You could change to Economy 7 with a 5 terminal smart meter. That would give you cheaper electricity overnight for your heating, and hot water, and more expensive electricity during the day for everything else. You would then only pay one standing charge. I would call your energy company and ask for help.

we would not then have our afternoon top up at off peak rate and in the winter we need that top up.

we need the afternoon top up as its too cold in the evenings without it and we would not be able to switch on any underfgoor heating if the off peak rate only flowed through the meter for 7 night hours.

OVO is investigating Economy 10 support, which might do what you’re after. And from what I remember, Smart Meters can support it provided they’re configured correctly.

I spoke to one of OVO’s internal smart meter experts back in November 2022 and he told me all about it. I’d hang in there for now because that support isn’t quite ready juuuuuuuust yet.

You could investigate the TOU (time of use) tariffs that are available from various energy companies. I can't find one that offers exactly what you have now but there are a number of options available. They normally work on a standard smart meter, charging a lower amount for all your usage in the cheaper periods.

To give you an example, we're on a tariff that is cheap from 4am to 7am and from 1pm to 4pm. It's expensive from 4pm to 7pm and we pay the normal variable rate the rest of the time.

Blastoise186,

Who would I ned to speak to at ovo as at the moment I a,m on a fixed 2 year tarrif which ends in October 2023. I keep getting emails and texts saying you have submitted your last monthly reading so now you need to arrange a smart meter fitting. I do not want this unless the smart meter can continue with my current tarriff and allow me the 10 hours or so night rate and the boost period in the afternoon ( This was called off peak rate B by Eastern Electricity and I belive it gave us either 10 until 8 or 8 until 8 at night and then 2 until 4 or 6 in the afternoon.) I am getting on a bit in years and have difficulty remebering the exact details . we have 2 Mpans and 2 meters and happlily pay 2 standing charges in order not to lose the afternoon top up for our 1969 underfoor heating as we have no other source but a single coal fire in the lounge.

@confused off peak b the advice above is good, at the moment a smart meter from OVO doesn’t support economy 10. As I see it your options are:

1. Delay getting a smart meter until an economy 10 tariff from OVO becomes available
2. Move to a supplier that’s able to offer a tariff that suits your needs
3. Get a smart meter and reduce your standing charges, with an eco-7 plan. 

Let me know your thoughts on this. As soon as we hear about eco-10 being available we’ll update our content to confirm .

good morning Tim

I am able to continue with the old style meters and read manually monthly until October as long as the Ovo system lets me log the readings in online. At the moment I have to call the Apollo team each month because the on line system has a fault which has not been corrected since it occurred in January.

As far as the Smart metering is concerned I do not think eco-7 would be a good idea as the house does need an afternoon boost and I do not know how I would get this if we did not have the current two MPAN system with an afternoon boost period.

Please will you let me know when eco-10 becomes available on Ovo  Smart Metering as I will immediately switch to a smart meter installation and stay with Ovo where I have been a customer since 2011

I’ll make a note to contact you directly, @confused off peak b, when Eco-10 becomes available - that’s the least we could do considering the issues you’ve had with submitting readings.

Hi  Tim

Any news coming yet about economy10 and smart meters as above?

I have just been shown a page from Ovo which lists 3 off peak plans E, F and Fx. It looks to me as if off peak plan F may be something I could try if that fits with a smart meter installation. It would mean Ovo arranging to remove my off peak MPAN and meterand time clock and then fitting the new smart meter to the tails of the onpeak and off peak meters to the ports on the smart meter and then programming the smart meter to supply  off peak between 1.30pm  and 4 pm and 11 pm and 7 am. Can this be done by October 2023 or is the date still not known when this  Eco-10 multi rate smart metering will be available?

regards

Bob

Hi @confused off peak b and thanks for checking in. 

My understanding is that what you’ve described is typical for a 5th port smart meter. E.g the one smart meter handles everything, including a separate circuit connected to the meter’s 5th port which switches on at set times. 

Two things I’m not sure of is:

• If/when Economy 10 tariffs will be available for everyone that wants them
• When polyphase smart meters will be available for everyone that wants them

Trials and limited roll outs aside, we’re not there yet. 

Thanks Tim

for the information looks like I shall just have to wait for a while  unless you know if I can get to be a part of the trial or limited roll out?

If not I will just carry on as I have been for the past dozen years or so and  input my monthly usage manually until Ovo either chucks me off or decides to release meters to consumers like my self..

Thanks any way.

Regards

Bob 

confused off peak b

You’re already on my list, @confused off peak b - I’ll be in touch as soon as I hear about eco-10 becoming available.

Hi Tim,

Any news about economy 10 on a smart meter.

I am still on economy ten with two m pans and two meters until October 13  but the renewal invitation I have received is for two meters with two standing charges and two Peak rates but no off peak rate which is ludicrous. I rang to say they had got the renewal wrong but the girl did not seem to know what I was talking about and said we only have economy 7 rates and peak rates now. Well my time clock is still set to the old Eastern Electricity off peak rate b on one meter feeding the underfloor heating at night and a top up in the afternoon and one meter feeding the rest of the house on full rate 24 hours a day as it has been since 1969.. So I have been waiting for Ovo to release smart meters which can deal with economy 10 on the fifth port and am still waiting.

Do I contact smart metering support  about a meter change to 1 five port smets 2 and they disconnect one Mpan so i only pay one daily charge or do I contact someone in accounts who reads and understands that mpan 1 meter is full rate and mpan 2 is off peak at the economy 10 rate and keep manually reading the meters monthly whilst waiting  for the elusive eco 10 smart meter issue?

Any advice please.

Bob

I forgot to add that if the advice is to fit the smart meter on eco7 i would need to overide the  5th terminal every afternoon when the underfloor needed topping up and I do not know if that can be done?

Just to add … we have heard from a couple of users who:

• were supplied by SSE until recently, when they were migrated to OVO;
• had 5-pole smart meters installed within the last year or two before the migration;
•  are set up with E10 tariffs.

Sadly, it hasn’t been problem-free for them. The meters are happily recording peak- and off-peak usage, but OVO are apparently having trouble matching the data they’re getting to the billing system.  

We’re hopeful that the cause of the problem will be identified soon, but it’s not clear whether it lies with the meter itself or its initial configuration. Whatever it is, it’s not currently fixable by remote management.

It seems likely, therefore, that E10 plans won’t be made available to choose until this has been sorted out. And it’s anybody’s guess when that might be.

It’s possible that many more SSE migrants are affected, but we just haven’t heard from them in the forums. This may be, of course, because there’s not much heating being used in the summer months. 

I, a bit like confused off peak b, am an ex SSE customer with what used to be an excellent Off Peak B tariff but now is on a standard tariff and a heating tariff which used to be generous  and work really well heating water and my electric AGA, but now is within about  2.5 p per kwh of the standard.  This Off Peak came through a mechanical time controlled meter.   I have recently had solar installed with a battery so would dearly like to be on a E7 or similar tariff with feed in.

However I have been told that my arrangement is so complicated that I cannot hope for a smart meter, and thus a more suitable tariff, until next spring some time (and I am not confident that it will happen then).  I have a single phase supply which is then split between my standard and off peak B/now heating meters so don’t understand what is so difficult.  Does anyone know why, when my daughter in London is being told that she must have a smart meter, I am being told that I cannot have one? 

I can’t answer your question, but does anything in this detailed article look familiar?
  

Thank you, Firedog

It looks like it may be my problem.  I am not sure (and I am distinctly non technical) but think that mine is radio transmitter controlled as I was encouraged to get a smart meter because the Mendip transmitter was about to be switched off (which has  not yet happened).