No, in order to get an EV tariff from most, if not all suppliers, you will need to have a smart meter.

Ovo definitely needs a smart meter for charge anytime.

​@Hammerhead66 

If you could post pictures of your meter and the pipes, etc. around it then we may be able to offer some suggestions.

eg. A standard setup with the communications hub sat on top of the meter might not fit,  but it is possible to separate then using a flying lead and that setup might fit- IF the engineer knows that it will need a flying lead and so brings one long. (They don’t always have a spare one  on the van).

Thanks so much for the quick responses! This is the elect meter, it’s weirdly in the ground floor toilet and the pipes near it are toilet/water pipes but the consumer unit is in the loft. Hopefully there are options?

My first reaction is wow, what a mess.

Whilst there does look like there might be enough room to fit a smart meter there are other very obvious issues - I can understand why the engineer didn't want to touch it.

Is this a rental property?

A 33 year old meter shouldn't be an issue, but those adjacent pipes certainly are.

I can only assume that the large pipe came later than the meter, but TBH running any water pipes through an electric meter cabinet is asking for trouble.

Is it a macerating toilet? The pipe doesn't look big enough for a normal toilet soil pipe.

I would say that the piping needs to be re-routed before any electrical work can be carried out in safety.

If it is a macerating toilet then the pumped discharge should allow the waste pipe to be redirected.

Anyone else care to comment?

​@Hammerhead66 good morning, I hope you’re well and had a good weekend.

I’ve worked in the industry for a fair while now and have seen some weird and wonderful metering setups, and this is certainly a unique one! I’m no plumber, but I think that’s exactly what’s required here. Those pipes will need moving, as ​@Nukecad suggests, for a smart meter to fit in that space.

I’m going to call upon our resident metering expert ​@Lukepeniket_OVO to see if he has any further advice for this one.

There’s possibly another approach avoiding replumbing: those cylindrical boxes above the meter look to be eccentric (or even centric!) connection blocks. I can’t tell what the black box to the left of the meter is or does, but it doesn’t appear to matter much if the cables to the cylindrical connection boxes come from the black box or direct from the meter: the boxes themselves could be shifted out of the way to the left and right, leaving space for a new smart meter between them. A bit of chipboard on top of the ply would give a basis for the new meter (and perhaps some 21st century Henley blocks instead of the round ones) to be mounted on.

The metal sheeting could be a problem, depending on its orientation and extent. No radio signal is going to have an easy job getting through that, so a flying lead might well be needed if the meter’s to make contact with the outside world.

Let’s see what the oracle Ben summoned has to say.

Thanks for those suggestions ​@Firedog - I’ve passed them down the line internally. I’ll hopefully have an answer for ​@Hammerhead66 from our engineers soon.

Hi again ​@Hammerhead66,

I just wanted to let you know that we haven’t forgotten you, but I haven’t heard back from my colleague in Metering yet.

If you like, you could email the photo through to hello@ovoenergy.com, and whoever picks it up can raise a case to our engineers to check what needs doing for the job to be completed.

I’ll let you know when I hear back on my end.

Good afternoon ​@Ben_OVO many thanks at looking this this closely for me. Anything would would allow a smart meter and then EV charging would be appreciated! 

answering some of the other questions, ​@Nukecad, it’s not rental I bought the property recently, the owner was a builder and did all the work himself over 30 years. The toilet isn’t demarcating from what I can see it doesn’t appear to be special. 
 

many thanks for all the insights so far!

Hey ​@Hammerhead66 

Do let us know how you get on after those photos have been submitted to the Support Team and if they go ahead with a booking off the back of this.

​@Hammerhead66 

A macerating toilet doesn’t necessarily look different to a standard one.
It can often be a standard toilet with the macerator box set behind it.
(The box may even be hidden behind a ‘false wall’).

As an example, and an explanation of how they work, see: https://www.qssupplies.co.uk/macerator-toilets-explained-how-to-add-a-bathroom-anywhere.html

You can usually hear the macerating part of it chomping away after a flush too.

​@Hammerhead66 sorry for the delay. I’ve heard back from our engineers, who’ve confirmed that the pipe would most likely have to be moved for the meter to be exchanged. They’ve also advised that access to the cut-out would be needed, which is currently obscured by the boarding in front of the meter. Can any more of the boarding be removed, or is it just the piece that’s been removed to take that photo?

Thanks Ben and everyone for their responses. I had someone check if it’s a macerating toilet, it’s not, the waste pipes go out the back wall, the grey pipes in the photo are just grey water from the sink going out.

OVO came back with what the engineer wrote down in the response report as follows “space restrictions and blocked cutout Customer to get all sorted and then rebook What needs to happen space restrictions and blocked cutout”

​@Ben_OVO this lines up with your report. The cutout can’t be moved I will need to drill remove the whole thing which means entire remodelling of the bathroom. How much space is required for the meter, any ideas on sizes? As I don’t want to remodel and then be told still not enough space. Seems a lot of work and spend…

This is the official guidance from HMG:

A good installer can make do with less: the 100mm either side are for the service head (cut-out) and any other stuff that might be needed in a virgin installation. There’s generous tail space below the meter itself to allow for safely bending 25mm² cables through 180º. The service head doesn’t need to be moved so long as the engineer can get to it to fit new tails if he needs to.

If you could find that much space, fine. If you can’t, see how close you could get and then ask OVO again whether it would be enough. You’ll probably need a new backboard, too, but that’s not necessarily a big problem if the service head is mounted separately as it seems to be. Backboards aren’t expensive and are often stocked by hardware stores in approved sizes - they’re just chipboard or similar. 

Super helpful thanks ​@Firedog 🙏🏼

That’s what I come here for! 

I hope you read my signature … As an afterthought, and needing an excuse not to do what I was supposed to be doing this afternoon, I asked my resident AI chatbot about this problem. I was amazed at the results, which I’m sure contain some helpful bits. I would just take most of what he said with a large portion of salt; for example, he seems not to have noticed the waste pipes that started this conversation off.

Just for fun, then, here’s a slightly edited (for brevity!) version of what Microsoft’s Copilot came up with:

🎯 Your meter is a Sangamo S200·7 in the standard “Case 7” enclosure The photo shows the classic Sangamo S‑series induction meter with: Four‑dial register Cast aluminium front Bakelite terminal cover Side‑mounted terminal block The characteristic Case 7 proportions (tall, narrow, deep) This case type was used across the S200, S201, S202 and S213 families.

📐 Exact dimensions (manufacturer spec) Sangamo Case 7 (S200·7) Width: 170 mm Height: 305 mm Depth: 140 mm (front to terminal cover) Depth including wiring space: ~165–175 mm These are the standard catalogue dimensions used by meter installers and appear in Sangamo’s mechanical drawings for the S‑series.

🧱 Clearance needed for a smart meter replacement Smart meters (EDMI ES‑10B, Kaifa MA120, Aclara SGM1400) are: Wider (≈ 190–220 mm) Shorter (≈ 250–270 mm) Shallower (≈ 85–110 mm) Your current wooden enclosure is tall enough, but not wide enough for most SMETS2 meters unless the backboard is modified. Based on your photo: Internal width of the cabinet looks ≈ 200–210 mm Smart meter minimum width needed: 220–240 mm including tails + isolator So the installer’s comment about “no space” is accurate — but solvable.

📏 Clearance & Space Requirements (Your Cabinet) Based on your photo and standard SMETS2 meter dimensions: 1. Smart meter (typical SMETS2 size) Width: 190–220 mm Height: 250–270 mm Depth: 85–110 mm Your cabinet internal width appears to be ~200–210 mm, which is just enough if the meter is centred and tails are routed downward rather than sideways. 2. Isolator switch Typical 100 A isolator: Width: 75–90 mm Height: 110–130 mm Depth: 65–75 mm Required clearance below meter: ➡ 110 mm minimum ➡ 130–150 mm ideal Your cabinet has this space. 3. Henley blocks (2 × 100 A splitters) Each block: Width: 45–55 mm Height: 65–75 mm Depth: 35–45 mm Required clearance to the right of meter: ➡ 70–90 mm horizontal space Your cabinet’s right‑hand side (next to the earth block) appears to have ~100 mm, so this fits. 4. Tails routing You need: 50–60 mm free space below isolator for tails Gentle radius (no tight bends) P‑clips every 120–150 mm Your cabinet depth is sufficient.

📐 Dimensioned Engineering Sketch (ASCII) Proposed layout inside your existing wooden cabinet +----------------------------------------------+ ¦                CABINET (internal)            ¦ ¦                Width ˜ 205 mm                ¦ ¦                Height ˜ 480–520 mm           ¦ ¦                                              ¦ ¦   +------------------------------+           ¦ ¦   ¦        SMETS2 METER          ¦           ¦ ¦   ¦   (Kaifa MA120 or similar)   ¦           ¦ ¦   ¦                              ¦           ¦ ¦   ¦   Width: 190–220 mm          ¦           ¦ ¦   ¦   Height: 250–270 mm         ¦           ¦ ¦   ¦   Depth:  85–110 mm          ¦           ¦ ¦   +------------------------------+           ¦ ¦                 ?                            ¦ ¦                 ¦  Clearance above meter     ¦ ¦                 ¦  (existing junction boxes) ¦ ¦                 ¦  ˜ 120–150 mm              ¦ ¦                                              ¦ ¦   +------------------------------+           ¦ ¦   ¦         ISOLATOR             ¦           ¦ ¦   ¦   Width: 75–90 mm            ¦           ¦ ¦   ¦   Height: 110–130 mm         ¦           ¦ ¦   ¦   Depth:  65–75 mm           ¦           ¦ ¦   +------------------------------+           ¦ ¦                                              ¦ ¦   Tails drop: 50–60 mm                       ¦ ¦                                              ¦ ¦   +---------------+   +--------------+       ¦ ¦   ¦ HENLEY BLOCK  ¦   ¦ HENLEY BLOCK ¦       ¦ ¦   ¦  (Live)       ¦   ¦  (Neutral)   ¦       ¦ ¦   ¦  W: 45–55 mm  ¦   ¦  W: 45–55 mm ¦       ¦ ¦   ¦  H: 65–75 mm  ¦   ¦  H: 65–75 mm ¦       ¦ ¦   ¦  D: 35–45 mm  ¦   ¦  D: 35–45 mm ¦       ¦ ¦   +---------------+   +--------------+       ¦ ¦                                              ¦ ¦   Existing earth block remains in situ       ¦ ¦   (adequate clearance to right side)         ¦ +----------------------------------------------+

Sorry about the silly pink diagram, which I can’t edit 😠

Wow !!! That’s the most comprehensive result I’ve seen yet from an AI thing !!