I have smart meters already - do I need yours fitted?

I can't answer that, but you'd think they didn't need to be replaced again eh Mike! Surely Ovo must have been receiving your meter readings until now? Perhaps just an admin error...

I've recently switched to OVO, however my previous supplier installed smart meters at my property about 8 months ago, today I received an email asking me to book an appointment for OVO to fit new smart meters.
Is this really required, I would've thought that all smart meters did the same job.
I've sent an email to customer service informing them of this and am awaiting a reply.
MikeI can't answer that, but you'd think they didn't need to be replaced again eh Mike! Surely Ovo must have been receiving your meter readings until now? Perhaps just an admin error...As far as as I know , at the moment most smart meters are incompatable with other power supliers . They dont tell you this up front , but it will be in the small print . How is this being transparrent with customers ? they are working on a smart meter that will work for all companies , buit that is in the future

Hi @Mikewhitt welcome to the forum and thanks for posting,
There's a similar discussion on this topic already taking place here: https://forum.ovoenergy.com/all-about-energy-24/smart-meters-smets1-or-smet2-106. There's also some handy information on this topic on the ovo website which you can find here: https://www.ovoenergy.com/ovo-answers/topics/smart-technology/smart-meters/can-i-switch-energy-suppliers-with-smart-meter.html

In relation to your current smart meters from your old supplier my best advice would be to make contact with the ovo customer care team either by phone or online ( if using an online platform please include your full name, address OVo account number and a brief summary of your query) as it all depends on your previous supplier

I agree it's silly of government to make energy companies install smart meters without standardising the technology first!

Hope the above helps you, I'm sure once you reach out to the ovo team they will help sort this for you 🙂

The government did not force energy companies to install smart meters without informing the general public about the drawbacks and pitfalls involved ! Why not be ttransparant about the matter without falling into the default position and hiding all the details in the small print . There are reports in the press of smart meters being inacurate with some devices , and the incmpatability of so called smart meters . It seems to me that the government has been too smart. , and the energy companies not smart enough !!! lol

You raise a good point @Gampopa however the current problems consumers face due to incompatibility could have all been avoided if government said "you all have to work together to develop and agree the technology" to the Energy companies, it's only now the discussions are taking place to standardise the tech. Talk about putting the Cart before the horse!

Nevertheless it would be good to get the ovo position on this.

Re transparency of the smart meters, do you have any specific feedback or advice for ovo on this? If so please do share

I have recently had a smart meter installed by OVO, all went well and I often peer at the display to watch my money quietly ticking away.

Anyway, the process stimulated me to have a quick check to see if OVO is still competitive and to my surprise they aren't, by quite a long way.

The upshot was I applied to another supplier and during the discussion I was told that my shiny new 'smart meter' would no longer be 'smart' it would revert to a dumb meter, in fact the new supplier would need to pop along and install 'their own' smart meter and my recently installed OVO one would just be scrapped. Apparently each supplier uses their own software that can't talk to another supplier's meter.

So, the government is actually encouraging the incredible waste of expensive resources. On one hand we are encouraged to get smart meters and by the same token encouraged to 'shop around' even though, it would seem every move entails the scrapping of a customer's smart meter and a couple of hours of an engineer's time.

Madness on stilts me thinks !

I have to agree with this. My property already had one but not one which was compatible with Ovo so had to be replaced! Such a waste.

They should of come up with one universal meter/software to use for all energy companies so switching would be simpler and not cause so much waste!

I have recently had a smart meter installed by OVO, all went well and I often peer at the display to watch my money quietly ticking away.

Anyway, the process stimulated me to have a quick check to see if OVO is still competitive and to my surprise they aren't, by quite a long way.

The upshot was I applied to another supplier and during the discussion I was told that my shiny new 'smart meter' would no longer be 'smart' it would revert to a dumb meter, in fact the new supplier would need to pop along and install 'their own' smart meter and my recently installed OVO one would just be scrapped. Apparently each supplier uses their own software that can't talk to another supplier's meter.

So, the government is actually encouraging the incredible waste of expensive resources. On one hand we are encouraged to get smart meters and by the same token encouraged to 'shop around' even though, it would seem every move entails the scrapping of a customer's smart meter and a couple of hours of an engineer's time.

Madness on stilts me thinks !

I dont have a smart meter as I've heard too many stories of problems. However I wouldnt assume that all other supplier's meters have to be changed just because Ovo meters do.

I have recently had a smart meter installed by OVO, all went well and I often peer at the display to watch my money quietly ticking away.

Anyway, the process stimulated me to have a quick check to see if OVO is still competitive and to my surprise they aren't, by quite a long way.

The upshot was I applied to another supplier and during the discussion I was told that my shiny new 'smart meter' would no longer be 'smart' it would revert to a dumb meter, in fact the new supplier would need to pop along and install 'their own' smart meter and my recently installed OVO one would just be scrapped. Apparently each supplier uses their own software that can't talk to another supplier's meter.

So, the government is actually encouraging the incredible waste of expensive resources. On one hand we are encouraged to get smart meters and by the same token encouraged to 'shop around' even though, it would seem every move entails the scrapping of a customer's smart meter and a couple of hours of an engineer's time.

Madness on stilts me thinks !

Hi @JohnB and thanks for posting.

I've actually moved this whole conversation thread over to an existing topic on the same issue. Although the original query is the reverse of yours, the 'best answer' (at the top) is just as relevant, so scroll up to check it out.

In short, the current generation of smart meters we're fitting do work with some other suppliers, as they use the same type of 'Secure' meters as we do. So switching to them will mean you don't lose any of the newly acquired smart functionality. With the other suppliers, the meters will work like your old meter, with you needing to submit your readings manually.

A new generation of meters are in testing, which will be universally functional with any supplier. So my advice would be to stick with OVO or one of those other suppliers who use a 'Secure' meter - a quick email, tweet or Facebook post to them will let them confirm which meters they use.

Hope this helps,
Tim

Some great discussions here! But don't forget smart meters are there to help and there are plenty of benefits for both Pay monthly and Pay as you go customers.

Obviously the main advantage we probably all think about when discussing smart meters is the elimination of meter readings - but this also means that your monthly bills will always be accurate and up to date. The more aware you are of your energy use, the easier it is to spot where your costs are going and how to reduce them (saving you money, yay!)

For Pay as you go customers, having smart meters means you can wave goodbye to topping up at the shop. With the PAYG+ app you can top up whenever and wherever! It also means you can view your top ups and costs all in one place - and schedule future top-ups to make life easier!

Other benefits of our smart meters include:

- Great usage features on My OVO and the app, including identifying individual appliances,
- Live and historical usage visibility via an In Home Display helping you to reduce your usage and save money,
- Accurate meter reading history if you change supplier,
- Gets you set up and ready for future smart technology household products.

Not bad ey :?

Emily

Tim _ Ovo
I had gas and electricity Smart meters fitted by my current supplier First Utility about 1 year ago.
About February time my gas account was erroneously transferred to another supplier and it was a month or so before I became aware of the mistake.
Although First Utility now have the gas account back with them, they seem unable to restore connectivity of the Smart gas data (although its working fine to my Pippit 500 IHD) to my on line account, or to retrieve the consumption data for the missing months.
Months later, despite countless phone calls, e mails (all unanswered), and now a formal elevated complaint, my gas on line account is still 'dumb'!
Unsurprisingly I've lost patience with them and was drawn to Ovo because of your good customer service ratings and apparent commitment to Smart metering.
If I were to cancel my First Utility account and move to Ovo could you restore gas Smart functionality and pick up the data from the Smart metering I have, which I believe to be of the same generation of 'Secure' meters as you currently are fitting.
I look forward to your reply. Thanks.
Ian

This is curious as I’m not sure why they wouldn’t be able to restore connectivity. If you could let me know you address via private message, I’d be happy to speak to our smart Guru’s about this to find out if we’d be able to communicate with both of your meters. It would be great to have you onboard!

Lucy

@IanT - I’ve just sent you a private message - thought this might be easier! 🙂

I believe OVO are now phoning customers about smart meter installations...... so until the second generation meters are being fitted I don't want a new one..... Will the callers take "no" for an answer?

 

Hi @BillSpen

They will take 'no' for an answer for sure! If you'd prefer to not get these calls, send us a message on Facebook, Twitter and our Help Centre has online chat, and we'll take you off our list.

^Tim

 

I've moved your query over to this topic as you might find it useful, @Sioux Emm

If you reply here with your Meter Serial Numbers (MSN's) we'll let you know whether we can communicate with your smart meters. The MSN's can be found on both meters near a bar code and they're a combination of numbers and letters.

Thanks,
Emma

Thanks for confirming that for us, @Sioux Emm

Unfortunately, we're not able to communicate with that type of meter. If you'd like to have smart meters with us, get yourself booked in for an appointment here - http://smart.ovoenergy.com/credit.

Emma