Help / advice for getting RTS meters changed after failed and cancelled appointments?

Hi ​@khr ,

The actual deadline is September 2025. There’s new kit rolling out right now, so you may want to check again as the new kit fixes most WAN issues up north.

Otherwise, try https://ovoenergy.com/feedback 

Thank you Blastoise186.  I hope the new kit works and relieved the deadline is a bit further off.  I am sorry you have to work so hard finding this information out as a volunteer. It would be much better if the OVO staff/Call Operators were as informed as yourself especially on the RTS specific phone line.  It has been extremely frustrating over the lack and poor communication from OVO.

There is a dedicated team known as Squad 70 who should be fully clued up on this stuff - and that’s the one you should have been dealing with the entire time.

I will see if we can get this fed back to internal teams as I’m concerned about your experience. One of the perks of being a Forum Volunteer - we can ask the Forum Moderators to fling stuff around the office if we feel it’s needed.

As for myself? Well, lets just say I’m incredibly well informed because I’ve got industry contacts...

Things are moving quickly with RTS, potential problems were known and waiting for new solutions, new problems are being identified ‘in the field’.
New solutions are being implemented ASAP. eg the new type communications hubs now becoming available.

As always with such ‘migrations’ the easier cases get done first, then the more tricky ones, the most difficult ones tend to be last. (But do have the experience gained from all the ones already done).

It’s moving that quickly that what was the best advice one week may be different the next week, and the general support agents can’t keep up with everything that is changing.

Remember that the general support people have to do their normal job of dealing with the usual range of daily customer queries, and they may not see many RTS queries at all.

I’ve been asking for appointments for 3 months now to change 4 RTS meters. SSE insisted on fitting smart meters to other properties a while back. They don’t work

First time, fair enough “we do realise smart meters don’t work in your area but we don’t actually know what’s happening, try again next month”. This is the only person I’ve spoken to who seemed to have accurate, if inadequate, information

Get letter  from OVO, make an appointment for 3 of the properties. Rang up & got appointment for 3 10 days ago. Was told a dumb meter would be fitted and only 1 tariff available. Economy 10. Agreed it for all 3.

Engineer came. I left him at the property, he said he’d only have time for this one . I didn’t check till 2 days ago. He’d fitted a new junction box, nothing else. Coincidentally I got another letter from OVO today telling me to make another appointment for this property.

Meantime I’d made an appointment for the remaining three for today. They are all holiday cottages and as well as my wasted time I have to withdraw them from bookings for a minimum of 3 days costing me around £2000. Engineer came 5 minutes before end of her first 2 hour window. She confirmed no new meter in the first property & looked at 2 of the others (no time for the 3rd). She spent 1 hour on phone to her bosses explaining that she did not have the right sort of meter to fit. I have no criticism of her, she was very helpful and sympathetic, but she’d been sent out with the wrong information.

I followed up that second letter from OVO requesting an appointment for the first property. Highly unsympathetic lady who said she’d been told this morning that they were not fitting dumb meters any more, but traditional meters and time clocks. I queried why the engineer had been sent out without this information and asked to raise a complaint. She refused to accept a complaint saying any complaint had to go to Ofgem. 

I have wasted hours of my life on this making appointments, waiting for engineers being told utter rubbish by OVO staff. The first I hear of the programme being delayed till Sept is this thread.

It is utterly incompetent. If Squad 70, or whoever know what’s happening why doesn’t everyone in OVO who handles these matters? I remember now, my first contact did say there was a team dealing with RTS meters, I guess this squad. She gave me a phone number. It went straight through to the normal OVO call centre.

Hey ​@Glenprosen,

Please accept our apologies for the difficulties you've encountered. The RTS shutdown has presented significant challenges for many, and we empathise with the frustration our members have experienced due to frequently changing information.

​@Firedog has raised valid points. OVO does not offer business or commercial plans. If you are generating income from the properties, it is recommended that you seek a supplier that provides such contracts. Currently, you are in breach of your contract terms, which could lead to further complications.

Regarding the meter replacement, the shutdown process has unfortunately revealed unforeseen challenges that our infrastructure and metering teams are diligently working to resolve. While we are actively developing solutions for all scenarios, there may be instances where an engineer will need to abort an installation if completion is not possible. These situations are reported through our engineering systems, allowing us to explore alternative approaches.

Just wanted to give an update, as I’ve had another frustrating day on trying to get my meters switched and just wanted to warn others. 

I yet again had to contact OVO to book an appointment as no one had contacted me within 2 weeks.  A few days later I found out SSE were doing a planned shut down of power to do work on a local transformer, on the day of the Engineer’s appointment.  Phoned the RTS hotline number thinking I would need to change the appointment but was told this was ideal and Engineers did not need the power on to test it was working.  I was very surprised at this and am kicking myself that I did not insist on changing the appointment.  I recognised the Call Operator voice as someone I had spoken to before (particular accent and confident manner).  This Call Operator had reassured me previously on booking one of the previous abortive appointments that the problem with my meter installation had been resolved, when it had not.

And you’ve guessed it, the Engineer turned up today and could not install the smart meter with out the electricity supply.  I now have to try and book another appointment.  On the positive, the Engineer is confident that he can install the smart meter and it will work with the new cell technology (like a sim card using mobile phone signals).  Well I hope it works as I’m hearing locally about smart meters not being reliable and breaking down,

Morning ​@khr,

I’m really sorry to hear this, it’s a shame to hear that this misadvice caused you to wait in, and for OVO to send an engineer out unnecessarily. I’ll make sure this is fed back internally.

I’m happy to hear that the engineer was confident about the next visit, and please do keep us updated as to how it goes. Fingers crossed for a positive outcome next time round! 🤞

Please see previous threads for background, I couldn’t seem to add to the above thread.

Update  

This time a SMS Engineer was unable to install a smart meter to replace the 2 RT meters (under THTC tariff) last week. 

He had to go through the procedure again of trying the system using WAN (Wider Area Network) signal just in case it was working - there was no WAN signal.  I understand they might have to go through this procedure again on the next appointment.  I do wonder if a signal from WAN is achieved, will the WAN continue to work and switch the heaters/hot water on/off with the Economy 10 programme?

There seems to be a problem with the new cell system using 2G/3G, that the previous Engineer had suggested would work on last failed appointment.  OVO apparently won’t be using 2G/3G cell hubs at the end of the year which means the meter would need to be changed again if it had been installed.  From information from my mobile provider the 3G network is being switched off in my area this month.  

 It also appeared that the OVO team liaising with the Engineer last week (I saw the text replies) were trying to get my meters changed to a dumb mode smart meter which was not programme to economy 10 and would have left me on a single tariff expensive rate and not switching storage heaters/hot water on/off.  To me this was leaving me in the situation of one of the scenarios as claimed if the RT had stopped working.  As the RT is working why leave me in this situation? .Was this just to reduce OVOs fines on not installing/switching enough smart meters?

I note on other threads going back a few months in the forum, 4G hubs should be used with a preprogramme economy 10.  The Engineer did not have this in his kit.  Why was I not offered this?  How long is 4G going to last?  Are there any other options?  What meter/communication hub should I be asking for?  I would be wonderful if there was an option without a smart meter,  

To anyone else with similar problems, I now understand the Radio Transmitter is not just about to stop working.  Some areas the RT is about to be controlled to switch off if there are no old meters still to switch.  I find this unlikely in  the Highlands.

Eventually, I want to change the heating and hot water system to something more efficient but at the moment I can’t with the 2 meters system.  I feel I am stuck with OVO but not getting unbiased and clear information to make an informed decision. I am not sure I’ve understood all this correctly and am left confused which is perhaps what is intended. 

I hope this information is useful to others.  Thanks to anyone who can answer the questions.

Bear with me! I'm thinking about this and I'll respond later today 

Hey ​@khr,

We’ve heard from engineers that installing meters for customers affected by the RTS shutdown has been a complex process involving a lot of trial and error. I’m sorry if working towards a fix takes some time. The teams are working hard to resolve things for everyone affected.

I’ll try my best to give some answers to the points you raised above: 

1. There are some pilots at the moment for a 4G communications hub, but to my knowledge, this isn’t currently available to engineers, and it’s still being tested for long-term viability. Part of the DCC’s network evolution plan is having this replacement last at least 15 years, and you can read more about the evolution plan here.
2. There are circumstances when all the troubleshooting steps don’t work for specific setups. In that scenario, with the upcoming RTS shutdown, a newer meter would be installed in dumb mode until a longer-term fix can be applied. We don’t know what impact the RTS shutdown will have on existing meters, so simply leaving you to whatever fate this would be isn’t an option. 

Hopefully, this helps.

Don’t confuse the smart meter WAN with the Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS). RTS makes it possible for electricity distributors to send a signal to your meter telling it when to switch offpeak power on and off and how to record it. With a smart meter and a plan like Economy 10, these switching instructions are stored in the meter itself on installation. They will not normally change later, but if it is necessary to do so, it can often be done remotely over the WAN. The WAN is also the channel through which your meter readings and usage data are sent to OVO. So should the WAN connection fail at some stage, there will be no difference to the way your heating equipment behaves. If it turns out to be a persistent problem, the worst that would happen is that you’d have to submit your monthly meter readings manually just as before.

It's difficult to keep emotion out of it when customers are no longer treated as the client but as  a commodity. The retail electricity industry is no longer designed to suit consumers but consumers have to suit the system. We have come to accept an appallingly inefficient service as normal. In the near past paying the quarterly bills and occasionally checking readings was the only call on my time. Now dealing with electricity companies takes up a major portion of it. At least one thing Ovo have improved on is the previous three quarter hour wait for anyone at SSE to answer the phone.

I now learn that commercial property should not be with Ovo. This is another interesting example of the confusion in the industry. SSE passed most of my accounts to Ovo, retaining those they considered commercial, I had no say in the matter.

These were the properties I referred to in my post as already having SSE fitted smart meters.

Yes, those were the exact words of the agent "I've checked & we know that smart meters don't work in your area" of course this was in the context of communication and remote control, that's what we were discussing. It didn't occur to me that  they might fit ones that didn't measure consumption. The Ovo  agent instructing the engineer knew exactly what heat appliances were in each property. They needed to in order to suggest the tariff. The first engineer knew he had to replace  RTS meters, I have no idea why he failed. I'm not sure that the second one had even been told that the old meters were RTS.

Why make appointments and send out engineers with inadequate instructions and when the policy is still in flux. It must

be very frustrating for them as well as a complete waste of money.

 Hardly worth mentioning that the letters confirming the last appointments arrived the day after the visit. It typifies the callous inefficient indifference of the industry. Many years ago I was proud to work for the CEGB. Today I would be ashamed to work in the retail electricity industry.

What is the point of a special phone number if it goes to the general call centre?

I wrote this 4 weeks ago without posting . Today 1/9/25 an SMS  engineer turned up to replace 2 meters (actually 3 were booked, but no one had told me the 3rd appointment had been cancelled). My 3rd day wasted for appointment.  It is beyond belief, but despite a previous engineer visit to the same property in May, and assurances from the RTS team that they knew smart meters did not work, this engineer did not have a dumb meter. Together we rang the RTS team (20 minute wait, and they have disconnected the WhatsApp contact) & spoke to a pretty unsympathetic operator. Apparently the reason the 3rd property cancelled was that this engineer (it seems 2 were coming on the same day, expecting me to be in 2 places simultaneously) had cancelled as he did not have a dumb meter. These appointments were made 3 weeks previously.

Whilst on to Ovo I tried cancelling a further 2 appointments for tomorrow. She hung up. The utter callous incompetence is mind blowing. It’s the waste of days of my time both on the phone & abortive appointments that hurts me most.

PS on reflection, every supplier I have had to date from the Scottish Hydro Board onwards has classed the properties I refer to as domestic (they are holiday cottages and residential lets) and not business/commercial. I do have other commercial property and SSE used to supply both and made the distinction. Do Ovo have a different distinction?

I would suggest  that your trying to arrange multiple meter exchanges at multiple properties shouts that something unusual, and possibly commercial, is going on.

Holiday lettings I'm not sure about the status of, however in residential lettings the supply and metering is usually the tenants responsibility and not the landlords. (With an exceptiion being  all-inclusive rents, multiples of which in the same property may again indicate a commercial arrangement is needed for supply).

I'd suggest that your situation is not a usual customer-supplier situation, so you cannot expect the usual customer-supplier advice to apply

You do the industry a disservice by any attempt to justify this incompetence. Ovo are perfectly well aware of the number of properties I am responsible for. If anything it should be easier combining visits.

​@Glenprosen I’m sorry to hear of another failed appointment. If you weren’t given at least 24 hours’ notice of the cancellation please log this with our Support Team who’ll raise a Guaranteed Standards of Performance case to see if you’re entitled to compensation.

Compensation almost certainly means more time input. What I’d like is the managers of this business (and our MPs/MSPs) to see how disjointed and incompetent it is and the resultant wasted time, for their company as well as for us donkeys. There are, I’m told thousands with this same problem (no signal) and the solution, a dumb meter, is not technically difficult. Some in the team appear to be aware of it, most appear not to be. I am naively hoping for improvement in the slide to industrialised mediocrity.

For tax purposes, holiday lets are considered a business. I would personally argue that you should also be on a business supply for each of those properties, which is something OVO hasn’t offered for over a decade.

Whether OVO continues to serve you is arguably at OVO’s sole discretion because they’re not a business supplier. For the best experience… TBH I’d suggest you switch the properties to another supplier who can cater for the use case.