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SalamancaRhodes
Rank 1
July 16, 2018
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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

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Newcomer
donnayau
Newcomer
October 4, 2025

1. no gas, hence, boiler not working, no hot water 

2. display not light up even long pressed red button or insert card

3. no "B3"

Nukecad
Super User
NukecadSuper User
Super User
October 4, 2025

OK, no gas is an emergency situation.

Is this a property that you have just moved into? Or have you topped up that meter before.

In either case call 0330 175 9669 and tell them that you have no gas and cannot top up the meter.

It is important that you tell them if you have just moved in.

That phone line should be open until 5 PM today.

If you are having trouble phoning then you can use webchat:
https://www.ovoenergy.com/help#contact_us_container

I said, Hey - Watts going on.
    Ben_OVO
    Community Manager
    Ben_OVO
    Community Manager
    October 6, 2025

    ​@donnayau thanks for your post and welcome to the OVO Forum. 

     

    I’m sorry to see what’s happened here, and I hope you were able to book an appointment following ​@Nukecad’s advice? 

     

    If you could let us know whether the meter has been changed that would be great, and let us know whether you’ve now got a smart meter or not; if so we can give you some further advice on how things work with a Pay As You Go smart meter.

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