My smart gas meter isn't communicating with OVO anymore - no readings - why?

Thats what i have been told that it was my online account but my daughter having same issues. You would think that they would send a message out telling us as they have the system to do so. I have been with them for years and they do seem to be going downhill a little. This is not the first time as they are often behind but not 5 days behind. Thanks for getting back to me tho. 

Know what you mean about going downhill, been with them for years but since they have got bigger now exactly like the big companies not really worried about upsetting a few consumers as they have plenty more. Just finding it upsetting that a few consumers are not worth their worry.

Same here, no gas readings since the 15th May. Been with OVO since mid 2017 since moving from the awful npower. Gradually the service seems to be declining over the last 18 months so maybe time for a switch when a few more options become available.

I went 5 days last week without gas readings. It’s an intermittent occurrence with Ovo.

Hiya,

Query …. 

Why does my  gas bill show varying amounts of usage , when the only thing using it is hot water? As most weather has been fab so heating not been on… 

Hey @Amerififer ,

Do you have a Smart Meter? If so, is it sending readings?

Aye I do. It's very inconsistent in sending readings. A royal pain!!!! 

Totally defeats the purpose of having it. Grrr 

How far away is it from the electric meter, roughly?

It's the gas meter that never picks up consistently. Gas meter in cupboard in kitchen, meter in next room (sitting room). 

Please show me photos of them so I can check some stuff

Your gas meter actually links to the electric meter which then sends the info on .. that was why the question of distance from one to the other. The gas meter only has a battery and so is in a ‘send when needed’ mode. 
You might want to check your readings on your account just in case there’s any estimates in there if the connection is inconsistent. 
https://account.ovoenergy.com/meter-readings

Electric meter is in the front entry way near the front door. Not a huge place, one floor. If that helps. 

Hey @Amerififer 

Sorry to hear about the trouble you’ve been having. 

@Blastoise186 any thoughts on this?

You could fill out a few details about the meter, which are then submitted to the Support Team to review and let you know if there are any problems and what they can do to help. 

You can check it out on the topic page below:

• Second generation (S2) Aclara smart meter health check (SMHC) Tutorial

I agree with doing a healthcheck. If needed, there’s options like AltHAN and Dual-Band Comms Hubs that can help a ton.

I had a  SMETS1 Landis+Gyr E470 smart meter installed by British Gas in 2020. (Elect & Gas)

They got the electric smart meter to work and send readings to the data network. But they said that my gas meter was "too far away" and would not connect to the comms device in the elect meter cupboard. Both elect and gas are on the outside of an old cottage and are approx 30ft apart.
 

British Gas obviously never came back. BUT they marked my gas meter as "smart" so I could never enter a manual reading - for 3 years.

British Gas just put in estimates - and ignored my desperate pleas. By the end of 3 years we were paying nearlly £4,000 pa for elect and gas. We are two 71 yr old pensioners living in a 3 bed cottage.
 

British Gas would not respond to any of emails telling them they were overestimating our use.

The only way I could get heard by British Gas was by switching. At least then they would have to ask for a reading and then I would get a massive credit.

So I switched - to EcoTricity - because they promised to sort out the comms issue.

EcoTricity have now completed the switch - and now they tell me they cannot get comms from the gas meter.

I am so frustrated....

I have checked the online smart meter checker and both elect and gas meters are shown as SMETS2 and connected to the DCC.

What on earth can I do.

Are OVO engineers or equipemtn smarter than EcoTricity or British Gas?

I would happily switch to OVO if they could sort this situation out.

Hi @Mermaid 

I’m sorry to hear about all of this, it sounds like quite the hassle.

It can be difficult to tell before making the switch, but I do know that we have additional equipment that helps extend how far the meters can communicate. I’m going to have the Forum Support reach out to you and see if they can look into this further to check if this would work for you before you make another switch. Look out for a Private Message here soon: 

https://forum.ovoenergy.com/inbox/overview 

Gas account missing in app

Hey @MikeMadden,

Sorry to hear this,

Are you able to provide some more information please? Do you have smart meters? What page are you seeing this? 

Could it be that your gas supply has been taken over by a new supplier? Have you recently switched to OVO?

If you’re able to upload a screenshot of where you’re seeing this and I’ll take a look into this for you 🙂

Good Evening, 

I had smart meters installed just over 17 months ago, electricity works fine but the gas has never connected and I still need to send meter readings manually.

I have contacted OVO directly several times, the last time i was told that if I keep asking it will take longer to sort.

Anybody else had to wait this long to get their not so smart meters to work properly, or any help on getting the gas one working 

If your electric meter works OK, there’s no reason why the gas shouldn’t work as well. I believe (could be wrong...) that the electric meter acts as the ‘master’, and the gas meter sends data via it.

I had a similar thing with my gas meter, when I was with Eon.  They spun me a lot of boloney about why it was taking so long to sort out, and eventually I forced the issue by making a Formal Complaint. That kicks off a process where the company is obliged to resolve the issue within a certain timescale. If they don’t, you can complain to the Ombudsman (which they would prefer not to happen), so they generally get off their a***s and get the job done - certainly did for me. 

Hi @Miyagi , it’s correct that the electric meter is the ‘hub’ for all the data but I wondered if you were talking about seeing usage on your account or on the IHD (in home display) or maybe both?

Hi Both,

Thanks for the replies, I will make a formal complaint and see if that gets me anywhere.

The gas meter has never connected either to the IHD or my account, account has always said unable to get a gas meter reading would you mind sending one.

The electric meter has worked correctly since installation and sends data to the IHD and my account .

Thanks again 

Actually, both meters act independently of each other - it’s the Comms Hub that sits above the electric meter that does all the heavy lifting.

Before making a formal complaint, try https://smart-meter-help.ovoenergy.com . This will give OVO more diagnostic data to play with than a complaint ever will.

Hi Blastoise, didn't know that was a separate box - in my setup it's installed tight up against the elec meter and is the exact same width, so it looks like one!

Out of curiosity I tried the link you posted. It failed at the first hurdle - didn't recognise my postcode. Good job I have a working system ( currently...) 😁

You can do it manually via the Support Team if needed. It’s kinda faster if you go via Live Chat when doing it manually.