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Can I get a SMETS2 installed, if I already have a SMETS1?

  • 1 August 2021
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My Gas/Electricity plan is up for renewal… If I switch to OVO can I get a SMETS2 Smart Meter installed if I already have a SMETS1?

My SMETS1 is effectively useless now and I want to get it replaced with a SMETS2 so I can stop doing manual readings.

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Best answer by Blastoise186 1 August 2021, 18:20

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Updated on 20/07/23 by Emmanuelle_OVO

Hey there @devsi !

The short answer to that question is… Maybe. And with a quick explainer about what’s happening to S1 with this guide.

However, it’s not quite as simple as that. If you’re happy to snap a few photos of your meters and pop them in your next reply, that will definitely help me out.

OVO’s stance on this stuff is that if you do switch with an S1 meter, they’ll either try to get it working as-is (which is possible if the meter is Secure branded), or after it gets upgraded to "SMETS1+” and connected to DCC as per the guide above. This will allow it to run like an S2 without a Meter Exchange taking place and would allow it to work with OVO.

As it just so happens, I did a blog on this exact stuff a while ago too.

However, there’s another piece of the puzzle. If OVO is completely unable to get an S1 meter to work at all despite trying every possible option and it fails to connect after being migrated to DCC, then a MEX to an S2 meter is one of the last-resort options that be deployed if needed. That’s what happened in my case. So I can pretty safely say that OVO would either be able to get your S1 meter working with OVO, or you’d be able to get it swapped out for an S2 free of charge if all else fails.

I would recommend allowing OVO to try and get the existing meter working first though, since that’s the least disruptive option. If I can see a few photos of your meters, I can try to give you a rough estimate as to when they might be migrated to DCC.

Whatever you decide to do though, we’ll be happy to help you out here on the forum completely free of charge. You won’t get any marketing emails from OVO just because you’re on here.

Userlevel 1

Hi @Blastoise186

 

That pretty much answers my question, thank you! I wasn’t aware that SMETS1 could be changed to work with other providers, but if Ovo can do that then I’m not overly bothered about SMETS2 (though would probably be more future proof).

 

Thanks for the help :)

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No worries :)

If you'd like to get a quote from OVO, you can do that right here. This link is not an affiliate link or referral link of any kind, so I don't get anything from it if you use it.

Well everybody, despite numerous phone calls to OVO and several possible solutions from the OVO community my problem still exists!

I am now expecting yet another stupidly high gas usage bill for this last month and all my credit to be wiped out………again!

I have been put through to the “complaints” department who have issued me another “promise” that I will get a call back within 5 (five) working days from the Advance resolution team to see how my complaint can be resolved.

The solution is easy peasy…reinstate a generation 2(two) smart meter to replace the gen2(two)meter that was originally installed and remove the gen1(one) meter that was fitted when the gen2(two) decided to stop working!

Hey guys, you can’t fit a gen1(one) smart meter if a gen2(two) was originally installed..

This is like pulling teeth!

I have decided to cancel my dd and take all my credit I have accrued before OVO take my smart meter reading and wipe me out….again.

 

Userlevel 7

Really sorry to hear this is still ongoing, @Alf.

 

As you can imagine no community members can offer much more support or advice about this. It sounds like you’ve done absolutely everything right in getting your complaint escalated in the absence of a fix. Well done!

 

If this isn’t resolved within 2 weeks, feel free to send me a private message and I’ll ask our Forum_Support team to make sure the complaint is with the right team. In the meantime, the cancellation of the Direct Debit isn’t recommended for most, but at least this takes some of the time pressure away from yourself with the risk of overpayment. As an additional step you might consider making one of payments for the amount you’d usually pay per month to make sure there’s credit in the account for when the account is billed correctly. 

 

Hope this gets resolved quickly,
Tim

Hello Tim,

After yesterday’s conversation with OVO I am happy my complaints now with the correct department. ( Advance resolution team)

I take on board your comment re leaving just the normal payment monies in my account, cancel my dd so OVO cant extract the extra and withdraw all the credit I have with OVO.

Getting this issue resolved really shouldn’t be this difficult, to be honest I am getting tired of being lied to by the OVO agents and being taken for a fool and being constantly fobbed off!

I  will now wait the 5 working days and if its not sorted I will pass it over to the OVO’c CEO to see if he can put it to bed.

“Getting it resolved quickly” I’m afraid is now out of the window.

 

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