Failed smart meter installation, what next?

Hi,

I was also told that I would be entitled to £30 last month when they didn’t show up to my April appointment either. 
Can I get an appointment where someone will show up please? I would like smart meters in my house. 
The bookings in April and May have both been no shows with no contact. 
Can someone ensure me that someone will actually turn up if I was to book another appointment? Or would I be better off changing to another company. 
thank you 

Hi @Greycat

Welcome to the customer forum, i am just a customer like you.

Sorry to hear about the issues. 

No one on the forum can answer those questions as no one here can access your account, including all the OVO moderators. 

Your best option is to raise this via a phone call or chat. 

https://help.ovoenergy.com/#contact_us_container

We were due to have an engineer out today. They haven't shown up no contact or anything. How do I contact to find out what's happening as lines shut after slot did. 

You could try Twitter or Facebook which usually does run later. 

Hey @Dragonb1 

I’m really sorry to hear about this.

Have you been back in touch with the Support Team this morning to have them rearrange the appointment? If not, please do get in touch with the team.

As the engineer missed the last appointment, you may also be entitled to £30 compensation, check out this page for more on this: https://www.ovoenergy.com/help/article/guaranteed-standard-of-performance-gsop.

Good evening I tried on my lunch break today and the phone line crashed l, I thought the gentleman was going to call me back, but he didn't. 

Hey @Dragonb1 

Sorry to hear this.

If you’ve not had this re-arranged yet, then I’d recommend going to the Support Team via live chat to get this sorted.

My Smart Meter installation failed.  I.e. did not work according to the installing engineer. He reinstated our old Economy Seven meter set up.  That was all a waste of his time and Ovo’s money.

What happens next?

Hey @John kent, 

I’m sorry to hear that the meter installation failed. Did the engineer give you any indication why the meter replacement failed? There could be a few possible reasons such as communication issues where the meter can’t join the network and therefore wouldn’t function properly. Are you a THTC or RTS customer that’s moving from one of those meters to a new smart meter? Apologies for all the questions just trying to get a better understanding of your circumstances. 

If you could share some photo’s of your meter setup that would really help us understand what setup you have and how best to try and help you. 

We’ve been going through major issues getting smart meters installed for the first time, and I was wondering if anyone else had experienced similar?

It’s seems to be almost entirely down to the ridiculous subcontracting system Ovo use which means each engineering visit is to do a specific job rather than just get the meters working. Each time the engineer identifies a new issue, instead of being allowed to fix it, it gets logged as a new job which needs another appointment.  We’ve had 7 visits so far, with a further one supposed to be scheduled soon.

The summary so far is:

Visit 1 (July 2025) - Installed meters and IHD, advised all would be operational in max 4-6 weeks. Result - working gas smart meter, no working electric or IHD

Visit 2 - Visit to perform full reset. Identified issue with electric meter. 

Visit 3 - Replace electric meter. Identified issue with comms module. 

Visit 4 - Replace comms module and recommission everything. Result - electric working, gas no longer working, IHD not working

Visit 5 - Replace gas meter, couldn’t get it to commission

Visit 6 - Identified replacement comms hub is the wrong kind (single band) and needs to be replaced

Visit 7 (December 2025) - Engineer arrived without a replacement comms hub. Replaced gas meter, couldn’t get it to commission, replaced gas meter again, couldn’t get it to commission. Advised us to book another appointment specifically requesting a full reinstall of both meters and the DB hub.

I submitted a complaint 2 weeks ago and have not heard anything.  Every engineer has said OVO should contact me for the follow-up appointment but that has never happened either.

To top it all off, I phoned OVO this morning and when trying to book the appointment they advised both smart meters are now working.  They said maybe the gas meter kicked in after the engineer left somehow?  Anyway, I still need a working IHD, and so appointment number 8 is going to be scheduled shortly….

Hi ​@woodstok2000, I hope you’re well despite the mess that’s unfolded since the original installation.

I’m so sorry this has happened - it’s pretty crazy to read. I’ve worked at OVO for nine years nearly and have never seen such a palaver to get meters installed - the vast majority of appointments go ahead without a hitch. It sounds like you’ve just been very unlucky indeed. 

If you made a complaint you should have been given a complaints reference number. I’d say get in touch with our Support Team to check if it was ever raised, and to get it raised if not. Our complaints information can be found here.

I’m happy to hear that the smart meters are potentially both working now, and I hope this is true. This article should help you determine whether this is the case:

If you need an IHD then this isn’t something you need an engineer for. You can simply ask our Support Team to get you one sent in the post, free of charge. Once you received it you’ll need to contact Support again to ask them to help pair the IHD to the smart meters.

Thanks ​@Ben_OVO  - I already have an IHD, it’s just never worked - that may just be because the meters never really worked before though. If the current IHD was paired to the original (non-functional) meters do I need a new one to now pair with the new working meters, or can this one be paired to the new meters instead?

We saw a case recently where an IHD refused to pair with a newly-installed meter. It turned out that it had to have been reset before the re-pairing could take place. Once the preliminary step had been completed, pairing proceeded as expected. So it looks like you don’t need a new one, but I’m sure Ben will confirm one way or the other tomorrow. 

Yes that’s right, ​@woodstok2000 our Support Team should hopefully be able to get the IHD you’ve already got paired again. If not they’ll send a new one free of charge.

Great - I had a call from the complaints team this morning, they’re sending a new IHD out as ours is completely unresponsive. 

Great news! It should arrive within the next couple of weeks in theory, but Christmas might delay it I imagine.

When you receive the new IHD contact the Support Team and they’ll pair it up for you.