OVO Smart Meter, still waiting....

trundlecat

Hi All,

Has anyone who's switched to Ovo had a smart meter fitted? If so, how long did you wait from switch over to fitting?

I switched to them from British Gas 2 weeks ago & there's still no sign of being able to make an appointment (no teams in my area for the foreseeable future), never mind actually getting one fitted. It's really starting to miff me now. I could top-up at home with British Gas but now I'm back to dashing out to shops again which I utterly hate.

Thanks,
TC

c_dervish

Hi,

Hopefully you have your meter fitted by now, but I switched over in May too and, following endless phone calls on my part and promises of being called back which resulted in nothing, FINALLY i'm due to be getting my meter fitted today (01/10/15).

So fingers crossed the engineer will turn up today!

JJ_Egan

Offered me one months ago and have refused until such time as they are smart and transferable .

[Deleted User]

The question also should be " anyone got an Ovo smart meter and want to switch supplier...how much do they charge to get rid of their meter "

System

sacsquacco wrote: »

The question also should be " anyone got an Ovo smart meter and want to switch supplier...how much do they charge to get rid of their meter "

I am not sure that I understand your point. As I understand it, there is no bar to switching with any supplier's smart meter: if the new supplier can't access smart meter data,the meter just reverts to dumb status. If the new supplier wants its customers to have its smart meter, then surely it will offer to change the meter at no cost to the customer. I do not see why the old supplier would want to be involved in this process. That said, I accept that this is probably not a very efficient way of doing things. We could end up with a mountain of removed - but serviceable - smart meters.

[Deleted User]

Hengus wrote: »

I am not sure that I understand your point. As I understand it, there is no bar to switching with any supplier's smart meter: if the new supplier can't access smart meter data,the meter just reverts to dumb status. If the new supplier wants its customers to have its smart meter, then surely it will offer to change the meter at no cost to the customer. I do not see why the old supplier would want to be involved in this process. That said, I accept that this is probably not a very efficient way of doing things. We could end up with a mountain of removed - but serviceable - smart meters.

Ovo use the Secure Liberty smart meter.Only Ovo and Utilita are using this meter.It has its problems in prepay mode.Anyone switching will need a meter exchange and I have read on another forum that there is a hefty price to pay.I d like confirmation of what this price is.I dont think Ovo mention this in their T/C s.

System

sacsquacco wrote: »

Ovo use the Secure Liberty smart meter.Only Ovo and Utilita are using this meter.It has its problems in prepay mode.Anyone switching will need a meter exchange and I have read on another forum that there is a hefty price to pay.I d like confirmation of what this price is.I dont think Ovo mention this in their T/C s.

OK - but I am still not sure that I understand your point. Ovo is offering free smart meter installs. If I switch suppliers, then why would Ovo be interested? I accept that by switching, I might be giving myself some grief.

[Deleted User]

Hengus wrote: »

OK - but I am still not sure that I understand your point. Ovo is offering free smart meter installs. If I switch suppliers, then why would Ovo be interested? I accept that by switching, I might be giving myself some grief.

From what I read they charge you over a £100 if , say , you want to go to British Gas or any of the others who don`t support the Secure Liberty meters. I m mainly interested in the meters used in prepay mode.I read a few meters now and again for Ovo and one woman I met was fuming about Ovo and wanted rid of them and their horrible meter .British Gas don`t want the meter and can t support it so Ovo have to send an engineer out.Its free to install them, Ovo and Utilita make a big thing about this, my question is simple , How much to rip it out again ? If I recall it, she had a smart prepay from Ovo and wanted to go back to prepay meters with BG.

Sterlingtimes

After months, I'm still on an Ovo waiting list for an external aerial to be fitted. The meter talks intermittently to the Ovo server. The bills may be based upon estimated figures if signal strength is poor at Ovo's time of reading.

The Ovo Smart Gateway that worked reasonably well initially has been taken out of service by Ovo. I will need to email to see now whether service can be resumed.

Meanwhile I have no means of monitoring consumption.

Additionally, I have sustained an effective loss of £50 pounds a year having loss my "deemed export" arrangement for solar.

My experience is that Ovo service is disfunctional. I like Ovo's approach to customers but their technology is not great.

System

sacsquacco wrote: »

From what I read they charge you over a £100 if , say , you want to go to British Gas or any of the others who don`t support the Secure Liberty meters. I m mainly interested in the meters used in prepay mode.I read a few meters now and again for Ovo and one woman I met was fuming about Ovo and wanted rid of them and their horrible meter .British Gas don`t want the meter and can t support it so Ovo have to send an engineer out.Its free to install them, Ovo and Utilita make a big thing about this, my question is simple , How much to rip it out again ? If I recall it, she had a smart prepay from Ovo and wanted to go back to credit meters with BG.

From the Ovo website:

If you’re a prepayment or PAYG customer with a Smart meter, you’ll almost certainly lose the smart functionality in your meter unless your new supplier’s system can communicate with it.

We’ll change your meter to ‘credit mode’ before you leave us, to make sure your energy isn’t cut off during the switch process. If your new supplier uses Secure Smart meters and can communicate with your meter, you’ll switch back to PAYG as soon as you’ve successfully transferred to the new supplier.

If your new supplier doesn’t yet use Secure Smart meters, you can either ask to swap to their brand of Smart PAYG meter or keep using a traditional meter without the Smart technology.

- See more at: http://www.ovoenergy.com/ovo-answers/can-i-switch-energy-suppliers-if-ive-got-a-smart-meter/#sthash.apO3uZt5.dpuf

at OVO we use Secure Smart meters. The only other suppliers currently using Secure Smart meters are First Utility, Utilita and E.ON. So if you decide to switch to one of those suppliers, they’ll be able to communicate with your OVO Smart meter. - See more at: http://www.ovoenergy.com/ovo-answers/can-i-switch-energy-suppliers-if-ive-got-a-smart-meter/#sthash.LMNoi3mM.dpuf

[Deleted User]

Hengus wrote: »

From the Ovo website:

If you’re a prepayment or PAYG customer with a Smart meter, you’ll almost certainly lose the smart functionality in your meter unless your new supplier’s system can communicate with it.

We’ll change your meter to ‘credit mode’ before you leave us, to make sure your energy isn’t cut off during the switch process. If your new supplier uses Secure Smart meters and can communicate with your meter, you’ll switch back to PAYG as soon as you’ve successfully transferred to the new supplier.

If your new supplier doesn’t yet use Secure Smart meters, you can either ask to swap to their brand of Smart PAYG meter or keep using a traditional meter without the Smart technology.

- See more at: http://www.ovoenergy.com/ovo-answers/can-i-switch-energy-suppliers-if-ive-got-a-smart-meter/#sthash.apO3uZt5.dpuf

at OVO we use Secure Smart meters. The only other suppliers currently using Secure Smart meters are First Utility, Utilita and E.ON. So if you decide to switch to one of those suppliers, they’ll be able to communicate with your OVO Smart meter. - See more at: http://www.ovoenergy.com/ovo-answers/can-i-switch-energy-suppliers-if-ive-got-a-smart-meter/#sthash.LMNoi3mM.dpuf

I wonder if its possible to drag the answer out of Ovo. My customer had an Ovo Smart prepay.she d had enough of it and Ovo, and wanted her non smart BG prepay meter back.BG certainly dont support Secure Liberty smart prepayment meters and I dont think they ever will, so how much will Ovo charge to either come and get their valuable meter back after BG have come in and slotted in their prepays.Surely they re not going to dump it on the customer. Looking in their T/Cs there was a lot of extras charges for all manner of things but nothing about ridding people of smart prepays which they willingly install for free.Anyone from Ovo got any idea ?
Switching away from Ovos free smart prepays will happen quite often as the smart keypad electric meter is ridiculously complicated when a new top up code is needed.Its 40 to 60 digits long ! and has to be entered fairly quickly.Try doing that if you re 85 with bad eyesight !