OVO Smart Gateway

Terry98

Thanks for that. So it seems they get the same info as I get on my IHD and add it to the online account.
You had your meters installed a couple of months ago so if it's anything like mine everything should be working ok in a couple of months.

derek1048

Hi Terry
I have been advised today by email from OVO Customer Service that I cannot have a Smart Gateway due to he fact that they are now not available and no other reason given. They advised that they may be available in the future. This is after I have repeatedly requested a SG over the IHD that OVO supplied in April this year when my Smart Mater was installed. I was fobbed off at first saying that because I had an IHD I now cannot have a SG even though they agreed that they never advised me that I had been given an option adding that the SG was not available in April anyway.

Can anyone confirm there is a stop on supplying SG's and that this is not just another porky!

Terry98

Hi Derek

As I said in an earlier post in this thread someone in my family is getting a Smart Gateway fitted in the next couple of weeks so it is available.

I will let you know when they have it fitted.

derek1048

Thanks for that Terry
Derek

tom_henry

hello

received the 2.4Ghz zigbee SG today (from telegesis), so i guess it's available.
Just trouble "linking" it on the OVO website, it gets to 25% and gives up. Will call them in the morning..

T

Sterlingtimes

Ovo admitted straight away that it has problems. However, during the last few days it has been working correctly for the first time.

"You're right, we are currently experiencing issues with the gateway and My OVO for a number of customers. Our development team are aware and are currently working on a fix. Please can you keep you Gateway plugged in and connected to the internet so that once the fix is rolled out your live usage will populate online."

Sterlingtimes

tom_henry wrote: »

hello

received the 2.4Ghz zigbee SG today (from telegesis), so i guess it's available.
Just trouble "linking" it on the OVO website, it gets to 25% and gives up. Will call them in the morning.

I had this problem exactly. I had to escalate it as a complaint. Eventually, Ovo forced a connection from their end and it has remained connected since them with green LEDS 1,2 and 4 always on.

More problematic has been the Ovo server response (and outages). This may be resolved.

The service is a winner once it works with a high granularity of data available.

Sterlingtimes

derek1048 wrote: »

Hi Terry. They advised that they may be available in the future.

I think that they probably have scalability issues with providing the service to many users. The results are starting to look encouraging.

Sterlingtimes

Essentially, things have got a lot worse:

[1] Ovo has, I assume, remotely switched off the connection between my Smart Meter and my Smart Gateway.

[2] Ovo tells me that the systems at their end are not working and they are working on the design fault.

[3] The Smart Gateway no long connects to My Ovo.

[4] No indicative time scale for resolution.

[5] The Smart Meter talks intermittently to Ovo's server. They have promised to install an external aerial in due course and tell me that I have been added to a list and they will get around to it eventually.

[6] I have lost my right to claim for 50% deemed export for solar and therefore this failed service is costing me money.

[7] No offer of In House Device to replaced the failed Smart Gateway.

[8] Gone back to receiving estimated bills.

A shambles!

Sterlingtimes

Yesterday, Lowri Beck (on behalf of Ovo) came to fit the external aerial to the Smart Meter. It is an aerial encapsulated within a white box, presumably a colinear array. It is mounted externally to the meter cabinet.

Finally, the Smart Gateway is working perfectly. A great offering from Ovo now that it works.

However, sadly Ovo has posted this message on its website:

*We offered Smart Gateways to our energy customers from 23rd April to 7th September 2015, but this offer is no longer available.

I do wonder whether they ran into scalability issue as the number of Smart Gateway customers increased. It was running very slowly.

That looks like the end of Smart Gateway for new customers. It did differentiate Ovo from the competition. Perhaps they were too early to market.