Storage Heater not working after Smart Meter installed

To be honest, they are messing me about. The error I have after installing the smart meter has happened also to other people with storage heaters and immersion water tanks. Wonder how they got it fixed.
I‘m really not patient anymore, being angry, feeling helpless and mentally exhausted by the issue. No idea what I’m supposed to do. I don’t want a privat electrician to touch the problem and OVO is not able to sort out the problem. Doesn’t leave me with options….

Hey @mazza,

I’m really sorry to hear this,

It sounds like a very frustrating situation to be in. I’ll ask Forum_Support to reach out today. 

🙋🏼

The other similar cases I’ve seen here in the forums (the switch for offpeak equipment isn’t triggered as it should be) have had different meters from yours, so it’s not certain that it’s the same fault with the same solution - but it’s not unlikely.

I haven’t found a manual which covers your specific meter, but from the photo it looks as if there is indeed an ALCS  in the box on the RHS of the meter labelled L470 5451. The error that we have come across is that, although the engineer has asked for OVO to configure this switch by sending what’s called an ECAUL request and received confirmation via his app that this has been done, in fact it hasn’t and the confirmation is an error. That’s why Blastoise suggested asking for this request to be re-sent in his very first reply.

If that box does indeed contain an ALCS, then its little LED (below UK | CA) should indicate its state. If the ALCS hasn’t been configured at all, the LED might just be off. Otherwise, it should shine blue during the day and green during offpeak hours. If it’s red, there’s a fault. So, what is it showing: red, blue, green or nothing?  

Just got home to check the meter. There is no light on the rhs
 

Btw, I have suggested since the beginning to Ovo that the meter is not correctly configured but they didn't do anything

I’m no expert, but that suggests that the ALCS just isn’t connected. We’ve seen similar installations where the installer had not much idea what he was doing and just made everything neat and tidy. 

If that is an ALCS, and I can’t imagine what it might be otherwise, then if there is power to the meter, its LED should be lit with the colour indicating the current state. 

@mazza i would keep trying with Forum_Support via the forum

https://forum.ovoenergy.com/inbox/overview

Thanks Jeffus, I did reach out early this morning, no reply from Ovo Forum Support just as yet.

@mazza There a a few painfull threads like yours at the moment of customers being off supply for different reasons for weeks. OVO definitely need to improve their processes in general when this occurs. 

Hiya!

The others have asked me to step back into this thread. Please bear with me while I catch up with the recent discussions and figure out if I can advise. Don’t worry you’re not in trouble - they just felt that this one’s more up my street.

Just so you know, this may take me a few hours to do, but I’ll try to get back you here today if I can.

Hi,
Thanks for looking into this again, appreciated.
Trouble is how to get it translated to OVO. They still didn't try what you've suggested a week ago...

Ok, I think I’ve caught up. But first, a bit of backstory.

I was invited to visit OVO’s Bristol HQ in November last year and was granted access to the Smart Meter Lab along with @Tim_OVO thanks to the Sekrit Smart Meter Friend there, who also helps the Forum out in more tricky cases.

We did actually see one of these exact L+G E470 Type 5533 units with the ALCS add-on in the test lab, but I don’t recall any of them being actively tested on any of the test benches or the Wall of Meters, so I wasn’t able to see how it behaves for myself. The experts comments were that it’s “L+G’s attempt at a 5-Terminal Smart Meter” but he didn’t seem particularly keen about how they pulled it off.

Personally, I consider it to be the worst effort out of all the manufacturers and probably the laziest as well. All the others have all five, six or even seven (or more!) terminals as part of the main body of the meter itself - there’s no other manufacturer other than L+G that I know of who does ALCS in a separate unit that “bolts” onto the meter in some mysterious way.

Unfortunately, to date the E470 Type 5533 has been pretty rare in the field and hardly any publicly accessible information exists about it. Given that L+G won’t talk to me directly I can’t really get much from my own research either. I can only assume that the ALCS isn’t wired in properly. Either that, or it’s dead for some reason...

Bear with me, I think this might be one to call in the Smart Meter Friend for. I’ll see if I can get permission to do that.

That is interesting. 

It does make me wonder why ovo are installing these meters if the ovo experts were not impressed. 

Also whether the ovo engineer checked the light on the ALCS, obviously we will never know for sure. 

This isn't a meter installed by another supplier. 

It could have just been leftover SSE stock. SSE used to use Aclara/Flonidan in the S1 days but switched to L+G for S2 while OVO used Secure for S1 and (primarily) Aclara/Flonidan for S2. I wouldn’t be surprised if OVO is trying to burn down the L+G stock to get rid of it - and using it up is definitely one way of doing it.

I guess it’s a good time to mention that Aclara and Flonidan are business partners. They have a special agreement that means they collaborate with each other very closely, and it’s one of the reasons you see so many Aclara electric meters paired up with Flonidan gas meters - they work VERY well together.

I’m also wondering if the L+G E470 Type 5533 is actually just a bog standard E470 and they just bolt an ALCS unit to it when it needs to be Five-Terminal…?

Certainly the one in the lab appeared to be a single unit.

It’s another reason why I HATE the E470 so much - they’re all the same model number!!!!!!!! At least Aclara had the genius idea of using the SGM1411-B exclusively as the Bog Standard Single-Phase 4-Terminal option and (for example) the SGM1416-B as the Fancy Swanky I can do anything 5-Terminal Single-Phase wants option - and the SGM1433-B is the totally bonkers overpowered Three-Phase Lots of Terminals for extreme cases option. It makes it an absolute piece of cake for me to figure out not only which one you’ve got - but also how it’s been configured.

It is what it is now...

A customer with no E7 heating or hot water for nearly 4 weeks soon.

An ALCS with no lights on

A not great customer experience since the smart meters were installed. 

Been on the forum for 9 days

At the moment no idea when ovo are going to fix.

@mazza is incredibly patient. 

Oh dear! Obviously, I don't know but am impressed how somebody does know so much stuff about these things. 
Is that just a “hobby” for you guys or are you electricians? 
If you need more photos, perhaps sideview of the meter or the ALCS, let me know.
 

Thanks everyone 

Ironically enough, we’re not qualified electricians! :D

I’m actually the Head of IT at a media production company. Not even training to be an electrician. :)

It’s a bit of a hobby for us to be on this forum really. We are just incredibly well connected and have the ability to tap into certain industry resources - especially those at OVO if we ask nicely.

Thanks for clarifying and being interested.

No worries! We’re here if you need us!

Even if that does mean having to have 20,000 things on the go at once. :P

Yep, looks busy😄

Just to update you all. It looks like finally there is some movement in my case. Got a call EOD from OVO saying they would do the remote check up’s suggested here on the forum. Not holding my breath just as yet but being hopeful! 

That’s probably because of something we did in this thread. :)

Keep us posted with how things go!

Keep us posted @mazza!

Just a note, from previous experience I know that if you did get a private electrician and they advised in the job notes the fault was with OVO you could send customer support the invoice and have it refunded.

Hopefully it doesn’t come to that, as I appreciate that would be an inconvenience to you. 

Just received not such good news fromOVO, copying here:

I’m emailing you an update in regards to your Smart Meters.

Unfortunately, after monitoring your meters on our system, it would appear that we are not communicating correctly with your smart meters and we are unable to fix this remotely. We do apologise for any inconvenience.

In order to fix this issue we would like to revisit your property at a time that’s suitable for you and ensure your electric meter is communicating with us as expected. Please call us on 0330 303 5063 at your earliest convenience in order to book this. We're available Monday to Friday, 8am-6pm.

This took OVO almost 4 weeks to find out!!!! Very disheartening to call OVO again.. Would have been much easier they would ring me…..