My smart gas meter isn't communicating with OVO anymore - no readings - why?

Why is there a problem connecting gas Smart meters? The Ovo engineer arrived on 26/10 to fit Smart meters for both gas & electricity. The electricity meter works perfectly, but he said that there was something wrong with the comms for the gas & another appointment would have to made. He put all this on his report, but suggested that I call to re-book as well. When I did, after being kept on hold for over 30 minutes, I was told that it was not possible & that manual readings would have to be made. There are to other flats in my property who both have Smart meters that don’t have problems? What is going on?

Hi @Lady P and thanks for sharing this. 

It’s tricky to say for sure based on what you said. It could be the Home Area Network (HAN) that’s the issue, or something else. 

We have a ‘smart meter health check’ guide for your Aclara meter type which should help you work out the specifics:

Once you know, we can advise a bit more on why the Support team may have suggested it can’t be fixed and you’ll need to submit meter readings manually. I’d be surprised if that was the permanent arrangement available. 

Thank you Tim but I can’t perform a health check as the meter wasn’t installed because it didn’t work!

The engineer installed the electricity smart meter he said this was working, but when he installed the gas smart meter, he said there was a comms issue & although he contacted the Ovo back office help, nothing they suggested worked. I understand that this is a common problem?

When I rang to get another appointment booked, I was told there were no appointments available & that manual readings would have to be done & that he would arrange for someone to call every 3 months to do this…...not ideal really is it?

Thanks @Lady P. 

Quick check, you mention manual meter readings. Is that because your old gas meter is still in place? The thing attached to the wall. 

If that’s the case, you will need to discuss with our Support team to check if the reason why it couldn’t be fitted can be resolved by/ahead of the engineer visit. 

I appreciate that’s a pain to hear as it means manually submitting readings until the gas smart meter is fitted, so if you do speak to the Support team and have any further questions feel free to come back here to see if we can help. 

Posting for the second time.  I have a supposedly 'smart' meter that is anything but.  Hasn't sent a gas reading since the beginning of October.  When I log onto the app I get the message, "we haven't got a reading, would you mind sending us one."  Now this sort of negates the whole point of having this meter.  Fed up filling in forms and phoning Ovo.  I'm very tempted to just unplug it and put it in a cupboard. It has had issues with the gas reading since it was installed in February though the installer was so bad he didn't even check it was working properly before he left.  It wasn't.  Meter was replaced eventually but still no gas readings.  Help!  Before i tear my hair out.

Evening @Scotia121 ,

Could you post photos of both your Smart Meters and the In-Home Display please? I can try to help with diagnostics, but I need to check what you’ve got first.

Thanks for your response.  Will do it tomorrow. 

Hey @Scotia121,

Sorry for the issues you’re having.

If you’ve completed a smart meter health check and sent this to us. The team will try and resolve the issues with your meters remotely over the next 45 working days.

If they’re unable to do so, they’ll be in touch to book in an engineer visit.

I appreciate this is very frustrating. But it’s important you send in readings in the meantime so you’re account isn’t estimated. The good news is we have a live billing system so whenever you submit a reading your account balance will update accordingly.

Hope this helps.