When can I have a smart meter fitted?

Thanks for your reply. I don’t have storage heaters just normal gas central heating with radiators so both gas and electric
I will check out the booking suggestion though. I was not aware of it

Hello
To be honest don't worry about getting a smart meter they are nothing but trouble if they are using wireless or mobile phone signals
had mine removed after complaining to my MP who got it removed within a month for a non smart meter so don't rush to get one installed...

Hello
To be honest don't worry about getting a smart meter they are nothing but trouble if they are using wireless or mobile phone signals
had mine removed after complaining to my MP who got it removed within a month for a non smart meter so don't rush to get one installed...
When it comes to signal strength, it’s really tricky for us to predict this. We can advise customers to complete checks (like checking their phone 3G/signal near their meter) but we’ll never be able to say for sure.

In most cases though we won’t have any reasons to suspect that the smart meters won’t work. In instances where the signal is too weak to be able to communicate with us, we can look at installing relays to try and boost the signal too, so there are options we can explore to help customers in these situations.

Lucy

Further Comments from my MP in our Village Meeting

" I,m aware of certain parts of my constituency which have no mobile phone coverage and I'm talking to the Dept for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Ofcom and the Mobile Phone Companies to try and get these "not-spots" covered by a mobile phone signal as soon as possible"
You replied above saying "In instances where the signal is too weak to be able to communicate with us, we can look at installing relays to try and boost the signal too, so there are options we can explore to help customers in these situations."
Why wasn't this offered to me when after trying several times to carry out your complete checks eg.(like checking their phone 3G/signal near their meter) and in the end ......Failed!
Sorry but I don't accept your comments....

@garysue I'd be happy to clear this up!

If the meter area has bad signal, but there's OK signal a short distance away (say 3-5 ft away), we can fit an aerial. This doesn't improve the signal, but simply moves the 'hub' trying to connect to a network away from the meter and towards an area where there's signal.

When there's not enough signal for the smart meter to communicate with us in the property (or the whole village in your case), there's nothing we can do to change this.

Tim

So... I have been with ovo for almost 2 years. The reason I changed to them in the first instance was due to a neighbour having a smart meter installed. Fast forward 2 years and umpteen emails regarding the situation I still haven't heard about getting one. I use alot of electricity as this is also the source of our heating plus a hot tub. Considering moving to another company who can supply one.

Sorry to hear that, @Jen88. Have you checked up on the booking platform recently?

If you have electricity only at the property, there could be something to do with the meter specifics preventing a smart meter exchange. Does the meter have 5 ports/tails? If so, it can be difficult to swap these due to it being a more complicated type of meter.

Well @Jen88 I booked a Smart Meter installation last week, and was offered an available slot this coming Monday!

It does matter where you are in the country. It would help us if you filled out your Forum Profile because that's where I look for such information. Thanks.

If you wish you can take a photo of your existing meter and post it here. That could tell us a lot more than you trying to describe it in words.

There are some interesting new technologies which will shortly become available that might be of interest to you. In the next couple of years, you should expect to see Time-Of-Use (TOU) Tariffs, which will offer variable half-hour slots to purchase energy.

Households which can store energy in any way will therefore be able to choose when to use the electricity according to price-points which you can configure.

So whether it's storage-radiators or a hot-tub, your running-costs could soon be a lot less.

Hi,

Is anyone else having problems getting a smart meter booking ?

[h4]I have used the Ovo smart meter availability website loads of times of the past few months but it always says "However, we’re experiencing high demand in your area, so we don’t have any appointments right now. We’ll send you an email as soon as we have engineers free in your area."[/h4]

I have even been called by Ovo on three separate occasions asking if I'd like a smart meter fitted, but when they go through the checklist and finally try to do the reservation they say sorry, there are no slots available.

On the availability website I've said that I am available every day of the week and all time slots, and can even do same day notice, but I've not heard anything back for months.

I live in Maidenhead and I wonder how wide an area seems to be covered by the lack of booking availability.

• Paul