Home and heating

Thanks all for all the various valuable info about meters, the switch overs and installations etc pending. We currently are in the West of Scotland (mainland), have all electric and old economy 7 box etc. On the THTC. The folks at OVO I've spoke to already have offered economy 7 (overnight), economies 9 and 10, which is basically split over 3 periods in 24 hours. Questions are i suppose is as currently we're on overnight off peak, but aware that the off peak would be split over the day, which may be handy for being savvy with new style electric Quantum heaters we have (got rid of the old brick ones) and timings. The direct unvented water cylinder we have is 210 litres, any ideas whether then this would be heated 3 times a day for example with economy 9 or 10 rather than the current overnight? Plus am guessing it would be 2 smart meters for on and off peak? Many thanks, aware lots of this may have been already answered in various places, but just before i speak to them again about getting some engineers here.

Hi all. First post on here and I need some help if possible please? I’ve moved into an ‘A’ energy rating flat which comes with solar panels and a heat pump installed. I was told that bills are very low. The heat pump is by ModulAir. However, and especially in the last couple of weeks, some days have seen sky high prices. I live on my own and I don’t really use an excessive amount of electricity...I think anyway. TV is maybe on for 2 hours a day. I take one, 5 minute shower per day. I don’t use the dishwasher and will use the washing machine, on a one hour cycle, at most two times a week. I have two Amazon Alexas in the flat too. No EV charging either. When I first moved in the daily price was roughly £2.50 for the electricity. I went away for work for two weeks and turned everything off in the flat. But I was still charged about £2.50 a day. When I got back and started to turn things on my daily charge went up to about £5.50...and I had nothing different in the flat. Then recently it’s gone wild with some days at £12! One of those days I had the tv on for about 7 hours but everything was the same. My heating is steady throughout the day. 21c for 90 mins in the morning, then down to 17c during most of the day. Up to 19c between 6.30pm-10pm and then 15c during the night. I can’t work out why my prices are so high. At the current rate I will be paying £200 a month for one person in a flat which has a heat pump and solar panels. I’m thinking this can’t be right. Is there anyone who could help me with this please? My property management team don’t seem bothered. OVO are sending out someone to check the accuracy of the meter but will charge me £150. Sorry for the long post. If anyone could offer some advice then I’d greatly appreciate it. Thanks. Josh

I have noticed that over night the flow temp drops a lot and our upstairs temps fall quickly. Downstairs is very nice and warm. Could anyone help explain what might be happening here? My curve is 45@0 and 20@20. As you can see in the graph the flow temp was at its coldest when the temp outside was coldest. Graph is a 24 hour period.

Hi, I recently moved in this flat. It comes with 2 storage heater which are made by creda. My electricity supplier is OVO and my plan is economy 7 and also have a smart meter. The problem is storage heater come on from 1 pm to 4:30 pm and also at midnight. But my off peak our is midnight to 7 am.There are no thermostat or time switch for the storage heater. Can you guide me with it?

Can I share my power supply with another house and charge them for the power ?

Re the meter balance figure, is this a weekly/monthly figure? Is there VAT on top of this? Meter replaced 5th Feb. I think we might be using more electric than the THTC tariff, still trying to work things out and compare to what we were using last year this time.

Hi everyone, hope your all well! Just looking for a bit of advise if I may. we have recently had an Ecodan ASHP installed, worked great for a few days but then noticed it kept giving L9 error every night from 10–11pm. The only think to happen at them times is that the UFH goes off at 10pm but I’m guessing by the time the actuators close etc it’s probably why it happens at random times. I have changed the UFH to go off at 11:00pm and now L9 happens 11:30ish. Once reset the ASHP is reset the system works lovely, but what’s weird is if I turn the stats down during the day everything works fine. Only seems to happen on a night!! Our installer said Mitsubishi have said it’s a dodgy 2 port valve, which is maybe but he can’t get back for a little while as he’s away at the moment. But if I can get some help it means I pay and get someone else in to fix it but don’t want to throw money at the problem without knowing. thank you 🙏🏻

Hi, I am a landlord trying my best to resolve an issue with a storage heater not working. I've had two electricians out and they both say that everything is fine back to the meter. And two meter engineers told me everything is fine at they're end too. During a call to ovo whilst I was there, the tenant told the phone agent that he isn't on an economy 7 tariff...could this have been the problem all along? Will it simply not turn on without an economy tariff??? It was working whilst I was doing the flat up, and at that time I had an economy 7 tariff. At the moment I the electrician has wired it up to the normal rate and it's working fine. Now he wants me to pay his extortionate electric bill...it's a bit of a headache. Please help.

Hello. I have recently switched to OVO from octopus to take advantage of the heat pump tariff add on. But I can't see anywhere that the add on is active. Perhaps it is running in the back ground but I have no way of knowing. Has anybody got any experience of this?

I know I’m not the only person with incandescent light bulbs that are now collecting dust in a cupboard. My lights are now all using LED bulbs but I can’t bring myself to throw the old type ones away. What do other people do?

I had solar panels installed by Ovo in August 2024. The Shinephone app was installed on my new Samsung phone. It works but is slow to load and often needs two attempts to get it to work. With over 1m downloads, it is only rated at 2.6. I strongly suspect that it shows a figure for the power generated that is too low. Is there another app that can read the data and, ideally, the data from the smart meter as well in real time?

Updated on 11/03/25 by Bradley_OVO What is Battery Boost? Battery Boost is our new solar battery add-on. It uses our smart charging technology to allow us to top up your battery when your solar panels aren’t generating enough electricity from the sun. What are the benefits? We’ll continue to charge your battery even when the sun isn’t shining, at an exclusive rate of 10p per kWh, meaning you can power your home for 58% cheaper than your usual rate*. Our smart charging tech ensures that your battery will be charged at time’s when the grid is using cleaner energy**. How does it work? We use energy and weather data to predict when your battery will need to be topped up. We'll charge your battery when energy is cheaper and greener, leaving room for your solar power when the sun's out. We'll work out the energy that we've used to charge your battery each month and add credit to your account in the first 7 working days of the following month. This means the cost of powering your battery reflects the 10p per kWh rate for Battery Boost. For example, let’s say your standard electricity rate is 28p per kWh. The Battery Boost rate is 10p per kWh. We’ll credit you 18p (the difference between the rates) for each kWh you’ve used to top up your battery. Here’s what one of our Battery Boost customers had to say about using this add on: “‘Battery Boost has been doing exactly as it says, a boost to our finances. The system decides when to charge the battery from the grid and we get the benefits of cheaper electricity during these winter months. We are saving an average of £50 per month with this solution, so it will help to make the overall system pay for itself even quicker than the 9 years we were expecting.’” With Battery Boost, your battery could save you money and cut carbon, even when it’s not storing energy from your solar panels. Our clever tech tops up your battery when the grid is using more renewable power. So you get greener electricity*** – better for you, your wallet and the planet. Eligibility We’re launching this to anyone who’s had their solar panels and battery installed by OVO. Currently only customers with a GivEnergy battery are eligible. This isn’t currently available for customers on Charge Anytime or Heat Pump Plus, but we’re working on making this possible. You can sign up to Battery Boost here . We’re also working to open this up to everyone with a solar battery, regardless of the type of battery or who installed it. If you’re not eligible yet, you can still register your interest, and we’ll get in touch when your set-up is compatible. If you have any feedback for us please let us know. Thanks The OVO Team * You'll pay our Battery Boost rate of 10p per kWh for any electricity used to top up your battery when OVO call on the battery to charge. If you override the controls and charge the battery from the grid, you'll be charged your standard electricity unit rate. ** Our smart tech aims to charge your battery when the grid has more renewable energy in it, at periods of lower demand. Meaning it’s less likely your battery will be charged by energy from fossil fuels. ***You'll pay our Battery Boost rate of 10p per kWh for any electricity used to top up your battery when OVO call on the battery to charge. If you override the controls and charge the battery from the grid, you'll be charged your standard electricity unit rate .

Hello! We have recently installed a 12kw Zubadan air heat pump in nov2024. I am not happy with the usage as we used thermostats and it consumed too much - but this is another topic. The issue now is that in january the consumed hot water energy is bigger than the delivered hot water energy: consumed DHW - 186 delivered DHW - 141. How is this possible? I don’t know how the settings are done for hot water, but this not seems physically possible. We have the model with the 200l hydrotank inside.

Hi All, Had a look through the forum and couldn't quite see a thtc query that covered my questions. Obviously I need to move to a smart meter but an OVO engineer came out but then said they couldn't change the meter because I had a thtc setup (even though this was why OVO sent him) he said he'd let them know and they'll be in touch to sort. I haven't had anything other than another email saying they'll be in the area and I need to book an appointment to change the meter. I haven't had any other info on what the plan is but surmise itll be E7 or E10, I even had to go to the ombudsman last year and ended up with a significant amount of compensation and confirmation they couldn't make the change as they had no way to decommision the second mpan and I'd still be charged or my system may not work (maybe this has changed now but that was less than 6 months ago). Anyway, my main question is about hot water as I no longer have the bigger storage heaters, I do have small ones that I can turn on as and when so don't need to store heat so to speak. How is my hot water going to be heated in terms of just at the cheaper times? I can't find a timer as such, just the grey boost box where I can turn it on for a few hours manually, it does have a switch saying 'timed' but no function to actually adjust the timer. So when I get the meter replaced I'm not confident I'll be able to set the times as I assume it's hard wired into the meter itself, now whilst I understand that normally a supplier wouldn't contribute to a cost out with a metering change, if the timer is hard wired to the meter itself then this is a different set of circumstances? The additional cost part is minor but still a valid point in my opinion, my main query is what are others doing? Is your timer situation the same or different?

I have done some reading on here and followed advice from other posters but I wanted to check to see if I have things setup right. Goals Be economical, not wasteful Keep temperature in the house at 22-23 degrees C Have hot water in the morning for showers and in the evening for bath for children Heating Setup I have it set to Compensation Curve, at 14 degrees external or below the temp is at 46 degrees for the rads (at least that’s how I understand it works) Thermostats are Heatmister Slimline, they are set at 23 degrees to knock off the rads if it gets too warm This setting is 24/7, I read that its better to keep the house at the same temp all the time. Plus we work from home all the time so don’t want it cooling during the day. Hot Water Setup I had it to warm the 200L tank up to 50 degrees between 2am and 4am, and to come on once the temp dropped 10 degrees but only during this time. I noticed that this was perfect for morning showers - temp had dropped to 47 degrees by 8am which was fine but it meant in the evening it was down to 27 degrees, too cold for a bath. I changed the setup so that it comes on at 2am and will keep it at 45 degrees (again only turning on once it drops to 35 degrees or below) until 9pm. I was working off the same theory on the Heating, that keeping it ticking over all day between 35 and 45 is using less energy than letting it go down to 24/25 and heating back up to 50 degrees at night. The reason for 2am - 4am is that is the cheapest window to use electricity So, just trying to see if I should be doing something differently? I live in Ireland, new build house this year and we have a plug-in hybrid car. Our 2 monthly bill is around 370euro - this includes heating, hot water, cooking, dishwasher (almost every night at the cheap hours), washing machine (every night at the cheap hours), and charging the car (at cheap night hours), and the usual lights, kettle, TV, computers, etc. As we are home we probably run the kettle and electric hobs a lot more than normal. I want to help keep down the bills as much as I can and previous to this we had a gas burner which was basically instant hot water so I am trying to shed the old way of doing things and learn the new and become good at it. I have read people say once they get this setup right for themselves they can essentially walk away and thats done and dusted. Thanks, Ecodan Warrior

Hello! I own a Mitsubishi Ecodan / Zubadan ASHP 14kW with a gas boiler attached as backup heat source. It can help in colder periods but it should also switch based on energy price. Mitsubishi also released this document https://hoctorrefrigeration.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/ECODAN-Hybrid-Boiler-Application.pdf Which states that it can be achieved but it is not technical. The HP has an Intelligent operation mode where it can select Cost based between electricity and gas based on the price/kW of each energy. I expect as example that at a certain outside temperature, COP=3 and 3kW heating are produced from 1kW electricity 1kW electricity costs 0.6. But it produces 3kW heat with a cost of 0.2 /kWheat 1kW produced with gas costs 0.2 => it pdocudes 1kW heat with a cost of 0.2 => it should stay as soon as the outside temperature drops and COP drops => it should switch to gas boiler. Settings: Service menu / Operation settings / Boiler Operation / Hybrid settings/Priority Mode: Cost Service menu / Operation settings / Boiler Operation / Intelligent settings/Energy Price / Electricity: 0.6 */kWh Service menu / Operation settings / Boiler Operation / Intelligent settings/Energy Price / Boiler : 0.2 */kWh I can force a boiler operation when accessing Service menu / Heat source setting (Standard/Heater/Boiler/Hybrid *7) : Boiler. But when i select Hybrid as it should, it only runs on HP. To test, I used a ridiculosly increase price for electricity and it soed not switch. I can also force only boiler oepration using the settings: Service menu / Operation settings / Boiler Operation / Hybrid settings /Outdoor ambient temperature: HP-Boiler when under -15 and Boiler to HP when over 1 (deg C). But it does not account the cost variable. The manuals say very little about this topic. They say it should work. if anyone has this setup and can advice or is an installer that did this before. thank you in advance for helping me out.

So today is the day I am due to get smart meter installed to replace old (Payg) THTC in PH2 postcode area in Perthshire. Will update on how it goes. Heating in house is provided by old style storage heaters in lounge and hall with panel heaters (that we don't use) in bedrooms. Hot water is immersion.

I have no hot water. DHW is switched to pause automatically and tank water temperature stays at 14 degrees celcius. Heating is running fine. I tried to maual reset but didn’t help. DHW is also paused automatically and everytime it pauses, “LJ” is flashing at the top left of the control screen. I have no idea what “LJ” stands for, couldn’t find a clue from the Mitsubishi error code. Please help. Thanks

I’m writing this on behalf of my 85+ year old mother. Apologies for the long post but it does explain pretty much perfectly the issue. Shes with OVO and has been for many years, this year her very old manual thermostat started playing up and heating was coming on in the middle of summer and was a nightmare. I saw the Tado V3+ (Wireless Thermostat, Internet bridge and wireless receiver) deal OVO were offering earlier in the year and she bought it. Eventually an electrician installed this around June, it's been working perfectly since then with her Baxi EcoBlue boiler. As she is on approaching 90 and is quite frail, shes like to have the heat on so its been working from around October/November time, she likes it at an indicated 23degs. I dont think it is quite that high but feels better than the 14degs on her old thermostat!! We have a schedule setup so from 10pm-7am daily she has it set at 14 degs C, 7am-10pm 23degsC. Her bungalow has exceptional insulation and over night, even when its cold outside it rarely drops below 18-19 degs C, During Oct/Nov the heating would come on at 7am and keep the temps pretty consistent at 23 degs C. Until a few weeks ago. Often it comes on at 7am then just stops, you can see on the chart displayed on the app where it starts then heat just starts dropping, it drops slowly due to the insulation. I carried out some tests whilst up there as I feared it might be the wireless causing issues, using the app triggers the receiver but sometimes its just doesnt. The tests on the receiver only for the most part worked well, the boiler typically came on after 30s-1min.. But the test buttons only turn on the system for a few mins then turns off by design I presume. By upping the temp on the app and sometimes hitting the hot water button on/off the system springs to life, others it doesnt. She could have heating all day, other times it doesnt work and requires lots of intervention to get it working. Its starting to get very very annoying and frankly its close to getting ripped out, we cant have my mum using this system as its too unreliable and at this time of year its not good at all. . The following chart shows it working well on the 21/12 and rubbish with lots of cut outs on the 22nd, when it comes on it would have been manual intervention (Perhaps lots of it) . Frankly were at our wits end with this system (I live 150miles away so its not easy to just pop in), is it worth persevering, is support offered through OVO or Tado?, I’m tempted to send it all back to OVO and putting something old school back in that works ? As a backup I’ve bought her some convection heaters, but the down side to that is the heating is unlikely to kick in as the thermostat is in the lounge and with that heater is nice and toasty, but now trying to get to the bottom of the issues is even harder. Its also getting expensive. This isnt great for a vulnerable person at this time of year. Help please

What do people find is the most effective hysteresis setting (for heating) for their ASHPs during a prolonged cold spell like we’re having currently (UK)? I have a Grant ASHP (radiators) and it’s currently 0.2 but I’m thinking I could remove it completely whilst so cold. Interested to hear what others do. Thanks in advance. A

Hiya! 😀 Really confused about off-peak tariffs. Does the Warmer Home Plan have one? Thanks

Just to introduce myself.I am a retired electrical and aeromodelling engineer, my wife and I live in west Wales as from 1987, I have worked for most of that time as a self employed electrical engineer working in a variety of industrial settings in a very rural area. I have been encouraged by others in this forum to share my ideas and findings so that others with cranky thoughts and ideas might benefit, also that I might gain a nugget or two of useful know how. Back in 2000, I wound down my electrical engineering due to the enormity of red tape that went with it. My wife and I then deviated into model aircraft kit manufacturing, that had the blessing of no red tape which is rare these days. Anyhow, we did model air trade shows which meant being out in an open field for a good few days totally off grid. This is where I began to use the knowledge gained over the years to facilitate this. I decided to install wet NiCad cells in the caravan rather than use lead acid batteries. I did this because they have a very long guarantee (25 years then) that has now been reduced to 20, but nontheless I "personally" feel that they are a very good option for long term projects of this sort. I built a wind turbine from a very "Very" old washing machine motor and bits of left over alluminium sheet and odds and ends from other projects, mounted that on a mast atached to the tow hitch and roof of the caravan. Also fitted a very small solar panel on the roof of the van and this meant we could comfortably live off grid for a week or more depending on wind/sun. When we sold our model kit buisiness, my wife asked me what I was going to do with those NiCad cells, as they are still good. My Avatar is that wind turbine!! After some umming and arring, we decided to re-install them in the house and start a new system to offset some of our costs (being that we had the NiCads and windmill). While what we subsequently added cost a few bob, it became very absorbing and with a few nice little rewards. Here below is a circuit diagram of what I have done, I will answer as many questions as possible about it, that way I don't just boringly describe things if not needed.

I got my A2AHP last year in May and ever since then I've actually been looking forward to the onset of winter to see how it will perform. It's actually doing quite well but in thinking about last year's data (collected so I could measure the performance for this heating season) it suddenly occurred to me that there is a point where you have used 50% of the heating energy for that season. I was walking the dog so I had to wait until I had got back home again, reasoning during that time that it had to be somewhere towards the end of January or perhaps even very early February. Well, it turned out to be the 20th January so my title to this is actually misleading to the extent that local weather conditions could make it a warmer day rather than the coldest. So, keeping the title (never let the facts spoil a good title) the period between the 10th and the 30th January is likely to be the coldest period where you use the most heating and you could consider the 20th January to be the psychological turning point of winter. About a month after the shortest day. Only 16 days to go! Peter

Previously on THTC plan. Smart meter was installed on the 16 October 24 To date cannot access Ovo app directed to online account After smart meter installation when checking online account still found that since smart meter installed the daily standing charge still increasing and account still showed THTC plan On contacting customer service to make them aware of the Still increasing daily standing charge received email from them stating that the THTC plan would stop on the 15 th October 24 and the new smart meter plan starts on the 16 th October 24 and that I would Not be charged for Two daily standing charges or energy usage from period 15 th October-9 th November ( billing period 8th October- 9 th November ) Online account shows bill is now available The billing shows the THTC billing as I would normally receive which includes the daily standing charge has continued to the end of the billing period There is no billing showing for the smart meter from 16 th October to 9 th November end of billing period So basically this billing seems stupid based on the email received from customer service and since no mentioned of smart meter billing period that’s been used you simply don’t know where you are regarding paying this bill Anyone with an explanation as to how to precede as Not payed bill yet and basically haven’t a clue how Ovo can expect a customer to understand this Thanks

Hello, would OVO be able to repair a Baxi back boiler ? I want to get cover for it but trying to find out if my baxi Bermuda bbu15he will be covered with parts etc . Thank you