Hey @shelly12345 

I’m really sorry to hear about this, that’s really not great to hear.

Unfortunately we don’t have access to accounts here at the Forum so you’ll need to get in touch with the Support Team to rebook the appointment.

I am glad that you’ve been getting the £30 credits you’ve been entitled to due to the engineers not showing up without notice. I’m really sorry again that they’ve not arrived for the scheduled appointments previously, if you’ve not already made a new booking, it can sometimes be worth making the booking a little later than the first appointment available as there is usually more engineer availability.

Since start of September 2023 I’ve had 6 (six) failed appointments to have an isolation switch fitted in order for a heat pump installation to be carried out (fitting of isolator switch is a prerequisite), there is also a time dependant grant offer which has so far lost three months of its nine month claim period.

Effectively a thirty minute job for a competent person as Henley blocks already exist between meter and consumer unit (also needing replaced).

A job for which OVO will charge me £158.25.

I have a formal complaint open with OVO which will remain open until such time OVO can complete this task.

I have been advised that only OVO are authorised to carry out this task, although SSE (my DNO) suggests a qualified electrician following the DNO procedure as laid out in PR-NET-CAB-009 can install an isolator Section 2.1 refers :-

1-pr-net-cab-009-1.pdf (ssen.co.uk)

“Replacement of domestic customer’s consumer unit or first stage of isolation on their network.”

My question is, can I get a third party electrician to carry out this work as per DNO procedure, if not will OVO be liable to pay £7,500 towards heat pump install should the grant claim fail after timing out due to waiting period for isolator switch to be fitted ?

Hey @DougalDog,

Really sorry to hear this, it sounds very frustrating, 

Are the appointments failing because the engineers are failing to turn up or when the appointment goes ahead? If so, what is the issue they find?

If you haven’t got a smart meter installed you can get one fitted alongside one of those appointments. 

Who's responsible for installing an isolation switch?

An isolation switch needs to be installed by your supplier. This is because the supply would need to be de-energised via the cut out and private electricians are not permitted to work on the cut out. Therefore, the supplier would need to arrange for an engineer to go to the property to install one. 

These topics might have some helpful information:

Hope this helps. 

Three appointments were cancelled in quick succession by email from OVO services team, two were missed by appointments OVO had made with SMS engineer.

The last (the 6th) was an appointment made by an OVO ‘resolution specialist’  a week ago for an engineer from MDS to fit isolator switch on 27th December.

Yesterday an OVO ‘advanced resolution specialist’ called to say they had cancelled this appointment as MDS don’t fit isolator switches.

I am waiting for same advanced resolution specialist to contact me again with another appointment.

My smart meter was fitted in 2016 by my then supplier & DNO (SSE) and has always worked.

Meanwhile the complaint remains open. The complaint being that :-

“OVO have not been able to instal an isolator switch to my property as a result of their failed appointments, the complaint will be considered resolved only when an isolator switch is fitted”.

The topic you provided on jobs that OVO can arrange is exactly what I have been trying to do for three months now, OVO continues to fail to provide an engineer to carry out the work for which the cost is £158.25 (£106 for visit, £52.25 for isolator switch).

As mentioned above will OVO pay the £7,500 grant should the project fail the time to claim because OVO cannot provide an isolator switch ?

And, as per the statement in my post above which points to my DNO (SSE) instructions to allow third party electrician to fit an isolator switch, can I get a third party electrician to fit isolator as per DNO instruction as DNO can authorise de-energisation of primary fuse, a yes/no answer please ?

Can this information be passed to someone with authority who can produce a resolution for this ?

Hi @DougalDog 

Sorry to hear about your issues. You may already know all of this.

No one on the forum can access your account including the regular posters like me who are simply other ovo customers or the ovo moderators.

You could contact the CEO team

https://www.ovoenergy.com/feedback

Use the first email link

Raman-complaints@ovoenergy.com

You can also include a link to this thread if you want to

https://forum.ovoenergy.com/my-smart-home-138/six-failed-appointments-in-three-months-for-isolation-switch-installation-16687

8 weeks after your initial complaint or a deadlock letter you can ask the Energy Ombudsman for help. You may have already waited 8 weeks?

https://www.energyombudsman.org/

The maximum compensation according to their website is £10,000 although I have never seen that amount paid.

https://www.energyombudsman.org/terms-of-reference/terms-of-reference-energy-sector

I know it is not what you want. You are entitled to £30 compensation for each missed appointment where sufficient notice was not given, and another £30 if the compensation is not paid within 10 working days of each event.

I fear it may be difficult to get an appointment until January via OVO now given what other customers have posted about appointment dates.

If you post how you get on it may help others in similar situations.

Thank you for your detailed and comprehensive reply Jeffus.

Given the time scales I have to work with and the priority of the work to me I will use CEO contact you’ve given.

I will keep this post open and give an update when all has been resolved to my satisfaction.

@DougalDog 

I have sent some information to the ovo moderators so they may post again on this thread tomorrow when they are around again.

Hey @DougalDog 

Sorry to hear about all of this, it’s really not what we like to hear.

I’m going to have the Forum Support reach out to you to see if they can help get to the bottom of this and get it sorted. Keep an eye out for a Private Message here soon: 

https://forum.ovoenergy.com/inbox/overview

Thank you for response Abby, I replied to private message yesterday, I have also sent another today.

Dear Moderators

I sent another PM yesterday to Forum Support regarding my ongoing problem, as yet no reply, can someone please respond before I escalate this problem further.

This post also seems to have become embedded on another making it difficult for me to find, it was not part of the ‘shelly12345’ post.

My original title was :-

“Six failed appointments in three months for isolation switch installation””

For avoidance of doubt here is new link

Multiple failed appointments for Isolation switch installation | The OVO Forum (ovoenergy.com)

I would appreciate if someone could find the time to resolve this fairly simple problem.

Hey @DougalDog 

Sorry to hear this is ongoing.

I’ll check in with Forum Support and make sure they reach out to you. I suspect they’re awaiting responses from teams, but lets get an update for you.

Abby

Not long after your reply last Friday one of your colleagues from OVO called me and arranged and appointment for today (18th).

OVO engineer installed isolation switch and also took the opportunity to upgraded smart meter to a SMETS 2 unit this afternoon.

Hopefully there will be no problems associating new meter & readings to my account.

As such I now consider this problem fully resolved, this will allow me to move forward with my heat pump installation.

Thank you to yourself and colleagues in providing a solution to what had been a long standing concern for me.

Good to hear things are resolved @DougalDog 

Be great to hear about the heat pump when it is installed 

Which heat pump are you getting and is it through a big company or a local one ? Are you using the OVO / Heat Geek offer ? You may already know all this but make sure you get a proper heat loss calculation and get the installer to explain how the controls work. Use weather compensation not fixed flow. Report back here !!

Daikin Altherma 3M 6kW Monoblock, Mixergy unvented cylinder, new radiators & pipework.

With the grant not much more (if any) than I’d pay to replace my now defunct gas boiler.

OVO are only registering interest in my area at the moment so I have chosen another national company.

I'm comfortable with calculations and equipment chosen, thanks to information I gleaned through heat geek & others online videos.

Although I’m hoping that OVO will extend their 15p/kWh 24/7 tariff to all heat pumps and not just those they instal, given that they’re not covering my area as yet.

Will update when installation completed early next year.

Air Source Heat Pumps | OVO Energy