Hey @monster9, 

I've raised this with our infrastructure team in charge of the rollout and communications we've been putting out for them. They've looked at your case and advised that our path for you has stayed the same. They are currently rolling this out to customers, which began this month. As you can understand, this will require many resources, such as engineers, to complete, so they're rolling this out steadily across the affected customers.

If you live in a load-managed area, the team is still working towards a solution but is confident that they'll have news to share soon. We'll again update the Forum.

I understand that you've proactively contacted our Customer Care teams, and they've sadly given incorrect advice, for which I can only apologise. We're going to work with our frontline customer-facing teams so that they have a better understanding of the rollout and can avoid any misadvice going forward.

We, as the Forum Team, have been pushing for this for a few months as a transparent approach to updating on RTS/THTC issues. This has yet to be communicated to other teams; hence, we need to work on our internal communications to all work as one.

What this means for you and others:
You'll be contacted shortly to let you know it's time for your meter to be exchanged. The team is working through the list as efficiently as they can, so we ask you to bear with us a little longer, and we'll work on resolving this for you.

I hope this helps, and again, we're sorry for any inconvenience.

Thanks for this information.  Can I ask how we will be contacted? I ask this because my online OVO account now has the option of booking a smart meter installation whereas I previously did not have that option.  The webpage states
 

Please call us as soon as you can

Your meter setup is a little different to other homes, so we need to book you in on the phone.

Please call us on 0333 034 1622

As you can see this contradicts what you advise above.  Do we have to call the phone number shown or will OVO contact us by email, letter phone etc.?

The initial letter/email will invite you to contact OVO - you then need to make contact to sort things out.

Oh yes. Today I find out that if you are an Ovo customer who was on traditional E7 meters rather than a Smart meter, now you cannot switch plans without agreeing to accept a Smart meter being fitted in. 

Q). What kind of choice is this then?

A). Take it or leave it.   🥾 

In an earlier forum topic I read you'd be given the choice and would not be forced into choosing a Smart meter if you did not want one. Well, not any more eh?

So, my question to Ovo Energy... why have you removed our choice?

Every plan today now requires customers to accept a Smart meter. Zero choice.

Monster *edited by moderator*

It has been known for decades that coming off of E7 often requires a meter swap. Alas, the only meters available these days are Smart Meters because manufacturing of basically everything else has ended.

This isn’t OVO removing that choice - it’s industry wide.

I have since found this website which shows photos of older meters and has a much better explanation than anything I could find on Ovo.

https://help.outfoxthemarket.co.uk/hc/en-gb/articles/11195186168348-Why-do-I-need-to-get-a-replacement-for-my-RTS-meter

And from Ofgem too

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/replacing-your-radio-teleswitch-electricity-meter

But they’re nowhere near as good as what OVO has put out. You just had to know where to look:

https://www.ovoenergy.com/help/article/electric-heating/radio-tele-switching

But at the end of the day, RTS is going away so that is why you’ve got no choice but to have the meter swapped out. And Smart Meters are the only type being manufactured at this point.

Some sort of progress? Spoke to the smart meter team today who gave me the choice of E7, E9 or E10. Currently on Superdeal after being migrated from SSE. All storage heaters & an immersion heater for the hot water. The smart meter team & myself think best suited to E10 (E7 no use as pm boost essential in our old property). Look on the OVO website under E10 & it says not suitable for electric storage heaters! Who is correct, website or the smart meter team?!

Hey @johndebs ,

The Electric Heating Team aka Squad 70 you spoke to is correct. I will raise a flag against the Economy 10 article to get this one double checked.

With that being said, it does depend on the age of the heaters. Older ones benefit more from Economy 7 while newer ones can get away with Economy 10. But I agree - it could be made clearer.

Yes several contradictions on the website. In another part it says E10 ‘ideally heating system should be based on storage heaters & hot water tanks with an immersion heater’!

Also elsewhere on their website it says ‘no such thing as an E10 smart meter’!

Totally confused!

Cannot see why older storage heaters would not benefit as much from E10 as both E10 & E7 get 5 hours overnight at the cheaper rate along with at least 2 hours in the afternoons. E10 should actually be better as it gets an extra hour in the afternoon along with the 2 hours in the evening or am I reading all this wrong?

I believe that it’s simply a case of those webpages not having been updated yet to reflect the most recent developments.

ie. Those webpages are saying how it was previously (as recently as last month) - not how things are now.

As with anything new/upgraded it can take a while to get old, now outdated, information changed (or removed).
You don’t want to delay the needed (essential in some cases) changes/upgrades just for the sake of a few articles maybe being out of date - so you get on with the upgrades, and the articles can catch up later.

No, that’s not right. E7 generally gives you seven (sometimes eight) hours of continuous Off-Peak electricity overnight and everything else is Peak. E10 splits it up into three periods of Off-Peak spread throughout the day.

It very much depends on what storage heaters are involved, so there’s no ‘right-wrong’ about it.

My own old ‘box of bricks’ takes between 3 and 4½ hours to charge up at 3kW. That happens between 01:00 and 05:30 on E7. They have usually run out of steam before sundown, so for me it would be really advantageous to have E10’s afternoon boost so the evenings were less uncomfortable, and the evening slot would help make sure I didn’t overrun the 05:00 cut-off the following morning. 

It is wrong of the article referred to to suggest that E10 isn’t suitable for storage heaters.

Sorry Blastoise186,

I meant to say my current Superdeal, not E7, gets the same 5 hours overnight as E10 will give. With Superdeal we have found that the 5 hours has been sufficient for the storage heaters along with the useful boost in the afternoon. I am favouring the E10 as it will give the same periods as Superdeal + an extra hour in the afternoon & another 2 hours in the evening if required. 
I am assuming that E10, like Superdeal, will have a separate circuit in its smart meter for the heating & water in order for those to switch on & off only for their 3 allotted times.

Thanks for all your efforts.

Great update, Blastoise186! It’s reassuring to see OVO taking proactive steps to replace RTS meters and ensure continuity. For those concerned about switching tariffs or suppliers, it seems like smart meters will be adaptable, though specifics might vary. It's important to stay in touch with OVO for personalized advice and to address any issues with the transition.

Hi @johndebs,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I’ve passed this on to the relevant team so that this can be looked into and updated.

Yup, that’s the idea. Meters such as the SMETS2 Aclara SGM1416-B have precisely that capability.

Hi there, I’m new on here but find it very informative.  Like many we are on THTC with Dimplex Quantum storage heaters which, up till now, have worked well with THTC. The process was explained extremely well to me by the SSE engineer who installed them.  I’ve been following all the available updates re the switch and received an email asking me to contact OVO to discuss the options which would suit us and the available tariffs.  Prior to making the call, I read this thread and the old one thoroughly for more awareness so the only info I really needed from the advisor was the tariff rates and times. I probably gave her more info than she gave me.  The only question I have left really is: 

a)when the off peak time(s) kick in, will my storage heaters auto store to be released when I set them to come on.  At the moment they store when the RTS is switched on but are programmed to only take a charge if below 50%.  Will the new SMART meter be able to deal with this.  Thanks for any info.

The new meter will simply switch the different circuits at the relevant times. You should have an external device (perhaps within the heater) to determine if extra power is required or not. 

The smart meter will control the times when charging power will be available to the storage heaters. There will also be a 24-hour feed to the heaters that (a) keeps time and allows their controls to work, and (b) to power the fans that blow hot air out when you want them to. 

If you went for Economy 10, you would have something like five hours of charging power at night, then two boost periods after lunch and after supper. The afternoon one would try to make sure the heaters are charged up enough to keep you cosy in the evening, and the late boost would help to keep them warm until the main charge starts up in the middle of the night.

Economy 7 would allow the heaters to charge up fully overnight, but depending on how new they are, they might tend to run out of steam before the time when you really need them, like in the evening. They might work well for working people who don’t need the house to be kept really warm during the day, but for those at home all day, it might be disappointing. 

The heater controls themselves would take care of the charging. You might need help to get them set properly 

I am currently all electric and on the THTC tariff.
I have agreed to having a new meter installed to replace the existing set up.
I have a few questions regarding the proposed new meter.

My existing system has two meters 1. Standard 2. Heating
I have three MCB Boards 
1. Lighting and Power 
2. Storage Heaters. 
3. Convection Heaters and 2 x Immersion Heaters for HWC.
The MCB 1. is on the standard rate. 
The MCB 2 is on the Heating rate and allows the storage heaters to be charged through the teleswitch.
The MCB 3 is on the Heating rate and allows me to use convection heaters and Immersion heaters at any time during the day on the lower heating rate.

How will the new meter work and will it still give me the same options that I have at the same unit rates?
What is the new tariff called and what are the proposed unit rates.

OVO have arranged to change the meters but have not explained the options available.

Having looked at the tariffs available there doesn't seem to be one that will give me the same facilities that I currently have.

The alternative tariffs all seem to only give the option for the lower rate at set times and not 24/7  that I currently have.

I have asked OVO to get an engineer to contact me prior to fitting the new meter to explain how they will ensure I have the same facilities going forward.

Hi @AndySH ,

If you’ve not been offered a tariff swap as part of the process, you’re probably staying on THTC for the time being, so nothing would change tariff wise - you’d know otherwise.

The new setup would have ONE meter do absolutely everything that your current setup does in exactly the same way as you’ve currently got it set up, just with less spaghetti wiring and a single meter to replace two of them.

Let me know if you’d still like more info.

My main concern is that I have the 3 boards.

1 GENERAL Lighting and Power -  STANDARD  Tariff+

2. STORAGE HEATERS - Lower Rate RTS restricted timings.

3. Convection and Immersion heaters - Lower rate 24/7. 

I don't see how a single meter can feed all three options.