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First month of having a smart meter - can anyone help?

  • 6 February 2018
  • 13 replies
  • 1410 views
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Hi everyone, so I have got round to getting a smart meter for gas and electricity installed, however, myovo still says I need to submit readings. I can see my daily usage since the meters were installed, and my predicted bill total cost.

So,

Do I need to submit a reading? And is the estimated bill amount right as it says for the period Jan 20th - Feb 11th. I did take the readings last night (but didn't submit them) but they seem wrong compared to the previous dumb meter usage. The readings were reset to 0 after installation but my Gas shows 145Kwh, I assume the old dumb meter was in units rather than Kwh which my new meter shows after all the conversions and calculations are done automatically? This would explain why the website suggests the figures are too high.

Any insights or pointers would be very gratefully received!

Steven
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Best answer by Paul 7 February 2018, 10:17

Don't worry about submitting. It waits until it takes the first reading when bill due before changing to "you have a smart meter and dont need to submit".



The meter should still show units, though it also displays other data such as kwh. There is a user guide on the ovo website for reading the meter manually. Buttons 9 and 6 are the ones to use.



https://www.ovoenergy.com/ovo-answers/topics/smart-technology/smart-meters/what-do-the-lights-and-buttons-mean-on-my-ovo-smart-meter.html
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13 replies

P
Rank
Userlevel 2
Don't worry about submitting. It waits until it takes the first reading when bill due before changing to "you have a smart meter and dont need to submit".

The meter should still show units, though it also displays other data such as kwh. There is a user guide on the ovo website for reading the meter manually. Buttons 9 and 6 are the ones to use.

https://www.ovoenergy.com/ovo-answers/topics/smart-technology/smart-meters/what-do-the-lights-and-buttons-mean-on-my-ovo-smart-meter.html
Nancy_OVO
Userlevel 6
Thanks for your help there, @Paul!
Your guiding light(bulb)
M
Rank
Hi there,

I had my smart meter installed on Monday, engineer said everything is fine, and am quite happy with it so far. I'm just wondering when automatic readings will appear on the website, as right now it still offers me to input readings myself.

Am I just too impatient?
Nancy_OVO
Userlevel 6
Hi there,

I had my smart meter installed on Monday, engineer said everything is fine, and am quite happy with it so far. I'm just wondering when automatic readings will appear on the website, as right now it still offers me to input readings myself.

Am I just too impatient?

Hey @Mendo,

Check out the answer marked 'best answer' on this topic - should answer your question :)

Nancy
Your guiding light(bulb)
M
Rank
Hi Nancy,

Cheers! But I think thereay actually be an issue because last night I found the WAN2 light flashing red. I have mobile reception where the meter is located, but the meter is located inside a cupboard, which may swallow the remaining signal...
Nancy_OVO
Userlevel 6
The WAN light should be flashing, @Mendo - this means it's got signal! Check out this page for more info on how your smart meter works.

Nancy
Your guiding light(bulb)
M
Rank
Well, hi again! Thanks for the effort, but I fear there is indeed something wrong.

The website is telling me it's not receiving any readings. I can't enter my readings, because I have an economy 7 tariff and the website is only offering a single input field. My entire past reading history has also vanished, although I assume that's on purpose as it's a new meter.

When I go to Payments, I get this error:
No meter found for: ELECTRICITY_DAY... Cannot get costed rates. Please try again later.

Everything appears to be alright with the meter - the WAN light flashes 5 times with one second inbetween intervals, the meteorological LED next to the keypad blinks once about every 3 seconds, I can take readings and I've got power.

Any ideas?

[edit]
Oh, and the meter serial number on the website is correct - the same as on the installed meter.
Transparent
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Userlevel 7
Badge +2

Don't panic, @Mendo,

There's quite a lot of background stuff to sort out after a Smart Meter is first installed. OVO don't communicate with it directly. All Smart Meter commands are routed via the Data Communications Company (DCC). They will receive a notification from OVO to inform them that your meter is in place, and requesting that readings be allocated to them.

DCC will run tests on your meter to verify all is well. Additional software upgrades can be installed at this stage.

Next the meter is sent your Tariff data, which DCC acquire from OVO. This will enable it to set up registers for each payment level. Sometime after that the meter will start getting polled overnight, and it should commence sending usage figures, which DCC pass to OVO.

Only then will you begin to see real usage data arriving on your My OVO page.

This sequence often extends beyond the next date when you would normally send a manual reading. If you wish to do so, then you can always email it to them and Customer Services will insert it into the billing system for you.

Save energy... recycle electrons!
S
Rank
I had a smart meter installed on 8th June, how come I just received an estimated bill from May to present. You removed my old meters in June, therefore had the correct readings and then from June to now with a smart meter installed should not be estimating anything!
I'm waiting for the "raise your direct debit amount email" which is when I say bye bye now.
S
Rank
I had a smart meter fitted on 18th April, but I've been receiving emails saying I need to submit meter readings or loose my discount.

I managed to muddle my way through the smart meter to get the Electric figure and submit via the app, but cannot fathom out how to do the gas.

Anyone able to help or explain why I have to do this - I thought the smart meter is supposed to do it all by itself?
Nancy_OVO
Userlevel 6
I had a smart meter installed on 8th June, how come I just received an estimated bill from May to present. You removed my old meters in June, therefore had the correct readings and then from June to now with a smart meter installed should not be estimating anything!
I'm waiting for the "raise your direct debit amount email" which is when I say bye bye now.

Hi @Soss,

I've moved your post over here. You should be able to get the information you need, but do leave a comment if you need any more questions answered!

Nancy
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Nancy_OVO
Userlevel 6
I had a smart meter fitted on 18th April, but I've been receiving emails saying I need to submit meter readings or loose my discount.

I managed to muddle my way through the smart meter to get the Electric figure and submit via the app, but cannot fathom out how to do the gas.

Anyone able to help or explain why I have to do this - I thought the smart meter is supposed to do it all by itself?

Hey @Stewyb,

I've moved your post to this thread. Have a look at the 'best answer' at the top for the information you need. It's worth mentioning it can take 6 to 8 weeks from your smart meter exchange for us to receive all the relevant information from our engineers to update your account. If it's taken longer than this, we may be missing information. We can chase it up for you if you give us a call on 0330 303 5063.

Nancy
Your guiding light(bulb)
S
Rank
Hi Nancy,

Thanks for your comments, I’ll call in - safe to say it’s been more than 6-8 weeks.

Will comment an update after speaking to someone 😃

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