OVO think I have an RTS meter, but I don't?

If that’s the time switch, I wonder how old your meter is. I’d guess that they’re both ripe for replacement, so it’s time to get a smart meter anyway.

You say ‘we have Economy 7 but don’t tend to use it’. Economy 7 is a system where the electricity supplied during seven offpeak hours overnight is metered separately and billed at a lower rate. In some installations, the meter and its associated switches will also see to providing power to night-storage heaters and water heaters only during offpeak hours. It’s not clear what you mean when you say you tend not to use it.   

I’m guessing this may be one of those situations where it was RTS at one time, which has been removed but the national database wasn’t updated so still shows RTS at the property.

There have been a few other posters with that situation.

As the others say if your meters are getting old then it’s probably time ro replace them anyway.

Photos of the meter itself, and one showing everything around it, would allow better advice to be given.

Hey ​@confusedCT5, 

Welcome to the OVO Online Community, 

It might be worth reaching our to our support team to clarify. Our community members have made some really helpful suggestions here. It may be that your meter had reached it’s certification period or could be shown as an RTS meter on the national database. 
 

Keep us posted with how you get on.  

How do I stop nuisance calls from people who claim to be OVO staff using a number that is identified by my voice provider as Spam.     They keep calling and telling me I need to change my meter due to the RTS switch off.

I do not have an RTS meter.

So,  if these are legitmate calls, why are OVO pestering me on a daily basis?

The number used is 0330 341 4579 which is apprently an OVO number

Hi ​@Pollowick ,

I’m afraid the only way I know of is to contact OVO directly and respond to the matter.

You can use the details in the thread below.

Ultimately, if you’re on RTS then you MUST migrate off of it eventually and OVO is likely trying to reach out to you - it’s in your best interests to resolve that in the way they suggest.

If, as you say, you DON’T have RTS, you can get OVO to update the records which should stop the calls - it may be worth posting photos of your meter setup on the Forum first so we can take a peek though.

Please show us your setup and we’ll tell you what you need to do.

What is RTS?

​@Pollowick from my understanding, this number doesn't belong OVO. A quick “who called me” check suggests it’s a spam call. Just to be completely sure, you can contact OVO yourself to find out (obviously by the number OVO has on its website). I'm afraid, there is nothing much you could do about stopping nuisance calls. 

Radio Teleswitch Service. An outdated technology electricity meters used until this year. 

OVO is using a third-party company to assist with these calls - it won’t trace back to OVO, but you can always call OVO directly.

I have spoken with customer services several times to stop the avalanche of letters, emails, text messages, calls … has it had any effect?  NO.

If I call back on te number it says:   “You have called the Ovo smart energy team”    - so if it ios not Ovo then they should be dealing with it directly.

A Landis & Gyr 5246C is not RTS.

Just about any meter, including yours, could be connected to and controlled by a Radio Teleswitch like the L&G 5083E shown below. The RTS doesn’t have to be near the meter; we’ve seen cases where it’s at the other end of the house. You may have seen images of meters that have an internal RTS, but yours isn’t one of those.  
  

Pointless post …

The L&G 5246C is pre-programmed to switch as required - there is NO other connection.

Hey ​@Pollowick,

 If you want to update your contact and marketing preferences, you can find more information on how to make changes in the article below.

As other members have mentioned, you can reach out to our Support Team to have them review your account and confirm that you are not on any RTS pathway that is causing unnecessary contact. You can find the contact options below. However, if the calls are not originating from OVO, there’s very little we can do. In that case, you will need to look into how to block unknown callers on your phone. You’ll find the contact options for our Support Team here:

​@Chris_OVO 

A screen shot: 

And as I said calling the number receives a message:    “You have called the Ovo smart energy team”     They also have my name.

So,  if it is not Ovo then surely you should be taking steps to have them taken down as they are impersonating Ovo.

Hey ​@Pollowick,

I get about three calls a week from the network "Three," even though I’ve never been a customer! These calls come from overseas and use a random dialer, making it tough to block them. I wish it were easier to stop scam callers – it seems like if it were simple, this issue would have been resolved already, since I’m sure it costs businesses a lot to deal with the aftermath of these calls.

We’re here to help! We’ve shared some steps for you to check your marketing preferences, and we encourage you to reach out to our Support Team to confirm if these calls are legitimate. That’s how we can best support you through the Forum!

If you’ve got an iPhone you can find more information on how to detect and silence unknown callers. 

​@Chris_OVO 

I called and it has been confirmed that preferences at set to NONE.

And what arrived this morning - yet another letter.

And as can be seen it is NOT and RTS meter

RTS Shutdown related comms are considered critical - and as such bypass marketing preferences.

There’s two ways you can ultimately stop OVO sending these to you:

1. Upgrade to Smart Meters - the comms would stop once the install is done and records updated
2. Ask for an account review - SSE messed up TONS of these records back in the day

There are no other methods.

RTS related comms may be critical - to those with an RTS meter,  NOT to those who do not have one.

While I do agree with that, it unfortunately affects folks whose records were messed up either by SSE or someone else to have a rogue RTS flag. You’d need to talk to OVO to resolve that and it may require an engineer visit to check/verify what you actually have.

That’s why I’ve given the two recommendations - both of those would solve this one for you if that is the issue.

Perhaps you meant This L&G 5246C is pre-programmed to switch as required. I don’t think you or anyone else can categorically state that there isn’t a single 5246C anywhere in Britain controlled by a radio teleswitch. 

Your screenshot shows neither the certification label (the red blob in the top right-hand corner) nor the meter serial number which probably also contains the year of certification. We’ve seen examples of these RTS notifications being sent out about meters that are neither RTS-controlled nor certification-extinct, but there is some other reason why a meter exchange is required. The meter has a certification period of 20 years. 

We do not have an RTS meter and the mechanical meters (we have two) work just fine and do not need to be replaced so we don’t plan to do so. That has not stopped the deluge of communications (texts and letters) from the people who act for OVO. When I speak to the nice Scottish lady who answers the phone she says she is unable to stop the reminders. She understands our position - that we do not have an RTS meter - and says there are many others just like us, but there’s nothing she can do. This seems crazy and definitely unacceptable. So it’s goodbye OVO. I can’t think of anything else to do. What a waste of time and money.

Hi ​@Earthwatcher ,

Please show us the meters anyway. I wanted to check something.

Switching supplier won’t stop the nagging anyway as this is national database stuff - upgrading to Smart Meters will.

Same for me,    yet more today.

And when youi try to reply to the emails - you cannot because send from a “no-reply” eamil address.