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SalamancaRhodes
Rank 1
July 16, 2018
Solved

Why has my smart gas meter battery failed? I was left off-supply over the weekend!

  • July 16, 2018
  • 43 replies
  • 15187 views

Hi,

Our smart meter failed over the weekend which resulted in being without gas for nearly 24hrs? Can OVO provide answers to the questions below?

1. Why did the smart meter not proactivly inform me or Ovo that the meter was about to fail ? No warning it just died and left us ( family with 2 children under 5) without gas for heating,Hot water or cooking. Not very SMART ?

2. We thought the battery life of the smart meter was on avergae 10 years? this lasted 3 at best ? engineers that have visited say that on average its 2 -3 years? Why are we being informed its 10 years ? Essentially are we looking at replacements every 3 years? Not very SMART ?

3. Upon discovering we had no gas we tried to contact OVO out of business hours... which is a challenge , number on this site and on the internet are business hours only and it took a lot of searching to actually find an emergency contact. once we did get through we were informed that there was nothing they could do till 9am the following day?? We are in a heat wave but imagine this in the middle of winter with young children and no Gas?? Not very SMART?

4. When the emergency engineer did arrive the following day to replace our SMART meter they replaced it with a pre paid card meter ? Why? We didnt have a pre paid card meter before and didint want one, we want a replacement SMART meter like the one we had before.

5. So we contact OVO again this morning and a new job is raised to replace the incorrect Pre Paid card meter that was installed yesterday. The engineer arrives.... sorry i'm a pre paid card meter engineer and I cant replace the (incorrect) pre paid card meter with a smart meter that you require. Engineer leaves and we contact OVO again... another emergency job logged. Not very SMART !

So in summary its a dreadful customer expiriance and massivly inconveniant that working familes with young kids have to face such disruption to accommodate a process that is anything but SMART !

Why are smart meter batteries failing so fast? Why can we not easily contact OVO out of hours when we have no Gas? Why are we facing potentially havIng to be subjetced the the replacement of 3 meters to get back to the orginal smart meter we need? Why cant a failed smart meter just be replaced with a new smartt meter in one emergency callout ? Engineers onsite today informed me that they carry them but cant install them?

Look forward to OVOs reponse on how this is going to be resolved and how we will be compensated for the massive disruption to a long term customer, who after this experiance will be seriously questioning if they remain with OVO.

Best answer by Nancy_OVO

Updated on 14/10/25 by Ben_OVO


First of all, I just want to say sorry for this experience and the inconvenience it's caused you and your family, it’s never nice to hear of issues occurring which leave a family off-supply.

 

All gas meters (smart and traditional) have an internal battery that power them. This is designed to last for up to 20 years, with a meter recertification (exchanging the meter to replace it with a new one) scheduled every 10 years, so it’s unusual for this issue to crop up so soon. 

 

 

If your gas smart meter is making a beeping sound, it indicates that the battery is low and the meter will need replacing. If the battery fails this can affect the supply, so it’s important to reach out to our Support Team if you do ever notice that your meter is beeping.

 



It’s really distressing to hear that this happened out-of-hours and you were unable to give us a call - we do have emergency contact details here and would encourage you to use these to report any urgent issues when our phone lines are closed.

 

Additionally, I'm so sorry that a prepayment meter was installed during your emergency appointment. This isn’t what should have happened and I can only apologise for the hassle you’ve now had to go through to get a pay monthly gas meter replacement.  

 

I think the best course of action would be to contact our Support Team to raise this as a complaint - this will make sure we investigate what went wrong and will provide important feedback to any internal processes that might need improving. We’ll also be able to see what we can do to put things right - getting you the right meter as quickly as we can and discussing a fair goodwill gesture to make up for the shortfalls in service you experienced.

 

43 replies

Show previous replies
Emmanuelle_OVO
Retired Moderator
Emmanuelle_OVO
Retired Moderator
March 22, 2023

Hey @Raydog,

 

Really sorry to hear this,

 

You may need to request a faulty meter exchange, please contact Support on 0330 303 5063, they should be able to get an engineer out to you in the next 3-4 hours. 

 

Keep us posted with how you get on. 

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.
A
Newcomer
Adwatp
Newcomer
April 1, 2023

We have lost all gas supply into our house.

Ovo phone lines are closed.

We have continuous use smart meters. They are not prepayment meters

 

Can anyone help me diagnose the gas smart meter to see if that is stopping the gas supply?

 

If i press a button on the gas meter there is a flame symbol and HAN

On the electric meter the WAN is flashing but the HAN is not lit

 

 

A
Newcomer
Adwatp
Newcomer
April 1, 2023

 

Pic of gas meter if that helps at all

 

The text "Press A" alternates to "connect" every few seconds

BPLightlog
Super User
BPLightlogSuper User
Super User
April 1, 2023

Hi @Adwatp Try pressing button 0 on your gas meter. This should go through a few screens such as the current date and time. If it shows a message such as COMMISSION however, it might need to be re-activated. 

Bring me Sunshine ~ E&E {Solar PV, Battery Storage, Hybrid EV, ASHP and Home Assistant automation}
    A
    Newcomer
    Adwatp
    Newcomer
    April 2, 2023

    Hello @BPLightlog 

    Thanks for responding

    I can see no word like commission 

     

    I am really disappointed by not being able to speak to Ovo about not having any gas over the weekend.

    British Gas have been more helpful and you can actually speak to someone.

     

    I will seriously consider getting my supply from BG having been with Ovo for many years

     

    Ovo used to be really good for customer service. Sadly no longer

     

    I anticipate a long wait to speak to Ovo on Monday morning 

    BPLightlog
    Super User
    BPLightlogSuper User
    Super User
    April 2, 2023

    Hi @Adwatp if you need to you could try their social media where if you private message they do have access to your account (unlike here)

    Twitter  -  https://twitter.com/OVOEnergy

    Facebook  -  https://www.facebook.com/ovoenergy

    Bring me Sunshine ~ E&E {Solar PV, Battery Storage, Hybrid EV, ASHP and Home Assistant automation}
      A
      Newcomer
      Adwatp
      Newcomer
      April 2, 2023

      Thanks

      A
      Newcomer
      Adwatp
      Newcomer
      April 2, 2023

      Getting no reply on Twitter

      Really disappointing

      Cant really believe how bad Ovo Customer Service is now compared to a while back

      I have recommended Ovo a few times previously but never again

      Jeffus
      Rank 20
      Jeffus
      Rank 20
      April 3, 2023

      Getting no reply on Twitter

      Really disappointing

      Cant really believe how bad Ovo Customer Service is now compared to a while back

      I have recommended Ovo a few times previously but never again

      @Adwatp be good to know how you get on today after contacting OVO. 

        A
        Newcomer
        Adwatp
        Newcomer
        April 3, 2023

        @Jeffus Well …

        Having phoned at 8.00 on monday  as the website says,  the phone message then says 9.00

        So i tried the web chat.

        Took about 10 minutes for someone to respond. Then went silent for about 40 minutes despite my prompts

        So at 9.00 i phoned again and did actually speak to someone fairly promptly and should have an engineer out in about 3 hours

        The web chat came back on as i was on the phone, so 1 hour after first trying web chat. They said they hadnt received my replies

         

        So really not a great experience overall but hoping to have it sorted in the next few hours.

         

        To get an engineer within 3 hours of calling is fine. Good in fact. And the contractor has since phoned to confirm.

         

        But the overall experience so far has been very poor and stressful when trying to communicate with machines and getting nowhere and not knowing when an actual person might help you

        Show more replies
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