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Wigwam66
Rank 1
March 29, 2020
Solved

Why is my Smart meter In Home Display (IHD) not showing any electricity usage data?

  • March 29, 2020
  • 222 replies
  • 29017 views

Okay, here goes... Smart meters installed in June 2019, except they weren't commissioned until January 2020. Since then my meter readings are being sent hourly to OVO and my usage is visible online after 24 hours, but my IHD is only showing gas usage. I've asked the email team , about showing electricity usage on the IHD and after 16 days advised that they'd requested my IHD's firmware to be refreshed and I should wait 48 hours and turn my IHD off and on. I've tried this but after 3 days nothing has changed and I'm looking to try and resolve this before the anniversary of the installation (although maybe I'll get a prize for the longest smart meter installation?) Can anyone suggest a solution?

Many thanks

 

Best answer by Nancy_OVO

Updated on 30/10/25 by Ben_OVO

 

Sorry to hear about your Smart meter journey - certainly not the smooth transition to smart that we aim for.

 

If you’re not seeing the information for both your gas and electricity usage on your In Home Display (IHD) this could indicate a communication issue either between the IHD and the meters or between your smart meter and OVO. If you think your smart meter may not be communicating with us, please check out the helpful guide below:

 

 

SMETS1 Secure Smart Meter Health Check

SMETS2 Smart Meter Health Check

 

If you believe there’s issues with your smart meters or IHD please contact our Support Team. If the smart meters need relacing we can book this in free of charge. If the smart meters are working, but the IHD is faulty, we can try and repair the IHD remotely. If that doesn’t work we can post you a new one, free of charge.

 

Here’s some things which can cause communication issues between your IHD and your Smart Meter:

  • Distance: make sure your In Home Display is near your electricity meter - ideally within 6 metres. If it’s not connected or isn't showing usage data, move it closer!
  • Obstructions: Is there anything that could be blocking the signal between the IHD and the meters? (eg an exterior wall)
  • Firmware: there might be a firmware issue with the IHD or smart meter, that’s causing connectivity issues (sometimes a device reboot can help with this - we’d recommend unplugging the device and allowing the IHD to run down it’s battery before restarting)

 

For more help see our Chameleon IHD trouble-shooting guide:

 

 

Hope you get these initial teething problems resolved quickly so you can start enjoying the benefits of your new Smart meters.

 

OVO customer but not got a smart meter yet? - Book today!

Interested but not yet an OVO customer? - Check out our plans!

 

222 replies

Show previous replies
W
Newcomer
Wheelman
Newcomer
October 24, 2020

Thanks for joining in with your observations on this issue @Wheelman .

One of the problems we have with these IHD faults is the lack of feedback from the SMETS Engineers to say what they’re diagnosing and how the faults are getting fixed. We don’t know if there’s a single common fault, or several different ones. Nor do we know whether there is an analysis being done of each report or whether they just send a SMETS_reset command.

When customers like yourself complain, it’s very often the case that the problem simply gets quickly resolved, but with no information provided to say whether it self-corrected or that an engineer did something.

I agree that this is extremely frustrating.

Moreover, it mitigates against us customers trying to help by accurately describing the faults here on the Forum.

Let’s see what the Moderator @Tim_OVO has to suggest.

 

 I’ve been told that they carried out some sort of attempt to reset, unsuccessfully , but like you said ; it appears that the various departments aren’t communicating. 
 I know my fault Isn’t a unique one and you would think that they would just sort it.   

P
Newcomer
pauleywauley
Newcomer
October 24, 2020

Hi Wheelman,

Don't expect a quick fix, it's been nearly 1 year with this fault, sent Ovo another e mail about a week ago, still waiting for a reply, nothing at all been done, this forum is useless, Ovo employees monitor it but still nothing done, the e mail said a reply in 2 days, it's been over a week now - still no reply again, very frustrating, thoughts firmware update would at least be sent to my meter - but nothing - don't hold your breath - REALLY POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE AS USUAL WITH NO RESOLVE IN SIGHT FOR NEARLY A YEAR WITH THE FAULT TO A SMETS2 METER.

W
Newcomer
Wheelman
Newcomer
October 24, 2020

Hi Wheelman,

Don't expect a quick fix, it's been nearly 1 year with this fault, sent Ovo another e mail about a week ago, still waiting for a reply, nothing at all been done, this forum is useless, Ovo employees monitor it but still nothing done, the e mail said a reply in 2 days, it's been over a week now - still no reply again, very frustrating, thoughts firmware update would at least be sent to my meter - but nothing - don't hold your breath - REALLY POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE AS USUAL WITH NO RESOLVE IN SIGHT FOR NEARLY A YEAR WITH THE FAULT TO A SMETS2 METER.

 Ok thank you

 maybe time to cut and run 

TomThumb
Rank 6
TomThumb
Rank 6
October 24, 2020

@parekhd  & @Transparent I have only just noticed, in parekhd photo, 8.63 kWh = .02p  that is an exceptional tariff, where do I sign up lol. 

Could that be reporting only 10% of actual costs (tariff dependent) if so, that mirrors my experience of my IHD. (Can you clarify @parekhd)

As previously reported, my dumb electric smart meter only regained full functionality & communication to both Ovo & my IHD only after a power down / reboot to the comms unit by an Ovo engineer, 

The problem of my IHD reporting only 10% of actual costs for my gas usage is still ongoing via email with Ovo.

 

Tom...

3 meters: Smart Gas & Smart Elec / Traditional Gas meter
    Tim_OVO
    OVO Staff
    Tim_OVO
    OVO Forum Legend
    October 26, 2020

    Thanks for this continued feedback, @pauleywauley @TomThumb @Wheelman @Transparent 

     

    I’ve reached out to some colleagues to try and see if I can confirm and share some insight into the types of issues we see, and what actions we take to fix them remotely. I must say beyond the smart meter health checks we advise, the Support team remains your best bet for custom, tailored advice and support with your smart meter and devices. However if there’s something I can get and share with you all, I will!

     

    I’ll be back here with an update when I get one. 

     

    Tim

    Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there! My green tech: Aclara SGM 1411-B smart meter, Chameleon IHD6
    Tim_OVO
    OVO Staff
    Tim_OVO
    OVO Forum Legend
    November 2, 2020

    Hi @pauleywauley 

     

    I’ve just posted the below update on this topic, and the same advice applies to you:

     

    I’ve had a meeting today with lots of the ‘S2’ and ‘smart support’ team, to try and better understanding the types of issues, the process, and why things seem to be getting missed in some cases. 

     

    I’ve learnt a lot, and will be able to change the advice I offer when pointing members to our Support team, to help the right issue get raised in the right way. We’re also taking steps to build better internal and external resources to help diagnosing and fixing. 

     

    In the meantime I’ve also asked for your account to be looked at as an exception, and any outstanding ‘case’ to be worked. I hope we get somewhere with this....

    Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there! My green tech: Aclara SGM 1411-B smart meter, Chameleon IHD6
    P
    Newcomer
    pauleywauley
    Newcomer
    November 2, 2020

    Ok Tim,

    Thanks for letting me know, not heard back from the e mail I sent over a week ago so still waiting to hear from Ovo.

    Paul.

     

    M
    Newcomer
    museumsteve
    Newcomer
    January 16, 2021

    New chap here but I didn’t want to start a new thread about the same old problem so figured I’d reply here then would see replies if and when the above peple get sorted once and for all.

    Had my install on Thursday this week, all good, then today electricity is not showing on my IHD6.

     

      P
      Newcomer
      pauleywauley
      Newcomer
      January 16, 2021

      Hi Steve,

      Sorry to hear your problems with no electricity reading being sent up, you'll have a very long wait for an engineer, they were really struggling before lockdown, I've been on the engineer to do list for getting on for a year now, no resolution having to manually update my meter reads every month, these SMART meters are fantastic!!!!!!

      Paul.

        Blastoise186
        Super User
        Blastoise186Super User
        Super User
        January 16, 2021

        Welcome to the forums @museumsteve . And thanks for the reply too @pauleywauley :)

        What I can say is that the first six to eight weeks following the install of new smart meters and/or upgrade and migration of SMETS1 meters to SMETS2 firmware, things will be unstable while a lot of the back office processes are underway. A misbehaving IHD is one of those symptoms, but it should calm down eventually.

        If you still have problems after the first eight weeks, that’s definitely the point where something’s gone wrong and we can try to dig deeper. I’m hoping to get hold of an IHD for myself in the next few weeks, once there’s stocks available.

        Hang in there for now and please keep an eye on how things go.

        Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way! Remember, I'm just like you - AI Powered Evil Geniuses aren't Staff!
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