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borage
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June 17, 2025
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RTS meter switched - how does economy 9 work?

  • June 17, 2025
  • 12 replies
  • 585 views

Hi, got rts meter replaced by smart meter yesterday and process went smoothly. I think it is connected through mobile phone signal?

When I phoned to arrange the appointment I was asked to choose which tariff I wanted to go on and chose Econ 9.  I was told everything would go on off peak rates at the econ 9 times. However the engineer explained I will still be on the same (expensive) tariff I’ve been on because the off peak will only applh to the storage heaters.

I knew that the set up here was that only the storage heaters worked on off peak and the immersion heater or anything else did not.  I just assumed that when the smart meter was connected that would chanage.  

The engineer said I would need to get an electrician to connect up the different boxes, he was sorry that he wasnt allowed to do that.  

I’m a bit miffed that I got excited about immersion, cooker, shower etc were going to be available on off peak and now they won’t.  I’m in a private let and will see if my landlord will pay for an electrician to change the set up - if not it would probably be worth it to pay for it myself.

Woould an electrician just come and do the work, don’t they need permission from OVO or does that not count as messing about with the supply and if the set up is changed can I just contact OVO to got on a new tariff (I’ve been here about 15 years and never able to change tariff!

 

 

 

Best answer by Blastoise186

Updated on 27/06/25 by Ben_OVO

There’s no need to re-wire half the property for this - only the immersion heater needs to be moved to the Off-Peak circuit. The entire supply and everything in your property will flip between Peak/Off-Peak rates with Economy 9 anyway as that’s how it’s designed to work - it won’t just be stuff on the Off-Peak circuits that benefit from it, unlike your old tariff.

If Economy 9 is what you agreed on with OVO, you’ll be moved to that and the old tariff will be terminated. It may take a few weeks to fully go through, but you’ll drop the legacy RTS Tariff automatically as part of this process. It will have already been requested when you agreed to the meter swap.

 

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borageAuthor
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June 18, 2025

Hi, I managed to see the readings on the meter - rate 1 was 5kWh and rate 2 was 0 but I haven’t used anything that uses a lot of power since the meter was installed on Monday. So I waited till the off peak came on - light by a storage heater- and put on a washing and the immersion heater. Rate 1 stayed the same and Rate 2 is now 4kWh.  So everything is running on off peak (not that I didn’t believe you)  Just need to double check the times it goes on and off now but thank you for your help-you must know what you are talking about! 😊

    Ben_OVO
    Community Manager
    Ben_OVO
    Community Manager
    June 18, 2025

    ​@borage welcome to the OVO Forum.

     

    I’m glad to hear you’ve got to the bottom of things, and ​@Firedog / ​@Blastoise186 thanks as always for sharing your amazing knowledge 💪.

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