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Is my gas smart meter communicating with OVO?

  • 31 October 2018
  • 20 replies
  • 1149 views
L
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Sorry if i'm being thick, but when I had my Smart Meter installed almost a year ago I assumed that my readings were done by OVO automatically.
Apparently this is been done for my Electricity but not Gas? How do I get my Gas reading to you?
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Best answer by Mw2870 6 November 2018, 21:51

Hi @laineyhen,

Welcome to the forum!

The way the smart meters work is that the Gas meter sends the reading to the electricity meter. The electricity meter connects to the mobile phone network and sends both the gas meter and electricity meter reading to OVO.

It sounds like the electricity meter is communicating with OVO, but maybe the Gas meter is not talking to the electricity meter.

Are they near each other?
Do you have an IHD (In Home Display) and if so, can you see Gas usage on it?

Look on the electricity meter - the middle of the three red lights near the top left of the front (labelled WAN) should be flashing if it has signal.

In the bottom right hand corner of the gas smart meter screen, there is a HAN symbol. The symbol itself will either be; flashing or solid. Can you tell me which?
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20 replies

Mw2870
Rank
Userlevel 5
Hi @laineyhen,

Welcome to the forum!

The way the smart meters work is that the Gas meter sends the reading to the electricity meter. The electricity meter connects to the mobile phone network and sends both the gas meter and electricity meter reading to OVO.

It sounds like the electricity meter is communicating with OVO, but maybe the Gas meter is not talking to the electricity meter.

Are they near each other?
Do you have an IHD (In Home Display) and if so, can you see Gas usage on it?

Look on the electricity meter - the middle of the three red lights near the top left of the front (labelled WAN) should be flashing if it has signal.

In the bottom right hand corner of the gas smart meter screen, there is a HAN symbol. The symbol itself will either be; flashing or solid. Can you tell me which?
M
Rank
Why am I being asked for gas meter readings despite having smart meters and seeing my daily gas usage on the site?
The website shows my daily, weekly, month gas usage yet my gas bills have been estimated and I'm being asked for gas meter readings...…..
When I did submit a meter reading they said it was far too low but accepted it???????
M
Rank
I have the same issue. I'm being asked for gas meter reading despite having new, smart gas and electric meters fitted. Electric seems to be fine but my gas readings are estimated and OVO ask me for manual readings then say they're below my previous meter readings - no surprise as the meter readings are the ones taken when I transferred to OVO - and were taken off the old meter.

Despite all this the OVO website shows my daily, weekly and monthly gas readings!

They obviously are not bringing the information together in any meaningful way and it casts doubt on whether they have any real idea how much gas I've used! Rant over …

Please see my own separate post.
M
Rank
I'm being asked for gas meter reading despite having new, smart gas and electric meters fitted. Electric seems to be fine but my gas readings are estimated and OVO ask me for manual readings then say they're below my previous meter readings - no surprise as the meter readings are the ones taken when I transferred to OVO - and were taken off the old meter.

Despite all this the OVO website shows my daily, weekly and monthly gas readings!

They obviously are not bringing the information together in any meaningful way and it casts doubt on whether they have any real idea how much gas I've used!
A

Hey @MarkH - I've moved your other queries here so they're all in one place!

As Matt mentioned, it sounds like the electricity meter is communicating with us, but maybe the gas meter isn't talking to the electricity meter. We can take a closer look at this for you and make sure we're receiving the gas readings. Just drop us a message on Facebook, Twitter or webchat via the Help Centre.

N
Rank
Hi,

My "Smart" gas meter doesn't appear to be communicating with the rest of the world. It is positioned around 90cm's from my "Smart" electricity meter on the same wall (on the same side) and I haven't concealed it in lead, a faraday cage or a giant EMF emitting tesla coil. As far as I can tell it has, in fact, never given a reading of it's own volition.

How can I resolve this? Given that we have no manual with it I can't even give a meter reading or be sure that it is even recording any information about how much gas I am using. Being in possession of a technical mind I feel confident I could remedy this given the correct sequence of buttons to press as long as there isn't an undocumented self destruct sequence I could inadvertently trigger. My neighbours would definitely frown upon that.

Thanks

Graham
N
Rank
An update. 9 shows a meter reading, 0 doesn't show a problem and screen widget shows recent usage for a week or so but nothing more (Gas) but elect back to November. I have perfect signal in the cupboard on Vodafone. Han fine, Wan flashing occasionally as it always does. But get this, here's my readings:

Ovo Start - 16/04/2015 - 4806
Last Manual Reading - 27/01/2018 - 5671
Total Usage - 865 in nearly 3 years

New smart meter reading... 8513. SO I guess the new meter is reading in kWh. Nice, but what's going to happen when my last reading was 5671 and I type in 8513, nothing good I would expect... Further, I go onto the meter readings on the website and shock horror... They appear to be receiving my readings just fine. The kWh reading from Jan 2018 until Jan 2019 is perilously close to my 8513 reading. So I think it's just a bug in the website maybe?
N
Rank
And now I have gone down a rabbit hole. I dug out my Electricity usage pre smart meter:

4302 KW/H May 2016 - Apr 2017 = £483.93 - Simpler Energy (All Online)
Unit rate - day 15.90p per kWh
Unit rate - night 9.62p per kWh
Standing Charge 28.77p per day

Jan 2018 - Dec 2018 - 2917.7 kWh = £570.28 Simpler Energy (Variable) (32% decrease in usage)
Electricity (day):17.66p/kWh (11% Increase)
Electricity (night):10.04p/kWh (4.37% Increase)
Standing charge:21.60p/day (24% decrease)

So despite not asking for my tarriff to change and despite a 32% drop in usage my bill has increased by 17.84%
Tim_OVO
Rank
Userlevel 7

So despite not asking for my tarriff to change and despite a 32% drop in usage my bill has increased by 17.84%

 


I'm not sure what's happening here, @notsosmartmeter

If the gas meter isn't sending OVO your readings, please press 0 on the meter's keypad - if it says the word 'commission' anywhere, they need to send out an engineer.

To get this booked or to discuss these bills, drop us a Facebook message or a call: 0330 303 5063

 

Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there!
G
Rank
And now I have gone down a rabbit hole. I dug out my Electricity usage pre smart meter:

4302 KW/H May 2016 - Apr 2017 = £483.93 - Simpler Energy (All Online)
Unit rate - day 15.90p per kWh
Unit rate - night 9.62p per kWh
Standing Charge 28.77p per day

Jan 2018 - Dec 2018 - 2917.7 kWh = £570.28 Simpler Energy (Variable) (32% decrease in usage)
Electricity (day):17.66p/kWh (11% Increase)
Electricity (night):10.04p/kWh (4.37% Increase)
Standing charge:21.60p/day (24% decrease)

So despite not asking for my tarriff to change and despite a 32% drop in usage my bill has increased by 17.84%

Sorry to go a bit sideways to your issue. But may I please butt in. I'd like to also go down this rabbit hole! But my "usage" page on the ovo site has been reset to the date I got my smart meter installed (sept). I'm very keen to look at my old bills. How did you find this? I'm looking at paying £400 more this year than last year. I did have to swap from one expired fixed plan to another with a small increase but I can't account for the huge jump. Even if went into 'summer usage' levels tomorrow, my bill will still be above normal for the year. I want to look at my old usage to see if the new meter is reading much higher values or if it's all in the higher price per unit. 🤓
Tim_OVO
Rank
Userlevel 7
@GT3911 can't you refer to the usage indicated in the statements?

Your usage data is linked to the meter, so will be removed following a meter exchange.

@notsosmartmeter can you advise GT on this? People in the rabbit hold need to stick together! 🐁
Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there!
J
Rank
Why isn't OVO receiving readings automatically from my electric and gas meter?
Tim_OVO
Rank
Userlevel 7
Why isn't OVO receiving readings automatically from my electric and gas meter?

This is the topic you want, @JMD - have a read of the best answer at the top for some checks you can do, in order to diagnose a signal issue 😊
Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there!
S
As per the title,

returned to OVO who installed our smart meter's previously, the electric meter works and updates my app with usage. However the Gas meter doesn't update the app, so i don't know if OVO are getting the data from the gas meter and updating my statements or just estimating?
Amy_OVO
Rank
Userlevel 6
Please see the above thread, @Superram, check out the best answer for further info 😊
OVO-Joyed to help!
J
Rank

After much persuasion by OVO with tales of energy efficiency, saving money and to immediately be able to measure usage I had a smart meter for gas and electricity fitted  some months ago, , the gas meter has no signal, it has been fitted under my front window in a position in the ground making it impossible for me to read, after numerous phone calls, a couple of wasted emails and quite  frankly a bit of a runaround,  my gas bills are being estimated. Can someone give me a frank and honest decision as to when this situation can be resolved, it is Very unsatisfactory!!! I have had all the excuses from cost, unavailable contract  engineers, corona virus,   An answer would help

NinjaGeek
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +1

Hey @Jamesmb 

Unfortunately, I am an OVO customer like yourself and unable to answer this question. But @Transparent Is an expert with smart meters on this forum. Hopefully he should be able to assist you.

Renewable energy + EV enthusiast
Transparent
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Userlevel 7
Badge +2

Oh great! It’s another Smart Meter question :relaxed:

Thanks @Jamesmb. Firstly there’s a lot of information about second-generation (SMETS2) Smart Meter installation over here.

When you say that the gas meter has no signal, how are you arriving at that conclusion?

  • no gas meter content on the In Home Device (IHD)?
  • the gas indicator on your Communications Hub is off?
  • the gas indicator on your Comms Hub is flashing faster than the other indicators?
  • there are no gas meter readings on your MyOVO page online?
  • the display on the gas meter itself shows no HAN/Zigbee signal?

 

Has the situation changed recently?

Or have you had “no gas readings” for the majority of the time since installation?

There are a number of customers with similar faults. Although these sites are in the minority, we have been discussing it here on the Forum recently. For example, here is a Topic started by a customer with no electricity readings on the IHD.

Have a read through what we discussed to see if it helps to clarify the symptoms you’re experiencing.

Save energy... recycle electrons!
J
Rank

Thank you for this, The meter has not worked since being installed, it positioned In a box below ground under my front window, I can’t see the meter to read, It is definitely not getting a signal though, ther are our meter readings online or on the

Transparent
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Userlevel 7
Badge +2

OK @Jamesmb So I’m assuming the meter is in a semi-concealed box which was already on-site. Like this:

 

I can actually see the front display on my gas meter by kneeling on the ground beside the box. But I also find it easy to place my mobile phone on the edge of the box with the camera-mode selected. Even if I don’t take a photo, the readings show up nicely on the phone’s display!

That’s how I took the earlier photo which I posted above.

Nevertheless, it should still be the case that your gas meter readings are automatically delivered to OVO by the SMETS system.

I suggest you message the team on webchat via the Help Centre.

Give them your name, address and OVO account number so that they can verify who you are and send a status-enquiry message to your Comms Hub. This should enable them to check the integrity of the link between the gas meter and the Comms Hub.

You can also provide the URL/address of this Forum Topic so that the engineers can check what I’ve said.

The Customer Service staff are unlikely to be able to carry out such tests directly, and this is why you haven’t yet received a successful outcome.

Please feel free to post back here if I haven’t adequately understood the question, or if you’d like further clarification.

Save energy... recycle electrons!

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