Hi, I live in Dundee, Scotland which is a fairly large city, senior citizen currently on pre payment meter THTC and know all about the RTS switch off. Made arrangements with OVO to change over to pay as you go Smart meter, Engineer arrived yesterday and couldn't do the switch as the Smart meter failed to connect, he sent the relevant information to OVO that no installation had been made, what happens next?
Engineer just said let OVO figure it out, can someone help
After 18 months, a few failed installations and miscommunication my new meter has been installed and seems to be working fine and it's all down to @Chris_OVO @Lukepeniket_OVO @Bradley_OVO and others working behind the scenes.
I have to give credit to them for their time, support and patience with me over this period of time but they pulled out all the stops, went above and beyond all expectations to get the job completed before my imminent rts switch off. Big job , Great team effort 👌
A big shout out to the SMS engineer who uninstalled the old meters and installed the new meter without leaving any mess behind whatsoever.
Finally, thanks to Forum Contributers/Advisers for their input throughout @Ben_OVO @Blastoise186 @Firedog spring to mind but am sure there were many more.
That's me sorted now and it comes with a great feeling of relief, as previously mentioned I couldn't have got to this point without the assistance of all of the aforementioned people.
No. OVO has considered that possibility - Smart Meters that are pre-configured with both E10 and E7 are currently being made available. These provide a temporary solution for cases where WAN is too weak to connect while it gets fixed.
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I live in Dundee, Scotland … Smart meter failed to connect,
I’m not sure whether pre-payment is another complicating factor. Are you sure that’s the best solution for you? The new smart meter will do its job of measuring your electricity consumption, but you’d have to submit readings manually until the connection is made. It could be that topping-up will be a pain, but @Blastoise186 would know more about that.
Topping up is more difficult if there’s no WAN. Arguably, it may not be possible if the Meter can’t even be commissioned, but that’s also why safeguards exist such as defaulting to Credit Mode in those situations to keep the lights on as that’s more important.
I would like to note however, that I also believe PAYG may not be the right choice for you given your circumstances anyway. Please consider moving to Pay Monthly if possible.
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I may consider that at a later date but I am old fashioned and like to pay for things as I use them and that way I can budget accordingly, technology is definitely not my strongest point and I have never read a meter in my life always had a professional meter reader come in to do it so I don't think I would be very competent at that either, things are looking bleak on the switch over
No. OVO has considered that possibility - Smart Meters that are pre-configured with both E10 and E7 are currently being made available. These provide a temporary solution for cases where WAN is too weak to connect while it gets fixed.
Cheers
Do these pre-configured ones chand rates without a signal ?
Yes. All of them change rates locally, whether pre-configured or not. Once the Meter has downloaded the ALCS Calendar configuration, the Meter follows it indefinitely even if WAN drops out. Unlike RTS, with Smart Meters there’s absolutely no reliance on remote control signals whatsoever.
RTS Meters supposedly have similar features as a failsafe, but it cannot be relied upon because:
It’s 1980’s technology which is getting pretty old
We can’t guarantee that all RTS setups actually have that failsafe
There’s no way to reprogram or retrofit the failsafe - if an engineer was doing that, they may as well just fit a Smart Meter anyway
The failsafe was designed to cover short-term outages, not a total permanent shutdown
We have to make ABSOLUTELY ZERO promises that the failsafe will even work at all on any particular RTS Meter
Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way! Remember, I'm just like you - AI Powered Evil Geniuses aren't Staff!
Yes. All of them change rates locally, whether pre-configured or not. Once the Meter has downloaded the ALCS Calendar configuration, the Meter follows it indefinitely even if WAN drops out. Unlike RTS, with Smart Meters there’s absolutely no reliance on remote control signals whatsoever.
RTS Meters supposedly have similar features as a failsafe, but it cannot be relied upon because:
It’s 1980’s technology which is getting pretty old
We can’t guarantee that all RTS setups actually have that failsafe
There’s no way to reprogram or retrofit the failsafe - if an engineer was doing that, they may as well just fit a Smart Meter anyway
The failsafe was designed to cover short-term outages, not a total permanent shutdown
We have to make ABSOLUTELY ZERO promises that the failsafe will even work at all on any particular RTS Meter
Yes. All of them change rates locally, whether pre-configured or not. Once the Meter has downloaded the ALCS Calendar configuration, the Meter follows it indefinitely even if WAN drops out. Unlike RTS, with Smart Meters there’s absolutely no reliance on remote control signals whatsoever.
RTS Meters supposedly have similar features as a failsafe, but it cannot be relied upon because:
It’s 1980’s technology which is getting pretty old
We can’t guarantee that all RTS setups actually have that failsafe
There’s no way to reprogram or retrofit the failsafe - if an engineer was doing that, they may as well just fit a Smart Meter anyway
The failsafe was designed to cover short-term outages, not a total permanent shutdown
We have to make ABSOLUTELY ZERO promises that the failsafe will even work at all on any particular RTS Meter
Thank you
Fitted thousands of Smart Meters and never knew they changed rates locally
