Smart meter installation
A simple step-by-step guide
Award-winning service
We want to give our customers the best smart meter experience possible. We were runners-up for the Best Smart Meter Experience in the Uswitch Energy Awards 2022.
What choice of installation time do you offer?
We’ll offer you a whole range of choices for your smart meter installation – either 8am to 12 noon, 10am to 2pm, 12 noon to 4pm or 2pm to 6pm. This is the time slot during which the engineer will arrive, rather than the time in which the installation will be completed. So if, for example, you choose the morning slot, the engineer might arrive at 11.30am and stay until after 12.30pm.
What happens after you've booked your smart meter installation
Before your appointment we’ll send you an email and confirmation letter telling you everything you need to know about your smart meter installation. We’ll also send you reminders before your installation date so you know when you (or someone else over the age of 18) will need to be at home to let our engineer in. Make a note of the date and time so you don’t forget.
What you need to do before your smart meter installation
There are a some important things we need you to do before and on the day of your appointment, to make sure everything runs smoothly:
1. Make sure someone’s home
Someone over the age of 18 needs to be in the property to let our engineer in, and stay there for the whole time the installer is in your home. If there’s nobody over 18 in your home when the engineer arrives, you may have to pay a £30 fee.
If you’re on the Priority Service Register (PSR) and have agreed a password for the engineer to use when they arrive, now’s the time to check that you remember it. If you’ve forgotten yours or want to set one up, give us a call on 0330 303 5063 (Monday to Friday, 8am till 6pm).
2. Allow enough time for the appointment
About 45 to 60 minutes for each smart meter, so that’s 90 minutes if you’re having both gas and electricity meters replaced. Your gas and electricity will both be disconnected for about 30 minutes each.
3. Make it easy for the engineer to get to your meters
Smart meters can be a different size to older meters, so it’s important to clear a space around your old meters for easy access.
Consider the space
Typically the dimensions of the smart meters we install are:
SMETS2 electricity smart meter
Width 127mm
Height 160mm
Diameter 65mm
SMETS2 gas smart meter
Width 235mm
Height 262mm
Diameter 167mm
If there’s a need to move your existing meter(s), sadly this isn’t covered by your smart meter installation, and it’ll need to be arranged separately. You’ll need to speak to your local Distribution Network Operator (DNO) or the National Grid.
Consider the access
If your meter’s in a locked room or cupboard or in a communal area, make sure to organise keys and access beforehand, so we can get in.
4. Be prepared for the engineer to temporarily switch off your power
It’s good to be aware that your gas and electricity will need to be switched off for about 30 minutes each.
5. Switch off all electrical equipment
It’s best to switch off and unplug electrical equipment like TVs, alarms, and gaming devices while the installation is taking place.
6. Pets
Please keep any dogs or other animals in a separate room, away from the engineer during the installation.
7. Health and safety
Our engineers need to keep their shoes on for health and safety reasons, but they’ll use covers when they’re inside your house to stop your floors getting dirty. Please let us know in advance if this is a problem for you.
What happens on the day of your smart meter installation
On the way
Your engineer will contact you before the installation. We’ll send you a tracking link so you know when your engineer’s close.
Before the installation
The engineer will do a test with a plug socket, to check that everything is working correctly.
During the installation
Your engineer will take out your old meters and put in the new smart ones. It normally takes 60 to 90 minutes, depending on if 1 or 2 meters are being replaced.
Final checks
If you're having a gas meter installed, the engineer will check your larger gas appliances to make sure your gas supply is flowing properly.
How do I know that the engineer is from OVO?
You can tell that an engineer is from OVO, as they’ll be in uniform and will carry an ID card. Just ask them to show it to you. We work with engineers from third party companies, including MDS and SMS. If you’re contacted by a company claiming to work for OVO, but whose name you don’t recognise, just give us a call and we’ll check that they’re legitimate. It's usually one engineer, but in some cases we may need to send more than one engineer to your home. If so, we’ll get in touch first to make sure that’s okay with you.
What happens after your smart meter installation
Your engineer will test your smart meter to make sure it’s all working correctly. They will also:
- Offer you a clever little device that lets you see your energy use in real time called an In-Home Display (IHD) that can be connected to the wifi.
- Show you how to use your smart meter and IHD.
- Give you energy-savings tips that you can use to save more energy! You can read it all in this online guide. You can ask your engineer about anything you’d like to know about your smart meter and IHD, they’ll be more than happy to help!
Need to reschedule or cancel your appointment?
We know plans can change and you might need to move your appointment, but try to give us at least 24 hours’ notice. Otherwise there might be a late-notice fee of £30.
The Smart Meter Installation Schedule (SMIS)
The Smart Meter Installation Schedule (SMIS) is a set of rules and standards that make sure that you get a great experience and excellent service when you’re having your smart meter installed.
At OVO, we've signed up to this schedule. And we always ensure our engineers are fully trained, so they offer the best possible service. The schedule covers many parts of the installation process, like:
- Helping you understand how to use your smart equipment, so you can get the most from it
- Making sure our engineers are trained to the highest standards
- Giving you all the info you need
- Giving extra support to anyone who’s vulnerable, or who might need special help
- Showing you how to check your energy use, so you can spot patterns and make small changes that could help you save energy
- Keeping you informed, quickly, on progress if something's not right with your smart equipment
The Smart Meter Installation Schedule (SMIS)
The Smart Meter Installation Schedule (SMIS) is a set of rules and standards that make sure that you get a great experience and excellent service when you’re having your smart meter installed.
At OVO, we've signed up to this schedule. And we always ensure our engineers are fully trained, so they offer the best possible service. The schedule covers many parts of the installation process, like:
- Helping you understand how to use your smart equipment, so you can get the most from it
- Making sure our engineers are trained to the highest standards
- Giving you all the info you need
- Giving extra support to anyone who’s vulnerable, or who might need special help
- Showing you how to check your energy use, so you can spot patterns and make small changes that could help you save energy
- Keeping you informed, quickly, on progress if something's not right with your smart equipment
Questions and answers
It can take up to 6-8 weeks before you get your first statement based on readings from your smart meter – but log in to your online account any time, to see exactly how much energy you’ve used and what it’s costing you. You can also see this information on your IHD.
Definitely. You might have heard that knowledge is power, and as far as energy goes, it’s certainly true! If you choose for your smart meter to send half-hourly readings, it can give you a much more precise and detailed breakdown of what energy you’re using and when. This helps you spot ways you can cut down your use, which doesn’t only save you money, but reduces your carbon emissions too!
Did you know: we can also use this comprehensive information to give us extra purchasing power when we’re buying energy on your behalf. This can lead to extra savings, which we pass on to you in the future as lower prices. Don’t worry - we’ll never use this information for marketing purposes.
You don’t need to! They send them to us automatically. No more craning your neck into a cupboard or hard-to-reach place to read your meter. But if you do want to check them, your smart meter readings should be easy to see on both your IHD and on the smart meter screen itself.
For SMETS2 meters, just press any button to wake up the screen, it’s that simple.
Both gas and electricity smart meters need to be replaced about every 10 years. That’s slightly more often than the old style meters – this is because the smart tech inside the new meters is more sensitive than the old analogue meters. As improvements are made across the grid, meters need to be in tip-top condition to make sure our modern energy system can work at peak performance.
We’ll let you know in plenty of time when your meter’s due to be replaced, so you don’t need to worry about it.
Installing a smart meter is a job for a professional engineer, so you can’t install your own.
If you have any problems with your smart meter after installation, check out our easy-to-follow troubleshooting guide. It covers many simple solutions to help you fix most common problems.
You can also read our handy FAQs at the bottom of this page.
If you can’t find the answers you’re looking for, speak to one of our friendly experts in our online chat, who’ll be happy to help.