Smart metre installation delayed while trying to get the council to do some work

Good evening,

Thanks for reaching out. This is just a quick message to let you know a Forum Volunteer has seen this. My name is Blastoise186 and I help out here on the OVO Forum. If there’s anything we can do to make things easier for you, please let us know. As it’s late at night, there’s not much I can do to get suggestions from OVO Staff such as the Forum Moderators, but I will make sure they know about this question.

If you’re able to post photos to help show us the issue, that’d help a ton. If you struggle to post them here directly, please feel free to send them via email to forum@ovoenergy.com and I’ll get a Forum Moderator to upload them for you. We don’t mind at all - it’s something we’re able to do if you find it too tricky.

I’ll have a think about this overnight and I’ll be back in the morning as soon as I can. This may take a while so you may see me go quiet for a bit longer than you might expect, but that’s usually because I’m either doing research or I’m catching up on something elsewhere.

If you can share any further details in the meantime, please feel free as that helps a lot.

Thanks!

The issue , according to the guy  who came to install the smart meter, was the lack of room between the fuse box and the box needing replaced .  see the highlighted are circled in blue .

Wow, that main fuse does appear to be pretty boxed in - but the council won’t touch that I’m afraid as only the DNO can touch a main fuse. The council is responsible for the consumer unit/fusebox though.

Here’s what I’m thinking at the moment. We actually have access to a very experienced OVO Engineer on the Forum who might be able to help figure out a path forwards. I’ll see if I can get permission to have him stop by. He’s really, really good at this stuff and if anyone can find a way forward, he can. So far though it looks like a lot of work is needed so we may go quiet for a bit while we think about how best to recommend a solution.

This may take a little while so please bear with me.

Thanks for posting the picture. This looks like one for our expert to look at when he’s got a moment (that’s you, ​@Lukepeniket_OVO !).

Meanwhile, your blue markings indicate the lack of space between what I think is the service head (containing the main fuse) and the consumer unit. I can’t see where the cables from the cut-out go, but it could be that the engineer intended to upgrade the meter tails to bigger ones and there’s just not enough space to bend thick cables like that. The cut-out and the archaic cable leading to it are the responsibility of the network operator, and only they could move that around, e.g. by shortening the incomer. 

The new meter when you get it will replace both the existing one and the bulky RTS unit sitting upside-down on the bottom of the cupboard, and there looks to be enough space for it. 

You should assume that the 2 June deadline is final; there’s no knowing what will happen to your space heating and hot water after that, so it’s important you get this business sorted out soon.    

Hey ​@Wheels496 

I’m glad to see a couple of our community members have already stopped by here with some helpful advice.

I’ve also reached out to ​@Lukepeniket_OVO can give us any advice on this one. Hopefully we’ll be able to help further with this at all.

​@Wheels496 Sorry, I should of course have added a rider to this statement:  

This will not necessarily be free of charge, but I would say it’s the owner (i.e. the council) who should foot the bill if any - not the tenant, and certainly not the supplier. Some DNOs are more accommodating than others. You may be able to persuade the DNO to conduct a safety check, which would normally be free. I can’t see what the earthing arrangements are or spot the size of the main fuse, so there would probably be reasonable grounds for asking for an inspection. The inspector would be able to explain what needed to be done and what the charge would be for the work. It would cause less disruption if any DNO work could be carried out at the same time as the meter exchange.

Let’s hope ​@Lukepeniket_OVO comes along to share his views. 

Hey ​@Wheels496 

I’ve reached out via Private Message so our engineer specialist can take a look further.