Hiya

We’ve Secure smart meters and, according to the timeline given above, we were supposed to have been migrated to SMETS2 by the end of March.

Any thoughts on the new timeline?

Sorry for the slightly later response than usual, @Rootbeer - It’s been a busy week here!

Great question to ask about the timeframe for your Secure meter enrolment. Whilst the vast majority of these meter types have now been remotely upgraded, there may have been some technical issues affecting the few remaining meters.

If you’re currently an OVO member - Have you logged in to check the ‘Meter Readings’ page of your OVO App (download for Android or iOS) yet? This would show any meter readings we’ve received automatically from your meter. If there’s readings missing here, we’d recommend carrying out a Smart Meter Health Check and contacting our Support Team with the results.

I hope this helps get to the bottom of things.

Hi @Jess_OVO I am a customer of Ovo’s.

I accept your point about technical difficulties, but I assumed that if the process were to be followed as I understand it, you’d first notify me that my meter was about to be migrated and *then* let me know whether it was a success / fail. 

I have had no such notification, therefore I have to assume that it has not been attempted yet? Does that sound a reasonable conclusion?

I log into my online account daily, and my smart meters are successfully providing Ovo with readings.

What is the next step?

Hi @Rootbeer ,

I can answer this one. When my previous SMETS1 meter was about to be migrated, OVO sent me an email a few weeks ahead letting me know, which also mentioned that another email would be sent out once the migration completed. In my case, it related more to the fact OVO would soon be able to communicate with it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re sending out a similar email for anyone who’s meter already works with OVO prior to the migration.

If you haven’t had one yet, it’s possible your meter isn’t yet queued up, or isn’t yet high enough in the queue to trigger the email. It could also be possible that the migration is already completed and it was done silently. The Support Team can most likely check the status for you, but they cannot speed up the migration.

Hi @Blastoise186 I was hoping you’d pop along. I don’t post a lot, but I keep on top of events and you are the cream that rises to the top. 

You’ve echoed my understanding of the process, which is good to know. I.e. email notification, followed by confirmation of status after the migration.

I’ve had neither. 

To be clear, I’m not expecting a fast track (it would be a slow track at this point anyway), I was just considering two point: First, the informative post that began this topic needs updating regarding the timeline, and seconding I was wondering precisely whether we’d been migrated or not.

So you are suggesting I should contact support to find out more?

It might be worth having a chat with them, but if you’re OK to hold off until next Monday (11th April), it would be appreciated as by then, the crazy rush of meter readings should be over. Blame Martin Lewis for messing up his advice again!

I think the thread has recently been updated, but I’ll go through it again and have a chat with Tim and Jess if needed. Thanks for bringing that up.

Having had a very deep look through the resources I use, it definitely seems things have changed a bit, however my sources have changed the table layout to no longer show each brand individually in the same way they once did.

While Secure meters have in theory all been migrated now, there’s still a few that are either:

• In the queue - which are ready to migrate, but the supplier hasn’t yet started the process officially
• In progress - defined by going through the Enrolment & Adoption process right as I type this comment out
• Failed - where the migration failed and further investigation is needed
• Unreachable - where the meter has totally lost all connections and cannot be migrated at all

I’ll ask @Jess_OVO to double check the data in the guide is up to date and possibly add some notes. Thanks for bringing this up!

Thank you, @Blastoise186. As I say, I’ve heard nothing from Ovo, so if procedures are being followed correctly, I have to assume that no attempt to migrate ours has been undertaken. 

My point on updating the original post was that it states “Expected completion March 2022.” Clearly it’s an estimated timeline, but we are now in April. 

As you suggest, I’ll leave it till next week to contact Ovo support. I’ve been waiting years for the migration, but I’d like to know we’ve not been forgotten.

Just to close off my portion of this thread.  I had a pleasant online chat with the very helpful Bradley from Ovo, who assured me that we had been migrated. 

I also found @Blastoise186 that the Data Communications Company has a DCC Enrolment and Adoption Checker, which may assist others.

It states, of the electric smart meter:

Supplier: OVO Electricity Ltd

This means your meter should automatically send readings to your supplier, so you don't need to send them yourself.

It's working in smart mode because you have a first generation (SMETS1) meter that’s on the smart meter data network. The network connects your smart meter to energy suppliers.

It then offers a link to 7 suppliers with which our smart meter is compatible. 

The gas meter turns up 15 suppliers, which I assume to be the more accurate list?

No plans to leave Ovo, but should the day arrive, it’s good to know that the migration and adoption process has been completed.

Unfortunately, the tool doesn’t always work. I tested it on myself and it completely fell flat despite the fact I have a fully operational S2 meter.

Testing it against a charity I’m involved with (I do have a legitimate reason to do that!) does at least return valid results though. It’s probably just unique circumstances surrounding my site which means only OVO, DCC and Western Power Distribution are able to access my smart meter and its data.

Well, that’s about as much use as a chocolate teapot then. 

I’ll keep my fingers crossed that, as a visual confirmation to Ovo’s words, i.e. by dent of the fact that the checker at least knows we are with Ovo, means we are done with this stuff.

Thanks again for your assistance. 

Yep hopefully, @Blastoise186’s smart meters are a bit of an anomaly as that’s a useful link otherwise, @Rootbeer.

What do you think about us adding it to the original guide? (might need a disclaimer to contact the Support Team who can confirm if the results don’t seem right!) 

Information on the timetable for the upgrade of this type of meter suggests that all of them should be completed by the end of 2022. Are the upgrades on track to attain this date?

Should be nearly done soon, hopefully. But I don’t have access to the official data myself. :(

In surprised Liberty 100's aren't operating as SMETS2. I know a few that have been working happily like this for at least a couple of years. What result does this Smart Meter checker give?

 https://smartmetercheck.citizensadvice.org.uk/

There’s only a single Secure model that actually runs as a true S2, which is the Secure Liberty 101 https://www.securemeters.com/product/smart-prepayment-electricity/liberty-101/

And that comes with the Secure Liberty Gas 200 https://www.securemeters.com/product/smart-prepayment-gas/liberty-gas-200/ which is their only S2 gas meter.

And there’s hardly any of either of those flying around! I wonder why...

The above check reports…

We can’t find your meter

There might be a problem with the data DCC holds, either that or the tool broke. It’s been known to happen but it should eventually work for you. Took me six months to get it to work for my site!

I’ve tried several times over the past year but I always get the same result. I guess the tool isn’t broken, probably something wrong with the DCC data. I wonder how I can get that sorted.

Umm… Yeah… Slight problem there. I’m afraid you can’t. DCC doesn’t talk to end customers but OVO might be able to flag it up for you.

OK, I’ll try contacting OVO. 
 

Many thanks to both of you for your replies. 

Yes, just checked it for an account using a Liberty 100 meter and got the same result that DCC could not find meter. I know Secure meters work when you switch to Octopus system, but the meters obviously aren't integrated with the DCC yet.

Well, I took your advice and spoke to OVO. This is the reply…

“So it wont show on DCC database yet as its still showing on SFE this is the platform that the smet1 meters work and once its had the upgrade which will be by the end of this year, you will be able to then see your meter on the DCC database as it will then be operating on that network for the database to find your meter details. The DCC do the upgrade in batches which is why some are still waiting for the upgrade. I hope this helps?”

Thanks for you help Wendy. 

Ah ok, so in that case it’s probably still running on the SMSO (Smart Meter System Operator) run by Secure themselves.

Both OVO and Octopus have support for unmigrated S1 Secure Liberty meters because that’s what both of them installed in the S1 days. The fact they share the same S1 SMSO means that you can jump between OVO and Octopus whenever you want and the meters should continue to work even if they’re not on DCC.

At this point, it is hugely frustrating that the time to complete has been moved back multiple times by the DCC - initially late 2021, then it crept up to September 2022, now end of 2022. We’ve got the Landis & Gyr combo, and I didn’t mind so much before the most recent price hike to just send a monthly reading, but now we really have to watch our consumption and we can’t participate in energy savings programs that depend on peak time measurements, which is hitting us in the bills. It feels discriminating as it’s not something we have any influence on - we’d choose to have a new meter installed in a heartbeat, but that doesn’t appear to be an option.