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Hello, 

I moved into a basement flat in September last year that has no smart meter. I’m eager to get one installed, in particular because while my gas meter is easy to access myself on the basement floor, my electricity meter is inside my neighbour’s apartment on the first floor - so I need to contact him for any meter readings. 

I reached out to Ovo in December and had a smart meter installation booked in January. Upon assessing my neighbour’s utility cabinet, he told me that there simply isn’t enough space in there to install the smart meter (see image). He said the only way forward would be for me my neighbour to request an upgrade to the latest model of smart meter as the newer ones only need one device which should open up some room. 

My neighbour kindly followed this up with BG who said they are unable to replace the meter because it’s working ok from their side. The request for a meter with a smaller shape is not something they can send out an engineer for.

So what do I do next? Are there any alternative methods to get a smart meter installed, or is it just going to be too hard going? I've attached a second image below which shows a view of the whole cabinet. 

Howdy @dovec !

Hmm… I’m afraid I do have to agree with the engineer here. If that other meter was an S2, you could reasonably easily fit a second one next to it. Alas, with that S1 L+G + Trilliant SEAP-2000-V combo, you’re gonna have a hard time unless one of you is willing to move your meter out of the way of the other. What you have been told by OVO is also very much correct. With that being said, it was ONLY the S1 L+G - such as those installed by BG - that required a second unit in the first place, all others were single units.

I’m not quite sure of what to recommend myself, so please bear with me and I’ll ask for advice backstage. The only thing I can think of is to force BG out by telling them their equipment is blocking a MEX being attempted by another customer and needs to be shifted or upgraded to S2 to resolve it.

Please bear with me, either myself or someone on the Forum will catch up soon!

Hey @dovec,

 

Welcome to the OVO Online Community, 

 

This is a tricky situation, and I’m afraid I don’t see a way around it if your neighbor supplier won’t replace the meter. I also understand the perspective of their supplier not wanting to exchange a meter which is working fine and sending them meter readings. 

Thanks both for your responses. It does seem to be quite a pickle! 

@Blastoise186  I just wanted to politely check in to see if you’ve heard back from anyone else on advice for how to proceed? 

Thanks very much

Yup, we’ve been talking backstage.

One of the meters needs to be moved as there’s no other solution unfortunately. It’s also a chargeable job of about £125 iirc if you move the OVO one.

Once that’s done, you should be able to upgrade to Smart.

Really sorry about this, but we couldn’t think of a better solution. :(

Just a thought - some of the equipment on that backboard belongs to the electricity distributor (DNO). You might contact them to explain that there isn’t room for a smart meter because their stuff is taking up too much space and ask if they can help. They might say no, but you never know - I’ve seen cases where the DNO has turned up and sorted problems out, with no mention of anyone paying for their work.

That said, it’s going to be a tight squeeze on that backboard. One remedy might be to replace those two enormous grey isolator switches at the top right for less unwieldy ones.

Firedog has made a great suggestion here @dovec, if you’re able to pop back and update us if you do reach out to the DNO and let us know what they advise. 

 

 

Thanks so much @Firedog and @Emmanuelle_OVO. I will reach out to the DNO shortly and keep you updated on progress! 

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