Hi @connorsbjc ,

Blastoise186 is a Forum Volunteer

I can answer those for you.

When you contact OVO to arrange the migration/upgrade, you’ll be able to discuss the available tariff options. If Economy 9 is offered to you, feel free to select it. Otherwise, you’ll need to go for one of the options that does get offered. This will be done before any work is carried out. They are best placed to advise on costs.

OVO will migrate all wiring between the existing main fuse, meter and consumer units over to the new meter and reconnect everything. However, everything beyond the consumer unit(s) is your responsibility.

Per the terms of E7, E9 and E10, the meter must control the timings. You’ll be welcome to use the Boost function if you need a top-up though - but use of the Boost function would be at Peak rates.

Thanks. Re my last point about control. 
Will the power to my storage heaters be available at all times for me to turn on/off as I require & not only at certain times as the case is now?

What is the boost function you mention.

Thanks for your reply today

You’ll be able to use the Boost function of the meter to enable the heaters whenever you wish - but if you’re on E7, E9 or E10 it’ll be in your best interests financially to run them only during the Off-Peak hours that the meter will automatically enable them for.

The Boost function will activate them for between 1 and 3 hours - but you will pay the more expensive Peak rates to do so. However, you would be able to trigger it whenever you want rather than being totally restricted to Off-Peak hours only.

It also varies a bit how boost functions work. Some storage heaters will react by turning on their fan to blow out a bit more warm air, if the bricks are hot enough. Heating up the bricks for an hour won’t provide an instant blast of heat. 

An E10 system will heat the bricks up to near maximum overnight, then top them up twice during the day. This avoids the sinking feeling E7 generates when the heaters are exhausted in the early evening, just when you need them most. 

I’m afraid I don’t know how E9 works.

E9 has 3 x 3 hour slots during day & night, which will suit me as we only power up 2 heaters.

My main storage heater also has a convector built in for emergencies plus we have a log burner which warms almost everywhere.

Thanks for replies on this forum I think I now understand where I’m going ,allegedly ‍♂️

OK - that makes sense (I think!). 

That sounds as if the emergency convector heater is wired on the constant (24 hour) circuit, so you wouldn’t have to use the meter’s boost function to activate it. Unless you run it during one of E9’s offpeak periods, you’ll be paying the higher rate for it.

It’s worth remembering that all usage (not just heating) in offpeak hours will be charged at the lower rate, so it’s ideal if you can arrange to use other power-hungry equipment (electric shower, tumble dryer, washing machine, cooker for example) during those hours. This may not always be convenient, so it’s just a question of what you’re prepared to pay for convenience. The difference might be considerable.

As a matter of interest, do you know what the times are for the three offpeak E9 slots? This varies around the country.

HELP !

Had my THTC meter changed today for a smart meter on Economy 9 & while things are ok on the house circuit the storage heaters are not getting power at any time ‍♂️

I have found the boost on the meter & that works ok to supply power.

Anything I can do ?

There is @connorsbjc ,

Have a word with OVO in the morning and ask them to Reconfigure ECAUL/ALCS. That should do the trick.

Thanks for your reply.

So the power to the heaters came on at sometime in the night but are not now turning off at Peak Rate .

I assume the reconfigure will do the trick. 

Judging by this forum I am rather sceptical

Ours go off just after 8.30am.  Check again in a little while.

It’s worth remembering that there’s also the random offset too - the tariff will factor this in so that when set correctly, both sides match up.

Ah.What is this random offset ?

The power to the heaters went off this morning at about 8am ,which is 1 hour later than the off peak ends.

Are you saying that 1 hour wont be charged at Peak rate ? Confusing stuff 

Correct - the meter won’t turn things on/off at precisely the start time to avoid blowing up the national grid - they all choose random times instead to make it less of a shock.

But I’d still do the reconfigure command anyway just to be safe.

I suspect it’s also a case that we’re in Summer time and the meter doesn’t change the times for BST.

You can check the cost of the units at anytime by pressing the button on your meter.  Ours stays at the off peak lower rate until 8.30am. It's a steep learning curve for all of us but I have to say we are delighted with how it's going so far.  Being able to use our solar power for my  dishwasher... something we couldn't do with THTC....is just great!! 

Thanks again.
Will give it time to settle & make more observations over the coming days before calling to reconfigure.

I don’t mind it being out of sinc as I can adapt to that knowing the charges are correct.

The meter is on GMT & the tariff is changing correctly ,and precisely ,on time according to the in house display.

It’s brilliant to have your input. There must be thousands not on here tearing their hair out

It’s been really good to hear some of the positive updates on this change over but also notes from those with initial problems ( worth saying that the forum tends to record problems rather than the overall picture ) but one word of caution .. the rates shown on the meter are not necessarily the ones used for billing. You should double check what rates are on your plan page to confirm your different time slot prices. 

I agree with BPLightlog about the rates shown on the meter. The rate mine shows doesn’t correspond to the quoted rate for Economy 9.In fact it’s less

As I now have heating,which was not the case when I first came on here,I will take a few days to check things before making judgement (in the warmth).

I also think that with the difference between off peak/peak being so little these days that an hour or so out will not break the bank & not worth the stress in the long run.

The SMETS Command Update Tariff Configuration usually fixes that one! :)

Is the Update Tariif Configuration done by Ovo or can it be done by me at the meter ?

OVO needs to do it - you can’t do it locally.

But the plan rate remains the only thing that counts for billing

I’m confused by what happens when we move from RTS meters to smart meters. The latest posts on this thread seem to imply that appliances are being switched on and off at certain times (storage heaters in this case) yet other threads state that we will need to set timers so that storage heaters and water heating come on at times to benefit from the lower rates. 

@awills61 it’s the FORMER - Storage/Immersion Heaters will remain meter-controlled unless your wiring setup doesn’t allow the existing THTC meter to do so.

@Blastoise186 thanks for the reply. Can you let me know what will happen with my set up that I attempt to describe. 

I have ‘four circuits’ in my house (that’s my terminology might physically be something else) that operate like this.

Household Circuit - Fridge/Freezer, Cooker, Lights, Sockets etc., on 24/7 at high rate

24hr Heating/Water Circuit - For Panel Heaters, Focal Point Fire, Water Boost on 24/7 at low rate

Storage Circuit - For Storage Heaters on when RTS dictates at low rate

Water Circuitr - For Water on when RTS dictates at low rate.

I’ve listed the last two separately as they come on a different times.

How will these operate on the E10 tariff?

Sorry for the wait! I needed to chat with someone at OVO about some unrelated stuff. Ended up in quite a fun (and long!) conversation with them! :D

Sure. The physical wiring won’t change much, so whatever works on any 24 hour circuits now will remain that way but will charge rates appropriate to the time of day.

Stuff that RTS currently controls will remain controlled by the Smart Meter and ONLY run during Off-Peak hours unless you manually Boost them. As with THTC, any use of the Boost button will be charged at Peak rates unless it’s during Off-Peak hours.