How do I submit my smart meter readings on the online account or OVO app?

Hi @casaschi and welcome to the Forum.

The first thing to do is to email them and provide your meter readings. Make sure you give your Account Number and Post-Code so they can verify that you are the correct customer. That gives you a date/time-stamped copy of what information you sent.

Secondly, I suspect that the new software doesn’t yet have all the checks and balances to cope with customers that do have Smart Meters, but for some reason still need to provide manual readings. Let me just tag the Moderator @Ed_OVO and ask if he will get someone in the SMETS Engineering Team to read this Topic.

I’m a little puzzled that you are able to state with certainty that the reason your gas meter isn’t providing readings is due to its distance from the Communications Hub.

There were a number of us who battled with this problem last year. My own site was used for testing code updates.

In the majority of cases the issue was resolved, and it transpired that weak-signal was not the primary cause.

Let’s do a quick check for your site:

On your Comms Hub is the Gas-Indicator flashing at a different (faster) rate than the other three LEDs?

On your Gas Meter display, do you see any signal strength bars for the Zigbee communications?

Thanks.

@Transparent: thank you for taking the time to answer, however the first thing to do would have been for Ovo not to release a new website with less functionality than the old one; submitting meter reading and downloading bills was the only use of the Ovo website for me; why would Ovo do something like this is beyond me: doing actual work to make things worse for (some of) their customers.

In order to solve your little puzzle, I got smart meters installed few years ago (I’m probably on an older model); the electricity meter was ok, the gas meter never sent a reading through automatically and I always had to submit manual reading; at the time I was more than a little puzzled that, when installing smart meters, Ovo had been happy for the person installing the new devices to leave my premises without checking that everything was working properly; then, I called Ovo and they told me the likely cause was a communication problem between the gas and the electricity meter; so here you go, I assume that is true because Ovo told me after looking at the issue (looking from a distance because they did not send anyone to my place). They offered to send a relay device to be placed in between the two meters but I can’t install that.

I have no time to troubleshoot your broken systems and debug the Ovo smart meter issues; if Ovo wants to perform a “quick check” at my site they have my address; I’d be happy enough if they make it easier for customers in my situation to submit meter readings.

If anyone at Ovo wants to look into my issues further, just make yourselves known and I can message you with my account number.

Hi again @casaschi 

The reason OVO had to implement new Billing software was because they fell foul of Ofgem rules when using 3rd-party software 3 years ago. They decided to bring the entire enterprise in-house and gain control over the way it handles estimates - a major reason for the failures.

The website information that we see is but a small part of a much larger software suite that works behind the scenes.

The absolute key priority is to ensure that the operations comply with Ofgem’s requirements.

Handling anomalies such as customers with Smart Meters where partial data transfer is occurring is something to resolve over the coming months.

So I believe you have the earlier SMETS1 meters, where the electricity meter was manufactured by Secure:

It is quite normal for the installer to leave site before the meter is fully functional. Most of the commissioning process occurs remotely over the ensuing month.

I doubt that OVO will spend too much time investigating and fixing issues related to these earlier SMETS1 meters. They are all scheduled to receive software upgrades to the newer SMETS2 software during 2020. So many of the outstanding issues will get resolved at that stage anyway.

@Transparent thanks for the explanation.

It does not paint a pretty picture of Ovo’s customer service if they are creating new issues to customers (such as not being able to submit readings easily) in order to fix old issues (bad design of their original software system).

Thanks for the reply.

But seriously, Ovo launches a brand new website with LESS functionality than the old one???

Also, if it’s ok for Ovo to receive meter readings via email, how hard can it be to setup a page on the new site with a form that automatically sends you an email with the reading and my account number? How hard can that be?

Instead of me having to “send you a message” and hope it reaches you with all the details you need to accept the info and in time for issuing a correct bill?

:-(

As Ed mentioned, @casaschi, the team are aware of this and are currently working on it.

If you’re worried we won’t receive the readings in time you can submit them over the phone, it’s an automated reading line - just call 0330 303 5063.

You can also send them on Facebook, Twitter, or or by online chat via the Help centre. The response time there is quicker than the email response time. 

My manual electric meter readings stopped appearing on my bill after the 16th June. I can see the meter readings on the separate Meter Readings page.

The gas meter readings are appearing fine on the bill. Any ideas? 

I don't yet have a smart meter fitted, it is due on the 24th, and I would ideally like the issue sorted before then just in case it causes more confusion. I have dropped ovo a private message on twitter and they are now looking into it which is good

I see on other threads there is mention of the old and new billing system. Am not sure if anyone can tell what system I am on from the screen shots I have posted?

I assume I am on the new system as my bill estimate is updated daily (although the electricity bill has stopped updating my usage now) 

Hey there @Jeffus !

I’m just reviewing your question now. Please bear with me for about five or ten minutes and I’ll get right back to you. :)

Thanks for waiting. I’d like to introduce myself really quickly if that’s OK @Jeffus .

I’m Blastoise186, but you can call me Blastoise if you prefer. I’m one of the forum volunteers over here on the OVO Forum, and I’m also one of the main volunteers who helps out with bug reports like this. Thanks for bringing it up!

It seems that the meter readings have indeed been recorded on your account, but somehow haven’t been fully applied to your Billing History. I can’t access your account, so you may want to ask the Support Team to raise a tech case to get this looked into properly (which I see you’ve done already, nice one!). But I can give you some details that will definitely help. If you let them know that Blastoise186 has helped you out on the forum and provide a link to this thread, that will definitely help them out too. The Support Team are able to access this forum, so everything in this thread can also be submitted as part of the case.

Normally I can get bug reports sent to the Tech Team directly from here, so I’ll ping @Tim_OVO just in case too. But if it’s account specific, that will also need someone to look at your account directly.

You are indeed on the new billing platform. If you’re on a smartphone or tablet, you may find it easier to use the OVO Energy app rather than the mobile site. I’ve linked it below for you.

• Haven't downloaded the OVO App yet? Here's why you should... Blog

It looks like you’ve triggered a rare bug somehow, which are my favourite kinds too! If you ever spot more bugs again, feel free to let us know here on the forum. Myself and other volunteers are always happy to help out with these and we’re able to get them escalated directly.

Don’t worry about this affecting the smart meter stuff, it shouldn’t cause problems there. :)

If you ever need help with anything else, we’ll be right here for you 24/7.

Thanks. I will post a link via Private message on twitter to ovo.

I did download the app, but funny enough found the website easier. Particularly when trying to figure out what was happening to my electricity bill. 

No worries, glad I could help. I’m very well known to the Support Team, so no doubt they’ll be happy with that too.

I personally prefer the app myself, but OVO has made sure that you can use whichever method works best for you. Especially after I helped to fix a bug that caused a few issues with that.

The forum is mainly volunteer led and we can’t access your account directly from here, but it’s another option that sits alongside all the others. Pretty cool eh? 

Got up to 18th June last night

Now caught up and using all the meter readings to calculate the bill. I will enter another reading today to see if it is back to normal 

Yay!

While you’re here actually, I’ve got some really good advice for you regarding the new smart meters. It’s pretty important and not the most fun to explain, but definitely worth knowing.

After your new smart meters are installed, it may take around six to eight weeks for them to be fully commissioned. In the meantime, you may need to submit manual readings in order to keep your account up-to-date but you’ll know once your smart meter starts sending Smart readings. Please wait a few days before putting manual readings in though after the Meter Exchange - OVO will need to register the Meter Serial Numbers to your account first and reset the clock. You’ll be able to tell when this is done because the old Meter Readings under the reading history will be erased (but they’ll remain on the Billing History). After that point, you can submit manual readings again but you’ll have to wait a few days between each one.

Once your meters begin to submit proper Smart readings, you’ll start to see them go in based on your preferences. Make sure to let the Support Team know whether you’d like Half-Hourly, Daily or Monthly Mode and they’ll arrange to apply that setting as soon as possible. For me, Raichu started to submit Smart readings precisely two weeks after it was installed, but it can vary.

The OVO Energy app is the easiest way to know when this has started - as it lists whether individual meter readings were Manual or Smart. MyOVO doesn’t yet show this, but it's a feature idea I’ll probably suggest when I get chance.

Your In-Home Display should start working pretty quickly though - but it may show things like “Waiting for data”. This is normal during the commissioning process. If you leave it on for a while, it should eventually start working. In general, it will start showing usage data within five minutes of being powered on as long as it’s getting a signal from your meters.

If you need a hand with anything else, feel free to stop by. :)

Working fine now I think. I submitted a manual reading just before my smart meter was installed today and it appeared on my bill fine. 

I'll leave everything now until we get back from our camping trip in a couple of weeks. So hopefully I'll be able to submit manually when we get back until the commissioning process is complete. 

Interesting it takes 6 to 8 weeks for the commission process. To a lay person that is a long time for a tech change, irrespective of the number of things that need doing. I wonder which parts of the process cause the delay.

Also interesting you need to wait a few days between each manual reading, but I didn't have to wait when I had a manual meter. I wonder what causes that limitation. 

Can I see the smart meter reading frequency that has been setup anywhere? Or do I need to ask Ovo? I seem to remember I requested 30min in the form to request the smart meter but can't honestly remember. It would be useful to be able to see and change this on the website and app. Would seem a useful self service feature. 

Thanks for your help

No worries, glad I could help!

Six to eight weeks for a full commission is pretty long I’m afraid, but it can’t be made faster. It’s all the processes, testing, firmware updates and tons more that make it take ages. 

However, in some cases you may start to see Smart readings on your account in as little as two weeks. It kinda depends if you get lucky or not. The reason behind the five day gap between manual readings with a smart meter is because of a safety measure to help prevent clashes. But if no readings go in at all for five days, you’ll be asked to submit a manual reading. But any kind of reading at all resets the clock - including manual readings. This applies only if you have a smart meter though, not to traditional meters.

As for the reading schedule, that should be set as part of the process. It’s not possible to view or change that setting via self-service at all I’m afraid, because it has to be done via a specific system that can’t be made publicly accessible at all from my understanding. But the Support Team are always happy to tell you the current settings and apply any changes on request anytime. :)

Thanks.

I can already see the smart meter readings on the website after my smart meter installation yesterday afternoon. Looks like it has been setup for every 30 min. 

Wow, that’s rather quick! I was definitely not expecting readings already! 

And I thought that the fact OVO had managed to get Raichu to start submitting readings precisely two weeks after install was crazy fast. You have literally stunned me and stolen that record! That wasn’t part of the plan! XD

I’m sorry for being stunned, but that is literally absolutely impossibly fast… 

The higher 1pm reading is when he turned the gas boiler back on made sure the heating/hot water fired up to check all was working.

Meters were switched over very quickly. Appointment was 12pm.

I wonder why it was quick. Are all the processes automated (assuming none of them fails)? 

Yep, they’re pretty heavily automated for the most part. Strictly speaking, the only real “manual” parts of the process are you making an appointment to have smart meters fitted and the engineer stopping by to actually fit the meters themselves. Once they’ve been installed and the engineer has left site, the rest is more or less left to run on autopilot.

But it’s never been that fast before! XD

I should mention that the entire commissioning process can take up to six to eight weeks, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be six to eight weeks before readings go in. You can sometimes get lucky. And in your case, crazy lucky! No-one is meant to be pinching speed records from SkyNet Blastoise though… I should give you a speeding fine for that @Jeffus ! 

I’m just sat here wondering what kind of black magic OVO used on your meters. They told me that they denied using any kind of sorcery, hacks or cheats to speed up S2 commissions when I asked them once. OVO wouldn’t normally say that to most members, but it was in response to a joke I made when I emailed them at the time. Let’s just say that the Support Team knows me very well… Some of them even refer to me by my forum username too. :)

In some cases, I literally get through, give them my account number and they immediately go “Oh, hello Blastoise.” Or even funny ones like “Oh no! This isn’t SkyNet Blastoise by any chance?” 

You’ll find out why that is someday. But something gives me the feeling your account has a special… Flag… On it… Possibly the same Flag my account has. Further details are classified. Sorry.

If you’re happy to fill out your Forum Profile though with the latest info, that’d definitely help us a lot if you ever need to stop by again. Feel free to set an avatar too if you’d like. 

Done

Thanks