Hi forummers

I already have a smart meter installed for electricity but not for gas.  The story is a bit convoluted, but the installer encountered a problem when she was fitting it and this meant she couldn’t do the gas meter at the same time. Actually she didn’t end up doing the electricity meter at that stage as our house needed a new fuse board, but a colleague came back a few weeks later and did the electricity meter.  He didn’t do the gas meter because (I think) it wasn’t on his job list, so he didn’t have one to fit.  This was all two years ago and I have had to submit manual gas meter readings ever since.  I have got fed up with this, so today I tried to get a smart gas meter, only for the Ovo website to tell me:

Sorry, we can't install a smart meter yet

We check multiple criteria to make sure we successfully install your new smart meters on the day. Your account does not pass our eligibility check right now. Eligibility can change so please come back to try again soon.

Is anyone able to tell me what my next step should be?  Do I call Ovo (if so, can someone tell me the number?) or do I try the chat function?

House is made of brick, built in 1980s, has both meters adjacent to each other, in the outside wall, and the electricity meter is submitting readings just fine, so I can’t see any reason why they’ve said no.

Thanks in advance for any help that is forthcoming.

Hi @FunkyFerret55 , your best route is either calling 

Customer Support  -  tel:03303035063

or using

Webchat  -https://help.ovoenergy.com/#contact_us_container

They can check on your account to see what’s going on 

Hey @FunkyFerret55,

As far as I’m aware you can’t book gas only smart meter appointments online.

But don’t worry, our support team should be able to get this booked in for you no problem 🙂

Thanks both, just been onto the webchat, and it’s all booked in for this week.

I have a smart meter fitted already for electric meter but I am apparently not eligible to have a smart meter fitted for gas??? Seems a little odd! 

Hi @Chris Deyes 

Welcome to the forum, I am just a customer like you.

That does seem an odd reply.

Did ovo say why? For example the location of your meter?

Could you post photos of your gas and electricity meter?

@Jeffus 

iv not spoken with them yet, just did an enquiry on the app to arrange installation and was shown the message about not meeting the requirements. 
both meters are in the same place, in the under stairs cupboard. The electrical meter sends readings so obviously has good reception. Baffled!!
 

Hi @Chris Deyes 

That does seem strange as they are close together so no issue with distance between the meters

Although it does beg the question why the gas meter wasn't swapped at the same time as the electricity meter.

Always difficult to be certain if the engineer felt there wasn't room for whatever reason and flagged something on the address.

Or whether something strange is happening in the app as you already have an electric smart meter 

Hey @Chris Deyes,

Sorry for the issues you’re having,

The support team should be able to advise further, it sounds like the initial appointment may have been aborted. As it’s very strange to just install one meter so I imagine there was a reason gas couldn’t be installed initially.

Hi

When trying to book smart meter i get a message account does not pass our eligibility check right now, before we used to have poor mobile reception/signal, but it is 4g now on most networks where the meter is, and i was told by octopus that, if you get that, it should work. so how can i change ovo’s mind is there a direct email i can use?

Hi @FREEFLOW ,

It’s NOT just whether you have 4G Signal that counts here - it’s whether the right 4G Signal is in your area as not all 4G towers are used for Smart Meters. Likewise, if the 4G Comms Hubs haven’t reached your area yet, it’d rely on the existing 2G/3G ones for now and if they have no signal, then it’s a no-go anyway - this is beyond OVO’s control as it’s DCC who dictates what can be used where. Regardless of who your supplier is, if the signal doesn’t exist from DCC, it won’t work anyway.

Likewise, there are other factors too - not all of them are about signal strength!

If you wish to have a manual review or think the tool is wrong, please call 0330 303 5063 or Live Chat via https://ovoenergy.com/help and they can try to set up a booking for you.

Hi @FREEFLOW,

I’m sorry to hear this. 

It seems our forum volunteer has already given some great advice here. 

Please let us know how you get on with contacting the Support team.

I've been a customer with OVO for six months now. When I first joined, they where very insistent that I get a smart meter fitted. The engineer came and went after first installing the smart meter and immediately uninstalled, saying he couldn't get it working. Since then, I am constantly getting recommendations from OVO that I move to a smart meter... yet whenever I check, I just get the message "Your account does not pass our eligibility check..." Is there any way to either get OVO to stop recommending something they themselves say I can't get... or to find out what is needed to make my account eligible, as it's getting annoying to be offered deals I can't get.

Hi @KSS101 ,

Yup, but you need to use Live Chat at https://ovoenergy.com/help for this.

That sounds really frustrating @KSS101 

Just to add onto what @Blastoise186 has already advised, there is the option to ‘opt out’ of marketing which should stop some of these communications via the online account or by contacting the support team. I’m sorry you’re still receiving communications on a regular basis. 

Why after being a customer for years am I still not eligible for a smart meter ? 

I’ve been a customer for years, I live in an area with good 4g, yet still get this message !!
 

Sorry, we can't install a smart meter yet

We check multiple criteria to make sure we successfully install your new smart meters on the day. Your account does not pass our eligibility check right now. Eligibility can change so please come back to try again soon.

We don’t have a Crystal Ball. Please post photos of your meter so we can try to figure this out.

Alternatively, please call 0330 303 5063 or Live Chat via https://ovoenergy.com/help .

Hey @Stephen Robson, 

There could be a few reasons that you’re getting that message. Although coverage for a cellular or mobile network may be good, some meters use different communication methods that might not bring the same coverage. If you contact our Support Team they should be able to arrange for a site visit from one of our engineers to check if it’s possible to get a smart meter installed. 

Let us know if you contact them and get this arranged 😊

I’ve recently moved into a house which has a Electricity smart meter but not on the gas meter.

When I try to request a Gas Smart meter I get the not eligible message. The gas meter is on the outside wall at ground level about a meter away from the electric meter and accessible.

I also don’t have a IHD which I would like so i can monitor usage.

Could you post some photos of both your meters, so we can spot if there is anything obvious that might be an issue.

The first part of your postcode may also be useful.

TBH though it could be a simple as the gas meter not ‘needing’* to be changed yet, or even just a shortage of available engineers in your area.

*Even if you have to send in readings, the meter is metering, so changing it for a smart meter is desirable but not ‘needed’.

PS. I was the same for a year or so, smart metered electricity, send in gas readings. It wasn't a great problem.  I do now have both meters smart.

The most likely reason I can think of is that you can’t book this job online - OVO Support needs to do it because one of the Meters is already Smart. As for the IHD?

I’ve got ya covered!

Hey ​@Rayat35 

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

There could be a few reasons that’s coming back as ineligible, Blastoise186 has touched on the most common, that being that it’s already a smart meter. Would you be able to share a photo of the gas meter with us?

Blastoise186 also left a really helpful topic guide about getting an IHD if there wasn’t one left behind when you moved in.

Let us know how you get on with that, and if you could share a photo of the gas meter as Nukecad mentioned, that’d also be really helpful.

Thanks for your suggestions and help guys.  I eventually managed to get an appointment booked via the web chat.  Although not sure what had changed this time as I had tried the Web chat and phoned previously.