Smart meters are working but not communicating with OVO - why?

Hi Jess. Thanks for the advice. She did send the details you mention to the support team yesterday but I was hoping that there was something else we could do in the meantime to speed things up a little as they mentioned 40 days to fix 🥴. It’s already been almost 2 months since the meter last sent readings to OVO and she wasn’t aware of that until I checked her usage on the OVO app. I’m surprised OVO didn’t inform her that something was wrong and ask her to send in manual readings before now. Incidentally, she also needs a new IHD. The one she’s got constantly turns itself off then reboots so there is something wrong with that too. 

40 days is the maximum target time to resolve these issues, but OVO aims to resolve them faster than that whenever possible - you could even end up with a fix within two weeks if you get lucky for example.

As for the IHD, that’s normal behaviour when it can’t get a connection. I have two Chameleon IHD6-CAD-PPMID IHD’s that I call the Kecleon Brothers and they both do the exact same thing if I move them too far away from Raichu for too long - or if I fire them up and let them sit out of range so that they can’t get a link at all. This isn’t usually a fault as once they’re able to get a connection to my Home Area Network again (from the Comms Hub above Raichu), the reboots cease almost immediately. I think it’s normal behaviour for when the IHD is attempting to run a self-diagnostic and recovery from these issues.

MyOVO does normally alert you to a lack of recent readings if you log in regularly, but I think I’ve got a possible feature enhancement idea here. I think what would help would be if a Push Notification could be sent to the OVO Energy app if your meters miss more than say, five scheduled readings and ask for a manual one. That might help a bit - and is probably a bit less distracting than sending emails out. :)

Ah, well logging in regularly is something she never does - in fact, I doubt she’s logged in since the first time 😢 which is why she wasn’t aware that no readings were being sent. 

Good point regarding the IHD though. I’ll get her to check via the app now and then that readings are being sent and when they are, I’ll get her to turn the IHD on again 

We are customers of OVO and keep getting messages that our smart meter is not sending information. We moved into this property 6 months ago and took over the existing meters etc. A sticky label tells me that the meter was installed in 2019. I have applied for a replacement or repair, but I only get a message stating that they cannot install a meter. I am 87 years old and am recovering from a triple fracture in my neck, I am also diabetic and have heart and kidney problems. I therefore find it difficult to try and read the meter (I have no instructions on this) to send readings to Ovo. I assumed that this was the reason for using a smart meter. I have managed to take a picture of the meter, a L & GE470, but I cannot see how to attach it to this message. Can you help me please.

Thank you Roy Jones

You are eligible to be put on the priority services register.  Until the smart meters are made operable you are entitled to ask for a meter reader to come and do it for you.

the meters are probably OK but their communication with OVO is not.  OVO can try to send instructions to the meter to get it working again.  If eventually that fails you are entitled to a replacement.  It is possible that these meters are SMETS1 meters and they might not have been enrolled onto the DCC network (systems are in the course of change) the conversion is not due to be complete for another 3 months and OVO would not replace a meter that is potentially capable of working.

you can use this tool to check if some features of the meter are working and post the result back here.

https://smartmetercheck.citizensadvice.org.uk

our resident smart meter expert @Blastoise186  will pop by to give his more authoritative opinion in due course.

Ovo installed new gas and electric meters about a year ago and gave me a IHD6 smart meter. It’s never successfully sent meter readings to Ovo, I log in and send them manually on the website instead, which makes the smart meter pointless.
I don’t know why it doesn’t work. The IHD6 top left signal shows full 4 bars and I’ve connected it to my WIFI and that shows strong connection too. The smart meter itself is getting the readings but not then sending to Ovo.

Any ideas how to get it to work?

Please could you post photos for us @mrtomuk ? We can try to advise but photos are important. :)

Hi @mrtomuk

It is also worth a quick check to see if any of the free ofgem regulated 3rd party apps can see your meter readings.

This is one for example. 

https://www.glowmarkt.com/

 

Hi @mrtomuk  that is what is called an In Home Display.

Your electricity smart meter might look something like this

You will also have a gas smart meter somewhere

Can you post pictures of those? 

On the electricity the 4 of the 5 leds flash every 5 seconds, the middle one (MESH) doesn’t flash

On the Gas, I’ve looked through the screens and it says Connected on HAN status

Sounds like most things are working fine then.

Can you run both meters through this tool please? https://smartmetercheck.citizensadvice.org.uk/

Thanks, I’ve used that site and gas and electric both seem to work. 

“Your gas meter's working in smart mode” Supplier: OVO Gas Ltd

In that case, the fix should be fairly easy. Try asking the Support Team to set the Read Schedules back up for both meters. I recommend Half-Hourly Mode if you want to get the most out of them. But you can choose Daily or Monthly instead if you prefer.

After successfully sending in my readings since installation my smart meter stopped communicating in August. I was informed such when I received an email from OVO in September. I checked connections and both Internet and cellphone networks are up and running. The smart meter display shows current and daily readings etc so how can I get OVO to test the connection or reinstate it?

Since posting a few minutes ago I have completed S2 healthcheck routine and all lights are present and flashing at correct intervals including WAN and HAN, meters are recording properly and transmitting correct data to IHD. All connections are operating and strong. so why is there no communication with OVO.

Hey @barnsleybetz,

Welcome to the OVO Online Community.

That sounds frustrating. You’ve done the right thing completing a smart meter health check. This will help our team determine what the issue is. Even if your HAN is strong, it may be that your WAN (the signal needed for OVO to communicate with the smart meters remotely is weak).

Has it recently been enrolled on the Data Communications Company (DCC)?

I’d advise checking what meter serial number is appearing on your Online Account and seeing if that matches with your meter.

Hope this helps.

Thank you Emmanuelle.

Firstly, the meter serial numbers on the meters match those on my online account identically.

Secondly our smart meter installation is relatively recent and the meters are the latest models. They communicated readings to OVO  seamlessly from installation until comms dropped off before the end of August. Nothing has changed at this site, signals are strong; HAN and WAN lights are functioning correctly.

Please can your engineers test and (?) “reboot” the connection from your end where the problem appears to lie

Regards etc

Hi @barnsleybetz if you haven't already, you could try downloading one of the ofgem regulated third party apps to see if they can pick up readings. That way you know whether it is an ovo specific issue. This is one many of us use. 

https://www.glowmarkt.com/

Hey @barnsleybetz,

Thanks for your response. 

Once Support has your smart meter health check results they will forward them to a team of experts who’ll try to re-gain remote communications with your smart meters.

In the meantime you can submit meter readings manually via the Online Account. We have a live billing system so whenever your reads are submitted the account balance will update accordingly. We have a great guide about this topic here:

Hope this helps. 

I have a Pipit smart meter that shows the correct symbol in the top left corner to show it is communicating. It gives me accurate data on usage of gas and electricity. I get monthly bills which I have assumed are based on smart meter readings as there is no indication that they are estimated. However, I have just logged into my Ovo account and under meter readings I have the following message - “Your electricity smart meter hasn't sent us any readings lately. To keep your account up to date, you'll need to send us regular manual readings.” The reading history lists no readings since August 2020. Can Ovo really have been estimating my readings for the last two and a half years without telling me?

There’s clearly something very wrong here, so your meter needs looking at. I’ll leave it to @Emmanuelle_OVO to suggest the best way forward in that respect.

The Pipit device is an ‘In Home Display’, which simply displays the data that the meter itself transmits. The (electricity) meter is also supposed to store readings for 13 months, so data for the period since November 2021 should still be available so long as it’s not irreparably broken.

Are you able to take readings from the meters themselves? Just to be sure, this is the sort of thing you’re looking for; a typical gas meter on the left, a common electricity meter on the right:
  

How to take a reading varies with the type of meter. There are guides to most of them at this site, e.g. How do I take a manual reading from my OVO smart meter? | The OVO Forum 

Please have a look at your bills for previous months. Is there no indication on them that the readings they’re based on are estimated?