How difficult can it be to change a smart meter? I'm RTS

Hey ​@colin147,

We appreciate you sending the photos of the meter room and i’ll tag ​@Lukepeniket_OVO so he gets a notification to check them out! 

​@colin147 looking at the photos I believe this install can be done when we have longer flying leads which should arrive July/August. My only other concern is WAN coverage but we have both Northern CSP hubs and 4G CH to be tried. For now, leave with us to rebook in once the longer leads have arrived.

Cheers

Thanks for your help as always ​@Lukepeniket_OVO, and for your patience ​@colin147 - hopefully this can all be sorted in the near future 🤞.

So apparently the tenant in apartment 35 had a visit from an Ovo engineer a few weeks ago and was advised that our meters (35 & 39) couldn’t be upgraded to a smart meter because of the wiring going into them !!!!! but not to worry as the RTS signal wasn’t being switched off for a good while yet, I’ve attached a couple more photo’s and can’t see much difference in the wiring going to our two meters and all the other ones.

I keep seeing messages on my account from Ovo asking me to book an engineer to swap the RTS meter to a smart one, There’s no way I’m booking another slot to have my time wasted a third time and the tenant in apartment 35 is pretty much pi**ed off as well as Ovo has been badgering her to have a smart meter for months as well, She finally agreed and when an engineer turned up guess what, she couldn’t have one fitted !!!!.

​@Ben_OVO and ​@Lukepeniket_OVO: It looks as if these twin Ampy meters are both OVO’s (“the tenant in apartment 35 had a visit from an Ovo engineer a few weeks ago”). Is there any way to book both at the same time to save yet another engineer journey? Whatever problem was detected with the incomers from the cut-out will presumably apply to both and will need the same remedy. 

We’ve seen plenty of evidence of rigid job bookings leading to problems that common sense should have been able to solve on the spot. 

Hi,

Looking at the booking the next available slot is the end of this month and I don’t have any a/l I can take till Christmas, I’ll have a word with my daughter and see if I can book it when she has a rest day from work, Once a date has been booked I will have a word with the tenant in number 35 and ask if she will be available for hers to be fitted at the same time.

Both meters are Ovo ones and they’re the only 2 of that kind left in the block.

Having two failed visits and the engineers telling me they haven’t seen the information and photos etc that I sent is very worrying, It shouldn’t be this difficult, I’ve worked as an I.T field service engineer for over 35 years and very rarely had to make a 3rd visit to complete a fix or install.

I’ll let you know once I’ve booked a date so someone can make sure the visiting engineer has all the background notes which I’ve sent on this forum, I would also appreciate an email saying this has happened before the engineer attends.

Thankyou,

Colin.

Morning ​@colin147,

As long as somebody over the age of 18 can be at the property for the duration of the appointment then that’s fine. When you’ve got it booked please let myself and ​@Lukepeniket_OVO know and we’ll ensure that the job booking is updated to specify the correct kit required. 

​@Firedog to your point - that would make complete sense, however the rigidity in job bookings can often mean that we wouldn’t be able to book in two properties like that, especially as both jobs would need to be booked independently of one another, due to both separate account holders having to pass data protection etc. 

Another sorry example of data protection trumping common sense. Ah well. 

Perhaps ​@colin147 could team up with his neighbour and produce a document signed by them both to agree that either could act for the other in respect of the meter exchange. 

Hi Ben,

I have now booked a date which is the 27th November 08:00 - 12:00 Could you please make sure the engineer see’s these comments and photo’s that are in this thread so he is aware of the job, I don’t want another wasted visit.

Thanks,

Colin.