Can OVO arrange an engineers visit to fix a faulty external time-switch? My storage heater timings are out!

Hey @Kate Barber !

I’m Blastoise186 and I’m one of the forum volunteers here.

My first impression is that your current meter might be up for recertification as it’s almost 20 years old. You don’t have a Radio Teleswitch though, that timeswitch runs locally so it’s not affected by the RTS Service sunsetting.

However, the dial has gotten massively out of sync somehow and this needs to be fixed to get things working properly. You can’t do that yourself I’m afraid and it’s a bit of a pain to do. Let me call in @Lukepeniket_OVO though as he might know whether it’s possible to do at all if an engineer stops by.

Neither an electrician nor a plumber can fix this though, the time switch is owned by your supplier (corrected from DNO!) and only they can play with it.

Hello Blastoise and many thanks for what looks like a very helpful reply.   

Yes, that would be good if you can find out whether an engineer could fix this ‘out of sync dial’.

I can imagine that any ‘gadgetry’ that I have could be well outdated!     If this engineer came to fix this, could they also deal with ‘recertification’ (whatever that is?)?.

However, when you said ‘meter’, (needing recertification)’ were you meaning the white ‘box’ in the 4th Attachment?    Or the dial thingie shown in the 2nd Attachment?     (Is that also called a ‘meter’?).

When I’d first contacted OVO (via a ‘chat’) I was told that all they dealt* with was my meter - which gave me the impression they wouldn’t be interested in any problems I might be having.

(*I think they’d said that they were ‘only accountable for my meter’ - but best not to hold me to this as my memory is lousy!!    But would that make sense to you?).

Sure thing! Your wish is my command. Luke is an OVO and SSE Smart Meter Engineer himself, but he knows a thing or two about old legacy setups as well. He tends to be quite busy during the day, but no doubt he’ll stop by when he’s got a chance. :)

Recertification is similar to the end of useful service life of other things, it just has a fancy name in the energy industry. The only way that this process can be completed is to replace the meters completely with shiny new ones. This usually means a smart meter upgrade these days, but if you really don’t want to upgrade then you might be able to request a smart meter opt-out by talking to the support team. It’s worth noting that OVO can override such opt-outs in some circumstances and if you wish to have a traditional non-smart meter installed rather than a smart meter, OVO is entitled to charge you for a non-standard install.

But I like to play fair and mention it anyway because there is a very small group of users who would rather not upgrade right now.

Timeswitches and Radio Teleswitches are a weird edge case and have been for years. If your meter has one built-in, then your supplier is definitely responsible for it. Apparently, there’s a few rare edge cases where the DNO owns the timeswitch and/or radio teleswitch but not very often. It even trips me up sometimes! Your case confused me a little because of the plates on the equipment, sorry about that! If our forum guides are right, it’s OVO’s responsibility to sort this one out. And it’s also why I hate these old 1980’s timeswitches!

The device with the dial in the second photo is the timeswitch for your supply, but it’s not part of the meter itself. That’d be the white box in the last photo. :)

Hello and thanks again Blastoise!

Should  I contact Luke myself to see if he could come and look at my equipment?

Though I live in West Berkshire, a bit west of Newbury, and it looks like he’s from west Wales.

Or should I contact Ovo (via their email address) for a more local engineer?

SMART METERS
Incidently I’ve never been very keen on the idea of Smart Meters - I seemed to keep reading that they went wrong a lot.    

And I’d always be worrying that they were giving out an incorrect reading.    

And then I’d have to worry about calling someone out to fix this, and wondering if they would then charge a big call-out fee……

TUTORIAL/DNOs
I read the below Tutorial, which was very interesting:
https://forum.ovoenergy.com/my-account-140/getting-to-know-your-electricity-gas-meter-and-equipment-who-s-responsible-for-what-a-guide-on-who-to-contact-to-help-maintain-each-part-of-your-setup-8628

As I live in Southern England it seems my DNO could be 'Southern Electric Power Distribution'.     

I used to be with SSE before OVO took over.

I'm assuming that 'tails' means 'cables'.

Hello Jess

Thanks for advising me to contact the Support Team.

But - do I really need to have a Smart Meter…..?

As I said in the post above I’ve never been very keen on the idea of Smart Meters - I seemed to keep reading that they got glitches and went wrong a lot.    

What if I found they were giving out an incorrect reading?   Or no reading?

Then would I have the worry of calling someone out to fix this, and wondering if they would then charge a big call-out fee……?

That’s where this forum comes in handy again. We know of ways to help you test for possible meter faults safely and without cost. Creep Tests and Burns Tests being two of the easiest accuracy tests available. We’re able to guide you through those if you think something’s up.

Official meter accuracy tests do cost money though the fee is refunded in full if the meter is found to be inaccurate, but you sacrifice the test fee if the meter is found to be working properly. It’s one of the reasons we recommend doing a Creep Test and Burns Test with help from someone here on the forum first, as you’ll never have to pay for the advice given here. :)

What I can say however, is that smart meters are a LOT more accurate than traditional meters and are constantly checked via self-calibration and self-testing features to make sure they stay in sync and remain working properly. The first sign of any problems triggers a bunch of self-diagnostics and the meter will try to correct the issue automatically if it can, otherwise an alert gets sent back to the supplier with the details for further investigation.

A lot of the glitches relate to older SMETS1 meters and these have all been ironed out. The SMETS2 Aclara and Flonidan meters that OVO installs have been proven to be pretty reliable so far and don’t go wrong easily.

As for faults and repairs, you will not be charged anything if the call-out relates to a confirmed fault and we’re usually able to help you figure out whether you might be charged before you call the support team - and you’d also be given a heads up by OVO of any potential charges upfront before you agree to anything.

If you upgrade to a smart meter, there’ll be no fee for the work required to do so. However, replacing your current meter with a non-smart meter might be treated as a Non-Standard Install for which OVO may charge you a fee - and it’s not cheap if memory serves!

As @Blastoise186 has assured already smart meters very rarely clock your usage incorrectly, @Kate Barber. Further to this the installation and maintenance of a smart meter is offered for free by any energy supplier.

For more information about the benefits of smart meters, check out the guides below.
 

Our Support Team can help get that meter replacement arranged and discuss any lingering smart meter concerns you might have.

Hello again!

What if - for now - I simply asked for an OVO Engineer to come and check/amend my Timer (with its out-of-sync dial)?   

If this was possible, would you still want to charge for this?

I’m afraid it’s not always that simple. Your timeswitch is 25 years old and I’m not sure most engineers are trained on how to properly adjust them anymore.

I’d have to ask @Tim_OVO about that one...