Issues getting a replacement THTC Meter in Scottish Highlands

Hey ​@janie,

From what I understand a heritage meter is an older style of meter but they come pre-programmed with the requested tariff. Hopefully we’ll have more updates shortly that’ll give a clearer understanding of what’s required. We are fortunate the team have been working closely with us and helping us with giving information to those affected. 

If I hear anything further we’ll let you know! 

​@Chris_OVO 

Thanks very much, it's nice to be kept informed 

​@Firedog 

​@Blastoise186 

I love your optimism and appreciate the help you give on this Forum but I copied you both in my post 30th January informing you of a 50 minute call with ovo complaints who in turn contacted the RTS team and the reply from them was "there is no solution for rts switch off in no signal areas and they will not be fitting smart meters in these areas that will not communicate back to ovo". Complaint closed with no solution. 

The agent you spoke to likely doesn’t have the same access to information as we do.

You need Squad 70 - they’re the ones who are best placed to figure this out.

​@Blastoise186 

Apparently the agent spoke to her Manager who mentioned squad 70 but the reply came back from the RTS team,it very much ended with a "don't call us, we'll call you" which isn't very helpful at all

Try again - you can contact them directly, but some agents make it a little tricky to get transferred over

​@Blastoise186 

I will wait until the end of February by which time 3 months will have passed since my failed installation and then I intend to escalate it by any means available.  It's not like I haven't tried and they have all the information and complaints on their system. 

Thanks anyway 

Hey ​@janie and ​@Blastoise186, 

I just wanted to interject in your discussion to provide some context. 

​@Blastoise186 - 

“The agent you spoke to likely doesn’t have the same access to information as we do.

You need Squad 70 - they’re the ones who are best placed to figure this out.” 

Janie has already spoken with our Support Team/Squad 70 and the advice they were given was correct. Pushing back on this will only cause unnecessary friction and add to an already tense situation. 

​@janie The infrastructure team is working hard to find a long-term solution. We understand that the wait is frustrating, but we want to avoid implementing short-term fixes that will only require additional work later. We have a list of all affected customers and will contact you with next steps as soon as a solution is available.

I hope this clears things up and if you have any questions let me know and I can try and get answers for you! 

​@Chris_OVO 

Many thanks for this confirmation 

 I'm feeling the same as you. Just along the road towards Perth and unable to get a new smart meter fitted due to signal issues. No comms and wondering what'll happen come June. Ok...looks here like they'll install some dumb meter but what will be the effect on my bill?

We’re not keen to speculate on the answer I’m afraid ​@Jonny Early , but we will let you know when OVO tells the Forum Volunteers (myself included) what the end-game solution will be.

I just don’t want to say X thing and then drop you off a cliff when it turns out to be wrong, so I’m having to hold back right now.

They seem to be in the process of looking at other options regarding signals etc but not had any confirmation 

Thanks for the feedback ​@Blastoise186 and ​@janie. Look forward to hearing more as soon as news becomes available. 🤞

​@Blastoise186 

​@Chris_OVO 

Have just received an email asking me to rebook a smart meter appointment,  can anyone confirm if they have sorted out the no signal issues in the DD2 area or has this email just been automatically generated. 

If you’re getting that email, it’s likely OVO has identified your setup as being eligible for migration.

Whether that’s to an instantly fully active Smart Meter, or to a pre-configured one that’ll get comms later I can’t say - but it’s a good sign regardless. We highly recommend you accept the offer ASAP anyway, as otherwise things may break.

​@Blastoise186 

Thanks for your reply, I will try and get through to squad 70/RTS team to see if they can shed more light on it before I commit.  I could not handle another failed installation. 

​@Blastoise186

Just a quick update, apparently that was just a generated email and it's been confirmed there is no solution as yet to no signal areas like mine, told to ignore any further generated emails and when there is a solution I will be contacted probably by other means.

Hey ​@janie,

Thanks for coming back and confirming for us. I know there’s currently a campaign to raise awareness of THTC/RTS replacements. I know once the solution is ready to communicate we have a list of those who have existing failed installations. I believe the plan is to outbound call and follow up with an email but if I hear anymore i’ll let you know!

​@Chris_OVO 

Thank you 

I live in the West Coast of Scotland near Oban and have heard horror stories from folk living in my area regarding the new smart meters not receiving  a signal, engineers refusing to install as meters too far away from distribution panel, and many others on the THTC forum on Facebook . I have the old style dimplex storage heaters and hot water storage and cannot afford to replace them. They all work perfectly well for my purposes.

I don't want to let OVO near my meters until they can guarantee a working smart meter.

But the day will come and I need to know exactly which questions  to ask the OVO engineer before he removes my two thtc meters.

Can anyone suggest what questions  to ask as I have little understanding of electrics...such as will I be guaranteed economy 10?

and secondly, what are the consequences if I refuse a so called smart meter. Will I be cut off?

Why can’t I get a smart meter? The response from the booking process is not very informative. How can I find out what makes my account ineligible. My understanding is that it’s a requirement that Ovo make smart meters available.

Hi ​@nrg ,

Please ask OVO Support for this one!

If you could show us your current meters for now, that would help a ton.

Thanks

Thanks for your response ​@Blastoise186 . Here are some pictures of the existing meter.

I’ve spoken to customer support. The responses have not been very helpful. I live in the Scottish Highlands and that was given as the reason. I’ve asked what the rollout plan is but just received obfuscation and nonsense, including being told that the distance from the meter to the router may be an issue.

Updated: After quite a lot of pressing Ovo are going to take some practical steps to see if we can get a smart meter, but still can’t say what the timescales are if we can’t have one now.

Hey ​@nrg, 

If you live in the highlands, then you could be affected by the RTS shutdown. When you spoke with the support team, did they mention this while on the call? I've left some articles below with more information, which could be helpful:

The distance from your meter to the router could be an issue, as they need to be able to communicate with each other. We've a process that's currently being rolled out called an Alt-Han bridge, and one of our members ​, @Biohazardx9, who was in this position, wrote a handy guide on what this looks like below:

We'll soon be able to install a smart meter for you, so please keep us updated on your progress!