Thank you to all those who helped last year regarding Air Source heat pump as my oil boiler went down and i was having trouble with my housing association about when it was going to be installed etc. That was in May last year.
Fast forward to this year we now have a heating system ....its Storage heating and I spoke to OVO regarding all this being changed in January this year apparently yes then at the last hour it was no. Ok so I tried to look for a different company that do Economy 7 tariff.
Found one but now OVO don't want to let me go due to a huge bill which I have due to it being wintertime and having to use electric heaters due to no heating system can anyone advise me what to do obviously I didn't really want to leave but ....its a case of having to but then if OVO did Economy 7 or something similar I wouldn't have to.
Best answer by BPLightlog
... will Viv1966 be able to get a duel tariff like Economy 7 with the meter setup they have ?
If you’ve been advised that we can’t switch you to Economy 7 (which is generally the case)
We can’t tell whether this meter is capable of switching an offpeak circuit on and off. Even if it did have the internal switch necessary, there would have to be an external contactor to do the actual power control.
…
It seems that the magic use-excess-solar-generation-to-charge-heaters system only works if the heaters are wired to a constant circuit (i.e. not having the charging bit separate from the control bit so charging only happens during offpeak hours). Again, we can’t tell whether this is Viv’s arrangement. It involves installing some extra bits and bobs including a CT clamp, all included in the optional Solar Box.
As @Firedog suggests, a separate supply is not needed for these
So that should mean that a traditional 4 terminal smart meter should work with these heaters.
The balance would then be how much energy is needed during the day for other appliances and how the units are connected
@juliamc i will check wattages and let you know. @Ben_OVO ok thanks Ben will wait to hear from you just let me know if you need any more info and thank you very much
I’ve been speaking to colleagues about this one and, to confirm, we won’t be able to accommodate you switching to Economy 7. I’m sorry - I know this isn’t what you were hoping I’d come back and say.
Regarding your next steps, the best option would be to speak to other suppliers to see which one would be able to get you set up properly. If there’s a large debt balance on the account that’s preventing you from switching, you could contact your complaints handler and request that they allow you to switch away, whilst setting up a payment plan for the remainder of the arrears. As stated previously, I can’t guarantee they’ll allow this, it’s definitely worth an ask. At the end of the day, heaters have been installed, through no fault of your own, that are incompatible with your current setup with OVO. We can’t help make things compatible, so it seems only fair that we’d let you switch.
If you run up against any issues when speaking to Complaints, let me know. By all means reference this Forum thread when you get back in touch with them. If they’ve been in touch with you via email, the best bet is to reply to their last email, and this will re-open the complaint.
I hope this helps somewhat, and sorry again that we can’t keep you on as Economy 7.
I think most heating designers/installers assume that most tariff options are available to consumers and the inability to move customers from a single tariff has been a problem for OVO for many years. It’s one of the reasons that I moved my supply a few years ago (with no need in my case for a meter change!)
I do think in this case it worth OVO making sure that this customer can get the best solution quickly given energy costs these days.
Thank you so much for trying to sort this out for me i know you very busy with 101 other problems to sort out on top of mine, so i really do appreciate your time and effort. The only problem i have is that my complaint was closed about a month ago, so who do i raise this issue with now? Do i still contact the Complaints Team?
Good Morning @juliamc would you still need to know wattages and further equipment? If so will forward everything on to you. A heated towel rail was put in the bathroom to replace the radiator and there is a convector heater on the wall in our conservatory. Solar inverter info and wattages i will forward later on today if thats ok?
@juliamc i think my inverter must be the large square box on my bedroom wall by the side of my electricity fuse box. It has an LCD display of figures inside. Do i need an app to see how much solar is being used or exported? I don't have a battery with this.
Hi @Viv1966 Thanks, I was wondering if someone could advise the best tariff for you to be on bearing in mind that you also have these other electric devices. No need to find all the sizes !!
You do have a few things that you would run during the daytime. The normal setup with economy 7 is to have a hot water tank that heats up at night and all storage heaters. As you have 2 instant water heaters you don’t want an expensive daytime rate !!
Sorry @Viv1966 , me again ! Do you know why the Solar Box hasn’t been supplied for your solar/storage heaters ? It would seem to be an important item as you have solar panels?
I have never used Storage Heaters before so i could use all the advice i can get to be honest. Equally with the Solar panels too! I will upload a photo of what i mean about the thing i am talking about on my bedroom wall ...i have a feeling its not an inverter
This is our inverter - it’s in our garage and it’s about 2ft high. When it’s daylight the screen lights up and it gets quite warm. I don’t know much about storage heaters I’m afraid but @Firedog is yer man there!!
@Viv1966 yes - still contact the Complaints team about this one. If you reply to the last email sent to you by your complaints handler, then this will reopen the complaint.
Morning @juliamc ok i didn't think it was that. The point is we don't have a garage so the only place i can think of as i don't think its outside, is in the loft and i know the workmen did go into the loft. I have asked the Installing Manager about the Solar Box as i wanted to align and connect an app to my heating system in conjunction with my Solar Panels....but apparently there wasn't one. I have registered them but how do i know how much export i have etc?
Morning @Ben_OVO ok thank you for all yoir help plus @BPLightlog, @Firedog and @Nukecad and @juliamc you have all been amazing and my "go to" since all this started. I think every energy company shoulld have a community forum like this, its so useful when information is sparse about how things work electrically etc. You all do a grand job! Keep up the amazing work you do!
I’m at a bit of a loss about your inverter. I assume your old oil boiler has been removed, have they put the inverter in the outside cupboard where the boiler was? Can you get the Installing Manager to come back and explain all the things that you now have and how they should all work together? They ought not just leave you to fathom it out !!!
@Viv1966 what we all try to do is pass on our learned information, much from examples we’ve seen, discussed, seen problems solved. Some from our past employment but together we can generally pass on some useful insights or hints at least.
Although new technologies are adding complexity to the mix, electrical engineering is basically the same as it was decades ago.
And this is the forum, doesn’t matter which supply company the questioners use, we will try to help and OVO have been very good at enabling this space for the purpose.
It does sound like your new system and heating needs some better understanding, not least from those who installed it. Hope you get things sorted but please carry on posing your questions or updates. It certainly helps
This is a bit of a side track about Economy 7. I had never really looked into why suppliers were saying you can't move to E7 if you are on a single rate and the reason given was that is was a ‘technical’ issue which, strictly speaking, it isn't. It's due to the fact that E7 will cease to exist in 2030 and you can read more detail, which I didn't know about in the link below. So suppliers (as if they didn't have enough issues already) have to migrate E7 users away from this tariff by this date with possible increases in energy bills. E7 used to be very cheap at night (because coal fired generation was very cheap) so it was good for storage heaters, however, the night and day rates have changed over the years to give you almost no advantage if your day usage is similarly high. It's possible that other tariffs will emerge that are better aligned with the way we now generate power without causing a steep increase when E7 comes to an end.
Perhaps we will start to hear more about the planned phasing out of E7 (and E10) by 2030 now that the RTS meter exchange panic is coming to an end?
I can see that it’s going to be a difficult one for suppliers (and the Government) to justify to customers who don’t want to change to what may be more costly tariffs.
@juliamc yes i think thats the best thing to do, i can text him and he is quite approachable....so what i will do is contact him. Thats a thought it could be where the boiler was but don't remember seeing it…i have read that sometimes they are on the roof?! Seems a little odd if you are supposed to read them. By the way i only have one water tank not two as well. I will let you know what i find out especially as i now know i have to leave Ovo but i can carry on talking to you all for advice....i thought that would have to stop!
@Peter E @Nukecad @BPLightlog i knew something was afoot regarding Storage heating....but its not a fossil fuel heating is it? I suppose the government want everyone on Air Source don't they?
@Peter E @Nukecad @BPLightlog i knew something was afoot regarding Storage heating....but its not a fossil fuel heating is it? I suppose the government want everyone on Air Source don't they?
It’s not about fossil fuels as such but more storage heaters are designed to build up their heat with overnight electricity which isn’t always the best for low emissions.
There will be what are called Tou (time of use) tariffs which do supply lower cost electricity at certain times, it’s just that those times won’t necessarily correspond to nighttime use
