My energy company (SSE) has been taken over by Ovo and they assured me in many emails it would be a seamless handover. Yeah, right!! Normally I pay my energy bills quarterly after I've used the energy. I would get a bill, submit my meter readings and the bill would automatically adjust to reflect the energy actually used. Then I paid it. Apparently Ovo can't do this 🙄 So they sent me an estimated bill of £718.54 for 2 months of energy use!! And it doesn't say how much of it is gas or electricity.
Actual gas meter reading above is correct. Estimated reading was 57638. A bit of a difference!!! My gas heating has been switched off for most of the last 2 months!
Electricity meter reading above is correct. Their estimate was 40854. Again a huge difference!! But I was happy to accept that it was just initial handing over issues so I phoned them to sort it out.
My heart sunk when the call was answered by someone in an overseas call centre. They always have trouble with my Scottish accent. But we ploughed on and came to an agreement that I didn't have to pay the bill right now and to give another meter reading in 2 weeks time. Their calls are recorded so if I get hassled over non payment of this bill I can get them to listen back.
I think it's time to get a Smart meter fitted. I did arrange for one 2 or 3 years ago but they cancelled a week before saying demand was too high and they didn't have any contractors to do the work. Everyone I know who has one says it does help to see how much energy you're using at any time so I guess it saves you money. I'm willing to see if that's true.
I inherited Scottish Power with the bungalow and have trouble sometimes under standing the Scottish accents! (just joking, actually they've been OK and all in the UK too)
ReplyDeleteThe SSE call centre was in Perth, just a few miles up the road from me so I never had any issues understanding them! LOL!!
DeleteThat is confusing. I guess it would even out eventually but no one likes to pay more than they have to. I never think to check the meter, just rely on it being accurate. Maybe time to check it out!
ReplyDeleteIt's more a case I would to know how much I'm spending on energy so I can budget for it. £700+ is an awful lot of money for 2 months of energy even with the price increases!! And I'd rather it was in my own pocket instead of theirs!!!
DeleteOuch, I have slightly the same problem here with electric. They read the gas meter every month (kind of a smart meter) but we are lucky if we get the electric read once every 6 months which is always a bummer.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I think my gas one gets read once a year (it's outdoors so I don't need to be at home) but def not had the electric one read for a couple of years as it's an inside one
DeleteI know direct debit would make my life easier but I really don't trust the whole estimating bills nonsense. I'd rather use it then pay for it. Unfortunately demand for smart meters is so high I can't get an appt to get one fitted!
ReplyDeleteThe reason why I don't do direct debit, where they seem to take out what they like, then you have to fight to get an overpayment back. BG email me with a request to send in readings. Then they post a bill out to me. I know I probably pay a bit more, but it suits me better. Now they are offering a fixed deal. Martin Lewis says it is difficult to work out if the fixes are going to be better because the price is going to hike again in October. I am waiting to see what happens.
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