs sockets direct to the supply instead. So we use some power and get some free. ;)
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My meter is only a few years old as SSE replaced it. I never touch the meter or even open the cupboard unless they ask for a reading. I always keep my account in credit, even to the point of making an additional payment if I know I have used more eg. at Christmas I let the local villagers use my electricity supply to illuminate their seasonal display 'cos I am the only person who can get electricity to it.

I fully appreciate the need for OVO to get to know their customers but there are ways and ways of doing this and sending letters accusing them as someone ''liable to get into debt'' and threatening to send in an engineer with a Smart meter, NOT the best way of going about it. How they come to their decision about who is a good and who is a bad risk I have no idea but they are certainly not going about it the right way by sending letters of this type to customers. I note that I have not been reminded of the generous amount of my cash they are holding in credit.

I have now decided to send in a meter reading EVERY DAY until they get fed up of receiving them and make a polite request for me to stop.
 
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