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gareth
Rank 1
November 21, 2021
Solved

Gas Smart meter failed battery failed and I'm off supply - How can I get an emergency appointment at the weekend?

  • November 21, 2021
  • 63 replies
  • 16754 views

Smart meter failed.  No display. Will not wake up, no warnings (Audiable) or on the smart meter in-house display  Spoke to Cadet they said the meter faulty.   Why do smart meters fail closed?  The fail appeared on Saturday afternoon, Central heating boiler detected no gas ignition.  Cadet said OVO are responsible for the meter and require it to be replaced.  Just seems mad to fail closed.  No heating/hot water for nearly 2 days.

I assume as the fault is with the OVO there will be a compensation owed for inconvenience.

 

Meter approx 10 years old.

Best answer by Jess_OVO

Updated 26/11/25 by Ben_OVO

 

I’m so sorry to hear your gas meter battery failed, @gareth, particularly as this left you off-supply. 

 

All gas meters (Smart and traditional) have an internal battery that power them. This is designed to last for up to 20 years, with a meter recertification (exchanging the meter to replace it with a new one) scheduled every 10 years, so it’s unusual for this issue to crop up so soon. If your gas smart meter is making a beeping sound, it indicates that the battery is low and the meter will need replacing. If the battery fails this can affect the supply, as in your case, so it’s important to reach out to our Support Team if you do ever notice that your meter is beeping.

 

It’s really distressing to hear that this happened out-of-hours and you were unable to give us a call. For electricity, the Distribution Network Operator in your region can be contacted directly when an energy supplier is closed, and the electricity meter is off supply due to fault. They should be able to replace that meter and get the property back on supply. This safeguard is in place as electricity is considered an essential service with medical equipment and even medicines in fridges requiring a continuous electricity supply. With that in mind, we always advise anyone in such a situation to register for the priority services register.

 

In a scenario where the gas meter is faulty and off supply and the energy supplier is closed, the National Grid will be unable to replace the meter. In the case of OVO Energy, our Support Team are on hand 6 days a week to help arrange a short notice engineer visit to replace that meter. 

 

Emergency and contact details can be found here:

 

 

I’m hoping you’ve managed to get through to the team to arrange a same-day emergency appointment already. Keep us posted if you need any extra help. 

63 replies

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K
Rank 2
knightbeat
Rank 2
June 16, 2023

Warranties are bonded to the owner of the device and it’s manufacturer. No other party can enforce the terms of said warranty. Because the customer doesn’t own the meter - it belongs to the supplier - and therefore the warranty is between the manufacturer and the supplier you are not entitled to make warranty claims against it.

And besides, faulty meter replacements are already free to the customer anyway. So there’s erm… Nothing more that a “warranty” could do.

If you’re interested, that ownership is enshrined by law under the Gas Act 1986 and Electricity Act 1989.

Yes, that’s fine. The customer does not even have to involve in product warranty-related matters. What the customer should get is a guarantee of NO DISRUPTIONS in the energy supply due to faulty meters. Technical issues can happen and will happen! Especially, with smart tech where there are many dependencies compared to traditional/simple tech, the probability of that doesn’t get lower. If the energy suppliers, and smart meter manufacturers claim that the rate of faults/disruption hasn’t gone up (if they are that confident) why can’t they offer a compensation model? The energy supplier can claim it back from the equipment manufacturer. Keeping someone in the cold and dark in the weekend due to a faulty smart meter isn’t fair, is it?

Blastoise186
Super User
Blastoise186Super User
Super User
June 16, 2023

So in other words… Suppliers have to payout because you caused a fault by tampering? Suppliers have to payout because you refused to let them swap a meter before wear and tear killed it? Suppliers have to payout because you deliberately ignored a low battery warning for several months…?

Doesn’t work that way. I think you already know that what you’re asking for is impossible even with Traditional Meters.

I rest my case

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way! Remember, I'm just like you - AI Powered Evil Geniuses aren't Staff!
K
Rank 2
knightbeat
Rank 2
June 16, 2023

Try reading it in full (as in all 108 pages) and you’ll understand where I’m coming from.

Have a nice day.

I understood where you are coming from 😅 (from this point onward, it is a matter of credibility; I think you understood it yourself when I asked you to elaborate and connect the dots between the article you pointed out and the smart meter appliance user manual you sent afterwards.)

Thank you, and have a nice day. 

The reason I engaged in this discussion is not to fight against smart meters. I was a bit fascinated by the in-home display and I felt that it would be a cool thing not to worry about crawling under the electrical cabinet to take readings etc and to have an IHD as a cool gadget. Most of the content I found online and feedback from people who have Smart Meters installed were negative. Therefore, I was in a way looking for one credible source to help me believe that I won’t have to regret my decision. 

I’ve been committed to things in this country by trusting professionals and companies who show expertise in what they do. But every when something goes wrong, the experience was very similar to what @Turratim has described in their comment. With energy suppliers also, the experience is much better now once OVO took over from SSE due to the good online portal experience—but I’m not sure if contacting someone has become any easier. 

 

K
Rank 2
knightbeat
Rank 2
June 16, 2023

So in other words… Suppliers have to payout because you caused a fault by tampering? Suppliers have to payout because you refused to let them swap a meter before wear and tear killed it? Suppliers have to payout because you deliberately ignored a low battery warning for several months…?

Doesn’t work that way. I think you already know that what you’re asking for is impossible even with Traditional Meters.

I rest my case

It doesn’t have to work that way either! What are you talking about?

You are bringing irrelevant stuff to confuse the discussion by adding noise. Who asked to pay for tampering-related issues? I was ONLY talking about a scenario where a homeowner gets their existing meters replaced with smart meters as per the supplier’s instructions and then has to go through disruptions due to a faulty smart meter. It’s a very precise scope that I’m talking about.  A very precise scope which the homeowner has no fault or control over.

Blastoise186
Super User
Blastoise186Super User
Super User
June 16, 2023

This is my last comment on this thread.

In recent memory, there has only been ONE case on this forum that I can think of where a Smart Meter in Credit Mode totally failed due to something messing up with Smart functionality. That was around October/November last year and even then, the supply remained active. I happened to be visiting OVO’s Bristol HQ that week and asked one of the internal experts for a diagnosis by showing him the thread. We came to the conclusion it probably died as a result of firmware corruption, but the Metrology Processor and therefore Metrology Firmware managed to remain alive to enough of an extent to keep the supply on.

That meter was replaced as faulty but the customer wasn’t disrupted in the meantime.

There’s tons of tricks that help with this. The manual I gave you documents some of them.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way! Remember, I'm just like you - AI Powered Evil Geniuses aren't Staff!
    K
    Rank 2
    knightbeat
    Rank 2
    June 16, 2023

    This is my last comment on this thread.

    In recent memory, there has only been ONE case on this forum that I can think of where a Smart Meter in Credit Mode totally failed due to something messing up with Smart functionality. That was around October/November last year and even then, the supply remained active. I happened to be visiting OVO’s Bristol HQ that week and asked one of the internal experts for a diagnosis by showing him the thread. We came to the conclusion it probably died as a result of firmware corruption, but the Metrology Processor and therefore Metrology Firmware managed to remain alive to enough of an extent to keep the supply on.

    That meter was replaced as faulty but the customer wasn’t disrupted in the meantime.

    There’s tons of tricks that help with this. The manual I gave you documents some of them.

    By the way, I apologise if my comments in any manner affected you professionally. Also, thank you a lot for all the responses/feedback.

      K
      Rank 2
      knightbeat
      Rank 2
      June 16, 2023

      This is my last comment on this thread.

      In recent memory, there has only been ONE case on this forum that I can think of where a Smart Meter in Credit Mode totally failed due to something messing up with Smart functionality. That was around October/November last year and even then, the supply remained active. I happened to be visiting OVO’s Bristol HQ that week and asked one of the internal experts for a diagnosis by showing him the thread. We came to the conclusion it probably died as a result of firmware corruption, but the Metrology Processor and therefore Metrology Firmware managed to remain alive to enough of an extent to keep the supply on.

      That meter was replaced as faulty but the customer wasn’t disrupted in the meantime.

      There’s tons of tricks that help with this. The manual I gave you documents some of them.

      Also, thanks a lot for the quick response you have given in the other thread regarding smart meters. That was quite helpful. 

        R
        Newcomer
        Ryanb1977
        Newcomer
        October 22, 2023

        Phoned ovo yesterday about faulty meter and got told an engineer will be around within 4hrs, I’m a vulnerable person and have had no heating or hot water for 48hrs now.
        Why is there not a 24-7 phone number to talk to someone?

        you only find out how good a company is when you have an issue and clearly now I’ve read the forum and feedback I’m probably going to change suppliers as I need a reliable energy supplier. 

          Blastoise186
          Super User
          Blastoise186Super User
          Super User
          October 22, 2023

          It’s not just OVO that are closed on a Sunday and have limited weekend service - just about all suppliers are the same. But it is changing as of December.

          If you’re off supply for electric, call 105 and your DNO will assist.

          The forum is not a good place to use for a decision like that - many OVO customers are perfectly happy but never post here. 99% of posts are from people who have a question, want to rant/moan or have a problem.

          Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way! Remember, I'm just like you - AI Powered Evil Geniuses aren't Staff!
            D
            Newcomer
            Davison01
            Newcomer
            December 6, 2023

            No gas supply, gas meter displays error message FAILED and it’s out of opening hours with no way of getting help

            Show more replies
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