Is the OVO SMETS1 smart meter compatible with other suppliers?

Good evening @The Dazzler ,

I’m really sorry this is causing you so much trouble, so I’m going to flag this up with @Tim_OVO immediately. There probably is a way to switch everything over to OVO if it’s done in the right way, but I’ll check with Tim and get back to you as soon as possible.

In the meantime, could you take some photos of your meters and post them in your next reply please?

Here you go Blastoise186… thank you for taking the time to reply

🤦🏻‍♂️

Thanks @The Dazzler ,

I see what the reason would be. The meter you have is a SMETS1 that isn’t compatible with all suppliers. Only those which fitted SMETS1 meters back in the day would be compatible with yours - OVO and Boost being two examples of this.

I’ve just sent up an SOS Flare a few seconds ago to get help from Tim and his internal contacts. It might take a little while, but I will make sure to keep you posted when I hear back.

@Blastoise186 really really appreciate that.. thank you very much.

so it sounds like OVO is compatible but they told me they couldn't help me when I called?

lets see what Tim comes back with and we can build from there.. thanks again.

No worries :)

I don’t think you’re the only person who’s wanted to switch between the two sides, so there probably is a way to do it. I know that if you wanted to switch from a Pay Monthly/Credit tariff elsewhere to Boost PAYG, you’d have to switch to PAYG with the existing supplier first and then switch to Boost.

But I get the feeling that there’s probably a magic trick for internal transfers between Boost and OVO. I keep in touch with Tim constantly and he’s able to more quickly access internal teams than most of the support teams can. I can’t promise that the result will be a thumbs up, but we’ll definitely give you an honest answer.

As this community forum is open to anyone (even if you’re not an OVO customer), we’re able to give you advice on what you can do even if you can’t switch to OVO. Bear with me and I’ll aim to update you by this time tomorrow.

I’ve just done some reading up in the background, while I wait for Tim to respond in the morning.

As far as I’m aware, when you’re on PAYG with a smart meter and switch supplier, the old supplier generally flips the meter into Credit Mode during the process before handing over control and the new supplier flips it back later. This is done to ensure you don’t run out of credit mid-transfer and be left unable to top-up and go off supply. You would have to pay back any charges later, but it’s a feature that’s possible.

So I’m sort-of wondering whether it might be possible for Boost and OVO to do a bit of a hack here - flip the meter into Credit Mode and leave keep it there in order to initiate a switch?

Thant sounds really positive! lets hope Tim confirms that.. thanks again

Hi there @The Dazzler ,

Tim got back to me earlier and gave me an update. I’m really sorry for the delay! I do have some bad news for you, but I do also have some good news too.

You might be able to transfer your electricity from Boost to OVO and then get your gas moved over from SSE to OVO as well. However, it’s a complicated switch and may take a bit of working out. Here’s the full info @Tim_OVO gave me:

Boost to OVO: this is still being worked out as a main process. There are occasions where we want to do it, and a manual long winded process is worth it. For example if someone is high risk, with electricity dependency for example, then we would deem that prepayment is not suitable.

However in most cases, the OVO sign up needs doing due to different elements, such as a credit check. We can't allow every Boost customer the option of switching straight to OVO, as some customers are on this payment method because they've been unable to keep out of debt on a credit system before. So we do a credit check with every OVO sign up.

This might seem harsh, but actually someone that goes into debt, and doesn't clear it costs the business huge amounts of money, and increases in these customers would ultimately lead to higher prices for everyone. So we would recommend a prepayment system (boost) for those who might struggle with a large monthly payment, and suggest they sign up to OVO directly if they feel they would prefer this system.

Energy is an essential service. That's why lots of benefits and initiative such as the warm home discount are in place to ensure energy usage is paid for before other things. Prepayment energy just makes this even easier.

I'll pick up that topic and see what's what today.

I believe Tim is still working out some details behind the scenes, but you might be able to get this switch to work out. Are you OK with hanging in there for a bit longer for Tim to catch up properly? Sorry it’s not (quite) a perfect result for you yet, but I hope this helps you out a bit.

that's great news!! what he explains seems totally logical, they're not a charity after all. 

randomly yesterday I received a text message from E.ON saying they are installing smart meters in my area and sent me  a contact number should I wish to upgrade… seriously considering it as at least that way I will have the SMETS2 meter all the suppliers want you to have.

I’ll wait for Tim though as I believe OVO are quite competitive.

thanks again. very informative!