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A sceptic converted: my smart meter fitting experience - it all went well!

  • 7 January 2021
  • 12 replies
  • 305 views
hecate
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Two days ago I had smart meters fitted. It was amazingly easy to book; engineer was great (she even helped my disabled neighbour defrost her car :thumbsup: ) and all is working fine.

I was never too much bothered about the in home display and did not mind sending monthly readings. The main thing putting me off was the possiblity of things go wrong, but as the number of issues reported has dropped off, I decided to give it a go.

So that’s one sceptic converted, so long as it keeps working. And I’ve not (yet) been going round turning every light off :relaxed:

hecate

12 replies

Tim_OVO
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Great to hear you’ve taken the plunge into smart meter technology, @hecate - and that the installation process went well!

 

When everything’s set up correctly (this can take up to 6 weeks), you’ll have the option of benefitting from great new online features such as intra-day usage breakdowns and energy spotlights. 

 

Keep an eye out for @Blastoise186’s new topic tutorial on the S1 Aclara smart meter he has, and here’s some other resources you might find useful:

 

SMETS2 smart meter guide - here

 

SMETS2 Smart Meter Health Check guide - here

 

SMETS2 In Home Display (IHD) guide - here

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I wish I could say the same. My installation has not gone well. Came three days ago and he left having installed them, but he couldn't get the in home display to connect so he said someone would ring me the next day to sort. I didn't get a phone call so yesterday rang and have now connected to my wifi, but apparently my gas meter (I'm dual fuel) is not reporting properly and I will have to continue submitting readings manually until an engineer can visit (what with covid they couldn't give me an idea of when this will be).

 

All very disappointing. I've been waiting ages to have a smart meter since joining Ovo a year ago and I still don't have one. 

Tim_OVO
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Thanks for sharing your smart meter fitting latest, @Dellara 

 

Smart gas meters, mysterious things they are. See our smart meter health check topic for some tips on how to better understand typical issues and ways you can check them.

 

Although I’m actually surprised this advice was issues so soon. It’s been 4 days since the meters were fitted, which tends to mean a lot of the back end actions and account updates are still happening.

 

I’d suggest looking at this smart meter health check at some point soon to work out yourself if and what the issue is that needs an engineer visit. See the guide here. Maybe just wait a few weeks first, so we can do out account updates bits first…..

Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there!
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Thanks for this Tim. I'll have a read  I had a message from Alice following my trustpilot review saying the electricity is reporting (although there still isn't anything showing on the IHD) and that an engineer would need to come back and visit re the gas.  I'll see if I can work it through from the link you sent me. It's not straightforward though, is it?

D
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Tim, my smart meter is reporting electricity to you as I can see the usage on my Ovo app, but it's not reporting in the IHD which is still blank. Any ideas?  Should I be doing something to prompt it to at least give me the electricity figure even if the gas readings are still not connected and I'm waiting to hear of a date for an engineer to come back?  Thanks. 

 

 

Blastoise186
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Heya @Dellara ! Welcome back.

I think I know the cause this time - the HAN signal from your electricity meter to your IHD is really weak. Would you be OK with moving it closer to the electric meter then power the IHD off and back on again?

That might do the trick.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
D
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Heya @Dellara ! Welcome back.

I think I know the cause this time - the HAN signal from your electricity meter to your IHD is really weak. Would you be OK with moving it closer to the electric meter then power the IHD off and back on again?

That might do the trick.

 

Hi and thanks for your reply.  The IHD is pretty much next to the meter cupboard so I can’t really move it any closer without putting it in the cupboard.  I used to have Scottish Power smart meter and IHD and that was fine. I’ll try powering it off and on again anyway and see if that does the trick, but have a feeling I might have tried that already. It’s so frustrating that I’ve had such an issue with it.

Blastoise186
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Ahh ok.

Sometimes these IHDs recover themselves overnight. But could you check a couple of things for me?

  1. Is the time and date correct when the IHD is powered up after allowing 90 seconds for it to connect
  2. Under Meter Info, do the correct meters show up?
  3. And finally under IHD Info, could you tell me what the Software Version says?
Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
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Yes, the time and date are correct after I power it back on. There isn't anything showing for meter info. Just waiting for meter reading, MPAN and supply status. The software version is IHD6 CAD PPMID 1.4 CAD 1.9. What are the four bars top left of the screen?  There is only one on, but then when I go into the menu for the IHD it sometimes goes up to 4. 

Blastoise186
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Software version looks good then and it would seem the IHD is healthy. It might pull down the data it needs overnight, but we’ll see.

The bars on the top right are the Wi-Fi for the internet connection, while the top left relates to the HAN signal from the Comms Hub on your electricity meter.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
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My saga continues. Still no display. I'm having to submit gas readings manually and tried to do this first time today. I have read it as 00259. My last reading before installation of the ovo smart meter was 03843, but it was zeroed then according to the label on the meter. When I try to input my current reading of 00259 it says it is lower than last time and check it and reinput. Any ideas because I'm stuck?

Blastoise186
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Thanks for the details @Dellara .

In that case, the best suggestion I can offer would be to chat with the Support Team and ask them for help getting these readings sorted out. Sounds like the new meters might not be registered properly.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!

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