Why does OVO say my gas meter needs replacing when it was only installed last year?

Hi ​@rjay63 ,

Please show us photos of the current meter - we can use those to see what you’ve got and offer advice from there.

Thanks

Hey ​@rjay63 

I’m glad to see a couple of our community members have already stopped by with some helpful advice and questions.

A photo of the meter might be helpful for us here as it’s very tricky to tell without more information or access to accounts. 

Nukecad raised a good point about the meter data, though I also wonder how old the refurbished meter was and why it wasn’t replaced with a new smart meter like Nukecad also mentioned. 

If you’d be able to give us any more information about the meter, that’d be helpful - though it may still be that it does need replaced if it’s been an older, refurbished traditional meter which is very rare to come across.

Thank you for your responses.  I had this gas meter installed back in May 2025 as my old one developed a fault.  When I was arranging the engineer visit via OVO customer services, I was expecting a SMART meter to be installed. However when the engineer came around, they replaced it with the exact same traditional PAYG meter.  That was their decision and I had no part in it (it didn’t worry me what meter I had as long as it worked).  Somewhere along the line another appointment had been made by OVO staff to ‘replace’ this replacement meter with a SMART meter.  I cancelled that appointment as I didn’t see the point in replacing the gas meter again when it has only just been put in.

I have taken picture of the meter in question (see below).  If OVO are able to confirm that this meter must be replaced despite it only being installed last year, then I am happy to accept this although written confirmation would be preferred.

I hope this information will assist you in answering my enquiry.     

Yep  strange situation.

Personally I'd just go ahead and have it replaced  by a new SM.

Hey ​@rjay63 

I think I’d agree with Nukecad, sounds like you’ll be as well having it replaced now while they’re offering this to be done, than any potential issues arise if the DNO are suggesting it be changed.

It’s unusual that it’d been replaced with a traditional meter last year and not smart, I’d definitely recommend getting in touch with the Support Team about booking a new meter in, or if they might be able to give you any further clarity there, though ultimately if the DNO is suggesting this, I’d imagine they’ll see the same information to suggest such a change already.

Thank you for your responses, I am sorry I did not reply sooner.  I did an online chat with one of the OVO advisers and they automatically noticed my current gas meter was recently installed and therefore cancelled any further action or email notifications. 

At present, I only use gas for hot water and occasional central heating use, and my replacement traditional PAYG meter has behaved itself so far.  However if this meter subsequently breaks down, a Smart meter will be the obvious successor.    

Hey ​@rjay63,

I'm glad to hear you got to the bottom of the issue, and our Support team has cancelled the appointments for you.

If you have any further questions, let us know anytime!