diff --git a/app/celery/tasks.py b/app/celery/tasks.py
index c9e0227f5..fe220d9f5 100644
--- a/app/celery/tasks.py
+++ b/app/celery/tasks.py
@@ -470,7 +470,6 @@ def update_letter_notification(filename, temporary_failures, update):
     updated_count, _ = dao_update_notifications_by_reference(
         references=[update.reference],
         update_dict={"status": status,
-                     "billable_units": update.page_count,
                      "updated_at": datetime.utcnow()
                      }
     )
@@ -491,7 +490,7 @@ def check_billable_units(notification_update):
         notification = dao_get_notification_history_by_reference(notification_update.reference)
 
     if int(notification_update.page_count) != notification.billable_units:
-        msg = 'Notification with id {} had {} billable_units but a page count of {}'.format(
+        msg = 'Notification with id {} has {} billable_units but DVLA says page count is {}'.format(
             notification.id, notification.billable_units, notification_update.page_count)
         try:
             raise DVLAException(msg)
diff --git a/tests/app/celery/test_ftp_update_tasks.py b/tests/app/celery/test_ftp_update_tasks.py
index 0da3eb541..f8ce4bad0 100644
--- a/tests/app/celery/test_ftp_update_tasks.py
+++ b/tests/app/celery/test_ftp_update_tasks.py
@@ -172,9 +172,9 @@ def test_update_letter_notifications_statuses_builds_updates_list(notify_api, mo
 
 def test_update_letter_notifications_statuses_persisted(notify_api, mocker, sample_letter_template):
     sent_letter = create_notification(sample_letter_template, reference='ref-foo', status=NOTIFICATION_SENDING,
-                                      billable_units=0)
+                                      billable_units=1)
     failed_letter = create_notification(sample_letter_template, reference='ref-bar', status=NOTIFICATION_SENDING,
-                                        billable_units=0)
+                                        billable_units=2)
     create_service_callback_api(service=sample_letter_template.service, url="https://original_url.com")
     valid_file = '{}|Sent|1|Unsorted\n{}|Failed|2|Sorted'.format(
         sent_letter.reference, failed_letter.reference)
@@ -315,7 +315,7 @@ def test_check_billable_units_when_billable_units_does_not_match_page_count(
     check_billable_units(notification_update)
 
     mock_logger.assert_called_once_with(
-        'Notification with id {} had 3 billable_units but a page count of 1'.format(notification.id)
+        'Notification with id {} has 3 billable_units but DVLA says page count is 1'.format(notification.id)
     )