Hi there @coradia !

Sorry for the late reply, I was away over the weekend and I’m just catching up with the forum now.

This does seem a bit unusual to be honest and I’m not seeing any obvious reasons that would be a blocker in your case. Could you take some photos of your current meters and pop them in your next reply for me? Sometimes I can get a few clues off those that might help figure out the puzzle.

Thanks for posting, @coradia - that’s a really long wait for a smart meter!

Yes we have limited engineer coverage, which means we can’t cover all of the UK all the time. But you’re in London and you’ve waited a year. Something’s not right. Sorry to hear this. 

Can you give us a bit more detail on your set up at home? Do you fill in any of the eligibility criteria or are you told there’s no available appointments on the booking platform before getting to this point?

If you never get a chance to submit any eligibility due to a lack of appointments, I’d recommend you get our Support team to try on their system. It might be an issue with the customer facing platform finding your location. 

if it’s an eligibility issue, send over a picture of your set up or some more info so we can advise what your options or any blockers are. 

Thanks! 

Thanks for your prompt replies @Blastoise186 and @Tim_OVO. The issue isn’t lack of appointments but not being eligible:

My set-ups a ten-year old new build apartment with, as far as I’m aware, regular meters. Here’s a photo of the cabinet:

Thanks for looking into this! James.

Woah! DIAL METERS?!?!?! In a new build?!?!?! That’s crazy… And I spy with my little eye… A dreaded Landis+Gyr E110 in the background. I thought dial meters had been phased out when it comes to electricity meters, apparently not…

Other than that, I’m not seeing any obvious upgrade blockers in these photos and dial meters definitely won’t get in the way. You’ve clearly got what seems like a bog standard Single-Phase Single-Rate Meter and I can’t see any signs of issues there. Might be worth getting the Support Team to attempt the upgrade request manually via the internal system. They can sometimes bypass these blockers. :)

Thanks for sharing this one @coradia !

Not quite dial meters these ones, @Blastoise186 - but it’s still pretty rare to see analogue meters without a LCD screen around here. 

Can understand why you’re keen to get a Smart meter installed, @coradia. Just wondering if you answered any questions about your set-up before seeing this page? - 

 

 

 

If you’ve let us know that your meters are at height or there’s a distance between the gas and electricity meter, this could the reason behind the ineligibility message. If this doesn’t apply in your case it’s worth raising this to the Support Team - don’t forget to keep us updated. It will really help others who might be seeing the same message when attempting to book a Smart meter.

Thanks @Jess_OVO for replying. I’ve never answered any questions to the best of my knowledge. I installed the app shortly after my switch was complete and that’s the screen I’ve always been presented with. I don’t have a gas meter. I’ve opened a support ticket so 

Thanks everyone for your comments. I heard back from the support team and, despite living in Greater London with good Telefónica mobile coverage (assuming this is O2, which my work mobile uses) and neighbours with SMETS2 smart meters from other suppliers, I’m not eligible.

Thanks @coradia .

As far as I can tell from the image you provided, I didn’t see any SMETS2 meters. It’s possible that there might have been some out of shot, but for the meter to be S2 in London, there must be a Comms Hub bolted to the top of the meter that was manufactured by either Toshiba or WNC. If the brand printed on the Comms Hub is either Trilliant or matches the brand of the meter itself, then it’s actually S1.

S2 meters in London are part of the Southern Territory which does indeed run on the Telefonica WAN via Cellular and is roughly the same setup as the O2 network. My best guesses as to why you can't get an upgrade right now is possibly something along the lines of:

• Overloading of the nearby network capacity
• Engineer availability
• Signal issues at your exact location or the general area
• An account-specific issue of some kind
• Low stocks of meters/comms hubs in the local inventory
• Some other weird issue with your specific meter(s)

You might want to keep trying every week as things might change. But hopefully Tim or Jess might know some possible clues as to what’s happening here. This is really strange!

Well that’s disappointing to hear @coradia. 

Understand that it might seem like a simple fix but sometimes there’s more going on behind-the-scenes than it appears.

Worth bearing in mind that even if there’s good signal in your flat, occasionally if the meters are in a different location (ie, a shared meter cupboard or basement) the signal in the meter areas won’t be good enough for us to receive the readings, in which case we won’t be able to book that in yet. It’s worth keeping an eye on your online account as we’ll make it clear on the homepage if anything changes - the WAN and mesh signal networks are improving all the time so hopefully we’ll be able to offer you a smart meter soon! 

Hello I have just switched to ovo and would like a smart meter. I can't order this online as the option isn't available yet, "coming soon" Anyone know how long soon is?

Also what time is Economy 7 / off peak reduced rate. Different sites give various times.

Thanks. 

Howdy @Vamatex !

Could you post photos of your current meter setup please? We can try to figure this one out for you. :)

Hi @Vamatex and welcome to OVO!

I think @Blastoise186 has asked for meter photos in case you already have some kind of smart meter. Or perhaps its to work out if the current set up as anything connected to a 5th port, such as heating. This would change the type of smart meter you would get. 

You can see a guide on OVO smart meters and a link to the booking platform via this page. It’s recommended that you wait around 6 weeks from your supply start date, before getting a smart meter anyway, just to make sure all your current meter details get sent over and added to your online account correctly. 

That depends on where you live. Check on the Plan page, either on the web or the OVO app, to find your Meter Point Administration Number (web) or Supply point MPAN (app). Then use this table to find the times corresponding to the first two digits of your MPAN:
  

I pinched the table from this helpful article: Everything you need to know about an Economy 7 (Eco 7) energy plan | The OVO Forum 

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.