RTS (Radio Teleswitch Service) Shutdown Update

Thanks Joyce for your positive reply, good of you to post. I assume that having 2 meters you were on Superdeal or something similar. My situation is now on hold for probably some time as I require a DNO attendance before a smart meter fitting. Time frame for DNO to attend could be 2 months so do not expect the smart meter to be in & running until 2025! Not risking an incorrect meter during the winter!

Smart meter installed today. Seemed a bit tricky and took 2 hours but things seem to be working so far. Engineer local and very pleasant. Left everything tidy.  Time will tell if the timing and all the connections to the solar panels and EV work as they should. 🤞

Thanks, @Cassie511, for reporting back. Please come back again if you encounter any hiccups down the line; things might take a few days to settle down completely, so no rush!

Hi @Cassie511,

We appreciate you coming back to share your feedback, this is useful for others that may be in the same position.

I’m glad to hear that it went well so far. Please let us know if you come into any issues.

Just dropping in to say thanks to the forum!

Standard smart meter was fitted on Tuesday, all went well apart for a heated discussion that I didn't want a 5 port meter fitted!

The smart meter started sending data I can see on the bright app (although it's skipped Wednesday's data!)....not sure how long it will be for OVO to catch up with meter change?

Thanks again for your help and sanity check.

Six weeks is the industry average 

So I got the email asking me to phone OVO to make an appointment to get my father’s THTC meter replaced. I called OVO straight away - only to be told there are no appointments available. 

I Then followed the link on the front post of this thread - again tells me to call OVO but to have taken a reading and have models of storage heaters and type of water heating available. None of this was asked in the phone call and now sitting in limbo again. 

Going to read the rest of this thread, but have been given no tariff info, and don’t know if it would have been simpler to have an economy 7 or economy 10 meter fitted which then means not tied into a single energy supplier.  This is very frustrating - I will try replying to the email OVO have sent us with information required and asking about tariff information and how the new meter will work. 

Give it a bit more time before calling again - more appointment slots will open up soon.

Long story short, the new meter would be a Smart Meter that does everything all existing Smart Meters do in the same way they do it for Economy 7/10 - the Meter will control everything locally without the need for remote signals. Otherwise, it’ll behave like THTC in that heating/hot water will run at the agreed times only.

The tariff it’ll run on will be whatever tariff you agree to migrate to. We can’t say here for sure what you’ll get though, as it’s account-specific stuff so you need to ask OVO.

“Otherwise, it’ll behave like THTC in that heating/hot water will run at the agreed times only” - but not exactly like, in that use of panel heaters, towel rails, focal pint “fires”, showers and water heating boost won’t be charged at the lower rate.

Nobody knows whether this will cost more or less as it depends on the old THTC unit rates, the new E7/10 unit rates, and the specific use characteristics of any given consumer, unless the high E10/7 rate is lower than the low THTC rate, which I very much doubt!

I can’t say what they are for everyone, but https://plans.ovoenergy.com should if you feed it your postcode.

Remember that on E7/E9/E10, ALL usage during Off-Peak hours runs on the cheaper Off-Peak rates, not just heating. Use that to your advantage and you can balance things out.

Thanks, that’s a useful page - are the rates inclusive or exclusive of VAT? It doesn’t seem to say...

For my area the rates (rounded) are:

So I would be paying 5% more for my storage heating load, up to 35% more for my panel heaters, showers etc. (depending on when I used them) but between 25% and 42% less for my “domestic” usage.

Play it safe and assume it’s Ex VAT.

Hi

OVO are wanting to replace our thtc setup with two register smart meter. We are being offered a choice of two or three tariffs ( depending on who we speak to). Economy 8 , 9 or 10.  Out storage radiators are ‘dumb’. No way of controlling the times when they will operate at the radiators.

Q1: how are the tariff off peak times setup?

• is it a different meter type for each tariff 
   
• does the supplier remotely configure the meter as part of the installation process

Q2 : are the storage radiators wired into the meter in such a way that the only come on (charge) during the off peak times

These are pretty basic questions but we are getting conflicting answers from the RTS switching team

I’ll try.

Q1. The times when the two registers record usage are controlled by settings in the meter itself. You should be able to find out from Support what the offpeak times are; they vary a bit, and given the circumstances in Scotland, they may even vary from place to place there. There are currently three or four types of tariff: one called THTC, then Economy 7, Economy 9 and Economy 10. The numbers indicate - perhaps not precisely - the number of offpeak hours in any day. With Economy 7, the offpeak hours are all during the night, while the other two usually include one or more daytime offpeak periods.

• The same type of meter can be set up initially to whatever plan you decide on. 
• This initial set-up may be carried out before or during the installation.
  Because some customers are in locations that make communication with the smart meter network difficult, I think it’s likely that there will be as little reliance on being able to communicate as possible when setting the meter up.

Q2 . The type of meter being deployed can feed two separate circuits, one which is always live and the other which is only live during offpeak hours. Your storage heaters (and possibly your water heater) will be wired to the second circuit. The timing of the second circuit’s on and off periods is governed by a separate control in the bottom of the meter; it will normally be set to the same times as the register change I wrote about under Q1. 

Unlike many THTC arrangements, all usage in offpeak periods is recorded on the offpeak register and charged at offpeak rates. You should remember this when deciding when to use other power-hungry equipment like electric showers, tumble dryers, washing machines and cookers.

You should ask for precise details of the plans on offer if you’re to be able to make a reasoned decision. For each plan, you need to know:

You’ll also need to know how many kWh you’ve used at the various rates over the past year if you want to get an idea of the comparative costs. It won’t be easy to calculate, but we’re here to help if you need it.

Thanks for that. Confirms how I thought it would work. Another couple of questions;

Q3 :  the second control at the bottom of the meter you refer to in your answer.  Who sets these times ?  I presume these have to be a subset of the tariff off peak times ?
 

Q4 :  if the communications don’t work between the meter and OVO, will the meter still be able to control the off peak times ie switch on the storage radiators durin the off peak hours ?  I realise we would have to submit readings manually each month.

Q1.  The ‘second control’ is officially called the ALCS, Auxiliary Load Control Switch. Its calendar will normally be set to the same times as the Time of Use table that determines when to switch registers from peak to offpeak and vice versa. There is a built-in start-time offset of a few minutes just to make sure that not every storage heater in town suddenly switches on simultaneously. I’ve not discovered whether the same offset (a random no. of seconds unique to the meter) also applies at switch-off, but it ought not to.
Storage heaters (and immersion heaters) have a thermostat to prevent them overheating, so it’s unlikely that they will be going full blast for the whole of the offpeak period: they just switch the charging circuit off when they’re up to maximum.

Q2.  Yes. The ALCS isn’t at all dependent on the WAN for its operation (unlike RTS), although if there is no WAN connection, its calendar can’t be changed remotely. 
The meter should operate normally in every respect even though it can’t call home. 

As regards taking meter readings, you might get used to doing this a bit more often than you’re used to, perhaps weekly, just so you can see how it’s all working. At the very least, you should take and submit a reading in the morning of the first day of each billing period (one month, which with any luck will start on the first of each month).  This will make sure that your bills are accurate. If you also submit readings more frequently, the estimated usage you would see in your online account will be more accurate. 

Thank you very much.  Very very useful information.  Much apprecited

Hi @Arturharvey,

It seems one of our forum volunteers has already stopped by to answer your questions. Hope it was helpful. 

Please let us know if there’s anything else you’d like to know.

Two days ago the engineer came and changed our two meter THTC system to a one “SMART” meter system.
When this was originally discussed with OVO we were told that our tarriff would be changed automatically to economy 7 or 10 however our account plan still show as THTC 
I have uploaded the readings from the old meters which  the engineer failed to do on Friday
The meter installed is apparently connecting via wireless and transmitting our usage. 
We received no instruction as regards how to use/read the new meter or how the new meter will effect the use of our night store heating/immersion heater system
Does it have load switching capabilities?
Having examined the installation I note that there are separate feeds to lighting and power and the heating /hot water  consumer units.
Do I presume that the meter SGM1416-B ser 22MO164394 is capable of switching the Heating/Hot water circuits on and off when the TOU 3 or 4 nightime tarriff is in force or will we/our landlord need to have a timer / contactor installed to control the offpeak consumer unit ?
OVO are closed at weekends so I am left in limbo not knowing what they have done.
HELP!

Hi I got my two 31 year old THTC meters changed to one smart meter on 4th of September. Never got explanation how it worked. Being nosey I checked out meter and in house display then OVO, and found out OVO engineer commissioned meter with 1 rate. OVO said they can’t do anything there, so going to send out another OVO engineer on 13th of September. He came and went without doing anything and still in limbo today Monday 30th of September. Resolution team today said they don’t know how long it will take to fix. So now I don’t have off peak rate.

All I wanted was E10 tariff.

I found out the first OVO engineer came up to Dundee from London to help upgrade to smart meters.
How many meters did he change before someone noticed he was doing it wrong.

This is exactly my fear! Poorly trained in an unproven situation. Put in a claim for overpayment is my suggestion. After my recent fiasco with the first engineer on10th September who went away without fitting the meter because the DNO needed to tighten up a fuse box I now have a rebooking for next month. Dreading it!

This is entering Engineer territory, so I will ask @Lukepeniket_OVO to swing by to help out with this as he knows this stuff better than I do.

With that being said, OVO is training ALL their Engineers to handle these jobs. Luke can probably explain it better than me though.

HI - new to commenting here but have been following the ‘saga’ of THTC 2-meter replacement with great interest - and dread ! - as 4th October is scheduled smart-meter installation day for us.

I can’t say I’m looking forward to it at all - one meter,two rates,E10 tariff - fingers and toes thoroughly crossed for an engineer who can do the job competently  AND explain what’s been done and how to understand & manage the future. 

The meters here were SSE installed (upgrades ?) in 2003 - long before our time in residence - and we’ve “managed” the THTC setup reasonably well during our time. Just hoping that the switch will NOT be a disaster or cause major disruption to our heating/hot-water setup.

I can’t say I’ve much confidence at all in advance of the task ahead … but will be back here to describe our story … good or bad … soon.

Thanks to everyone who has posted here so far on this topic : reading it all has helped  … but so many unknowns and negative experiences don’t augur well . We shall soon see ... !

There’s already been a ton of successful THTC → Smart upgrades though, but those customers don’t tend to post here to tell us.

It’s not all doom and gloom! :)

Hi there,

I certainly will be most interested to hear of your experience on Friday. My install is due later in the month with a change from Superdeal to E10. My confidence is very low after reading all the posts from the past few months. My inclination is to wait until next year after several similar situations have been successfully rectified but I am open to being converted! Let us know please.