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nils_aksnes
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January 10, 2024
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THTC meter - Removal Request

  • January 10, 2024
  • 240 replies
  • 7845 views

Hi folks,

 

I am trying to have a redundant THTC meter removed from my house and OVO seem to be refusing to do this. Can anyone help explain what I should do? Some background info below:

 

We moved to a property in March last year in the west of Scotland. The property has two meters with a THTC setup running storage heaters. We are getting the storage heaters removed in February and an air source heat pump installed. 

 

Once this work has been carried out there will be nothing running from the RadioTelemeter (THTC) meter.

 

I have contacted OVO by phone yesterday to request that this meter be removed once it is no longer in use. The person I spoke with said that OVO would not do this because doing so would stop the other (ordinary) meter working. They weren’t able to explain why this would be the case. After some time on the phone I was told that if I emailed OVO with evidence that the THTC meter would not powering anything then they could arrange for it to be removed. This seemed like a positive outcome although it was not clear why we were initially told in the call that removal wasn’t possible.

 

I sent an email last night attaching the quotes from our electrician and heating engineer for removal of storage heaters and replacement with heat pump etc. I got a positive response this morning:

I am Stephen from account management at OVO energy after reading your email we can go ahead and do that for you but i am going to give you extra information so to proceed with this job there is a charge due to the nature of it I would like to clarify that your okay with that and if you are i can go ahead and get you a price and and book the job for you.

 

Again this seemed positive and I asked Stephen to go ahead and give us a cost. I then had response email from Nahim:

Apologies for the confusion form what Stephan said but as of right now, appointments for removing THTC meters aren't available. We appreciate you gave us confirmation the property's heating system is no longer dependant.

However we are working on a new meter type that'll basically replace the current two meters and you'll get one meter. The meter will reveal at Spring and you'll get an email when your free meter upgrade is ready

 

As far as I understand it the ‘new meter type’ mentioned has been in development for years and has been repeatedly delayed. I have little to no confidence that it will arrive in spring as promised above. It isn’t clear why we should be expected to wait for this.

 

Ontop of that our experience from speaking to neighbours and friends locally is that smart meters are useless in this (rural) area since they are not able to connect to a radio mast for communication. Any smart meters fitted simply operate as ‘dumb’ meters in this area.

 

Can anyone give us some hope that it is possible to get the redundant THTC meter removed as we have requested? Is there any technical reason why this wouldn’t be possible?

 

Failing that at least any good reason why we should have to wait for the new meter to be developed and rolled out? It seems in this instance that whilst waiting we’d have headaches if we wanted to switch supplier etc because we’d have a strange setup with a redundant meter and two MPAN numbers associated with the property. This could go on indefinitely since the new meters are not yet launched.

 

Below is a photograph of our current setup incase this is useful:

 

 

We’d really appreciate any help on this!

 

Thanks

 

 

 

Best answer by Nukecad

They may well ask for consumer feedback later; once those initial proposals have been refined by industry discussions.

However at the moment that isn’t what they want or need.

So it’s best not to clog up their email with unwanted stuff that just takes up their time to deal with.
(There’s a word we all use for unwanted emails - spam).

Wait and see if they do ask for consumer feedback/opinion, but TBH there may not be time.
The clock is counting down and contingency plans need to be in place for when it reaches zero in June.

240 replies

Show previous replies
Emmanuelle_OVO
Retired Moderator
Emmanuelle_OVO
Retired Moderator
February 9, 2024

Hey @monster9,

 

I’m really sorry for the stressful situation you’re in,

 

Unfortunately I don’t have any advice further to what the support team have advised. When we do get any updates we’ll update topics about THTC on the Forum. Hopefully JeanneL has some helpful advice. 

 

There is always the option to raise a complaint. 

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.
    M
    Newcomer
    monster9
    Newcomer
    February 13, 2024

    Hey @Emmanuelle_OVO 

     

    If I do the following, can I get a smart meter?

    1. Replace all my overnight storage heaters with regular electric radiators
    2. Consolidate the connections currently wired into the 2 consumer units into a single consumer unit and
    3. Move to a different (non-THTC) tariff

    Would that allow for a Smart Meter to be installed?

      Abby_OVO
      Community Manager
      Abby_OVO
      Community Manager
      February 14, 2024

      Hey @monster9 

       

      I’ve reached out to our team to ensure these would be the next best steps for you to take in order to have a smart meter fitted.

       

      They’d like to take a look and let you know for sure. I’ve also sent you a private message so we can hopefully get a little more information so the team can help confirm this. You’ll be able to see any private messages here: https://forum.ovoenergy.com/inbox/overview.

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      M
      Newcomer
      monster9
      Newcomer
      February 19, 2024

      Thanks @Abby_OVO 

      I’ll respond to you private message with the info you’ve asked for.

      Regards
      Colin

        M
        Newcomer
        monster9
        Newcomer
        February 23, 2024

        Hey @Abby_OVO 

        Information supplied as requested.
        No response from the OVO team.

        😒

        Can you advise when I can expect the response promised?

         

         

        Hey @monster9 

         

        I’ve reached out to our team to ensure these would be the next best steps for you to take in order to have a smart meter fitted.

         

        They’d like to take a look and let you know for sure. I’ve also sent you a private message so we can hopefully get a little more information so the team can help confirm this. You’ll be able to see any private messages here: https://forum.ovoenergy.com/inbox/overview.

         

        J
        Newcomer
        JeanneL
        Newcomer
        February 23, 2024

        We had a THTC meter and a regular meter removed in October. They were replaced with one single, perfectly normal smart meter. The entire process took less than an hour.

         

        As we’re also in rural Scotland, we were told it was unlikely the new meter would work as a smart meter and that it would therefore need to work in “dumb mode”. Lo and behold, when the whole shebang was installed, it connected and worked in smart mode. Haven’t had any trouble with it.

         

        Didn’t pay a penny for the installation, either, in case that’s helpful information for you.

         

         Best of luck…

        That’s encouraging news @JeanneL 

        Can you advise how you went about this,as I’m just off the phone to customer support who tell me I can’t replace my THTC meter with a smart meter and if it were possible, my electricity supply might stop!!!

        I went through two years of back-and-forth, being shunted from one customer adviser to another and repeatedly booked in for meter exchanges that never happened. Finally I made an official complaint. After that I spoke to several more people at OVO and waited about three months for things to get sorted out.

         

         Lo and behind, no special wiring needed; no rewiring etc at all. The man who came to take both meters out and replace them with a smart meter simply said that many of his colleagues weren’t experienced with that kind of meter exchange — it’s a Highlands and Islands thing, apparently. 
         

        Anyway, he spent less than an hour getting everything sorted. That was that. The two+ years of faffing about beforehand were extremely draining, though.

          Emmanuelle_OVO
          Retired Moderator
          Emmanuelle_OVO
          Retired Moderator
          February 26, 2024

          Hey @monster9,

           

          I’ll get Forum_Support to reach out, sorry you haven’t had a response yet. 

          Renewable Energy? Big Fan.
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          Rank 4
          Cassie511
          Rank 4
          February 29, 2024

          We are in exactly the same situation..... paying extortionate rates for our electricity, giving away electricity from our solar panels for nothing, unable to change supplier, unable to get a smart meter, refusal from OVO to help in any way.  We are in the process of putting in an official complaint and hope that may make a difference.....🤞

            Blastoise186
            Super User
            Blastoise186Super User
            Super User
            February 29, 2024

            I’m afraid that probably won’t speed up migrating THTC to Smart Meters. This is VERY complicated stuff and OVO needs to be absolutely certain that it’s dialled in correctly before it can even be rolled out to a single customer to field test.

            We as the Forum Volunteers in collaboration with the Forum Moderators will keep everyone here updated when we know more.

            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!
              C
              Rank 4
              Cassie511
              Rank 4
              February 29, 2024

              So why did JeanneL manage to get this done in an hour? There's obviously someone, who is able to do this easily, somewhere in rural Scotland. Can this guy not tell the rest of the engineers how to do it? We are fed up of being stuck with OVO and the endless excuses about how difficult this is. We just want a single ordinary smart meter.

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                OVO Energy Ltd, Floor 5, Crescent, Temple Back, Redcliffe, BS1 6EZ, (Company no. 06890795) registered in England and Wales.

                OVO (S) Gas Limited is registered in England and Wales (Company No. 02716495) at Floor 5, Crescent, Temple Back, Redcliffe, BS1 6EZ.

                OVO (S) Gas Limited is part of OVO Group Ltd