OVO has been trying to contact you about your Radio Teleswitch (RTS) electricity meter

Hi ​@bungles ,

Chances are you probably missed previous attempts at reaching you - OVO has been working like mad over recent months. However, it’s been well documented for some time that this was coming:

It is, however, the signal that controls your meter(s) that’s ending and that’s what is being switched off. Your main power supply will not be disabled.

However, if you take no action you do risk breaking your entire setup - and Ofgem appears to be keen to disconnect those who don’t migrate from the grid completely, if a specific proposal is to be believed.

Please show us your setup so we can advise on your options.

Thanks

Thank you, Blastoise186, most kind of you to reply so quickly - I think we may have had a past conversation, some years ago. Here’s the entire shebang, from outside.  Smart meter installers have said they can’t access the left hand side of the boiler. I’ve more photos if you think they would help.

Thanks again!

Hi Chris_OVO,

Many thanks for your kind response, and for fwding my boiler image to ​an engineering Team Leader - I hope they can be reassuring!

Hope you have a good day.

Kind regards,

B

Hello everyone!! 

thank you for the​@bungles, could you take a closer image of the grey cutout box near the floor of the boiler please? the bit that stands proud if the cutout fuse and we would need to remove that to enable the exchange to be completed

I’m sorry if I don’t quite understand, because I’ve never lived with a boiler so I’m not sure what they look like. Should there perhaps be a door on that white cabinet?

Looking at your photo, I could foresee a problem with removing the main fuse, which the engineer has to be able to do before he can work on the meters:
  

  
Once the tamper seal has been removed from the top of the fuse carrier (the grey bit with the ‘100A ...’ marking), that carrier has to be able to move a long way in the direction of the boiler to give access to the fuse itself. If that is the problem, then I can only see two solutions: either part of the side of the cabinet has to be removed, or the service head (that grey/black conglomeration at the end of the thick black power cable coming through the floor) has to be moved sideways. You or a friendly handyman with a decent pair of tin snips could probably manage the first, but moving the service head (or otherwise re-jigging it to make it accessible) would have to be done, at a not insignificant cost to you, by your electricity distributor (DNO).

I might be quite wrong, of course. Let’s see what the expert has to say.

​@Lukepeniket_OVO 

Hello ​@Firedog,

Thank you so much for your absolutely clear description of the problem, and possible solutions. Apparently, when both engineers came in the past, they said the required implement once the fuse was removed was way too long to afford access, and we think that, even were we to be able to remove the wall of the boiler, the foil covered lump at the bottom (where we hide the Stone of Scone that we stole) doesn’t afford enough space. We’ve booked a boiler engineer to visit after the BH, as it may be we have to get this boiler replaced with a more svelte one. (Darn it.) Thank you again, and hope you have a lovely weekend.

Hey ​@bungles,

Let us know how you get on with the boiler engineer and if you find anymore questions let us know. We would love to hear what the engineer recommends to fix this scenario. 

Hi Chris,

Thank you for your message.

I’m expecting he’ll advise a replacement boiler 😠

Existing is 20+ years old, works like a charm, and engineer who services it always advises to hang onto it until they can’t get parts any more, as its such a good one, especially as current boilers have a much reduced life span, around 10-15 years.

So, we’ll see what this new guy says. Could really do without the ££££ and was hoping this one would see me out.

Have a good weekend (what remains).