THTC / Separate Radio Teleswitch and Meter- Can I get a smart meter?

Sorry, meant to type Cassie511.

Not quite correct about Rewiring house. 15 minutes reconfiguring meter tails will do it. I do not want a THTC smart meter, just a SMET2 meter which are now very available. I had a meter appointment booked with OVO recently to do exactly that, plus my Sparks standing by to sort the meter tails when THTC meters were removed and E7 smart meter installed. All was going to take about an hour after which I would be off THTC and onto E7.  Running up to my appointment time I received numerous text messages from OVO saying what a good boy I was for going 'Smart', plus a post card and a letter. Then an email saying 'sorry we've had to cancel your appointment to change your meter' - no explanation given; I had to phone to find out why, only to be informed that the appointment should not have been made in the first place as it can't be done at present because of 'infrastructure issues'. And so it goes on. 

I stand by my word.

And besides, if it’s infrastructure related issues, the DNO is probably blocking it - which is beyond OVO’s control.

I know you're trying to be helpful but please do not set hares running about rewiring. Not the DNO blocking it either.

Could it be that the £200M ÷ pa revenue from THTC tariff is a factor!!!

Revenue != Profit

Also, it's + not ÷ by the way. 

In that case, your best bet IS to wait for the right meter type to be available.

Exactly our experience.....we just want a straightforward SMET2 meter. We don't want a THTC replacement. We want nothing to do with the THTC set up and timings. They didn't cancel our appointments though.  We actually had 2 visits from guys to change meters over the last 2 years but when they see our meter set up there's a sharp intake of breath and they run away. 

I'm grateful for the help you gave me recently which allowed me, eventually, to find out we are NOT in a load managed area. So that's not the problem.

All we are asking for is for OVO to be communicating with us.....not having to use this forum to get second hand information, which I am grateful for, by the way.

1 We need a clear explanation, from OVO, of the difficulty in dealing with these meters.

2 We need ways in which we can make the changes if we want to get rid of THTC completely. Some people have been able to.....

3 We should be regularly updated, by OVO, regarding timelines. 

4 At the very least OVO should be dramatically reducing the THTC tariff to compensate us for, what is looking like, yet another hugely expensive winter.

There is no information from OVO at all.  I would  be really grateful if you could feed this back to your contacts in OVO.

You need to be aware that by posting on the Forum - which is Volunteer and Community led - that 99.999999999999999% of responses will come from either a Forum Volunteer such as myself, or another community member rather than from OVO Staff.

As Forum Volunteers, we aim to sync our advice with the official word from OVO whenever possible, as well as keep our advice in sync with the latest happenings across the industry. When something happens, we’re usually some of the first to know.

As previously mentioned, if you get rid of ALL Storage Heaters and Immersion Heaters, you can become eligible for getting rid of THTC immediately, subject to DNO approval.

As for the tariff? It’s expensive for OVO to operate too - and the prices for it RARELY change in either direction.

So this forum is full of questions and debate about legacy THTC systems and the challenge of migrating to a smart meter set up. I have read several comments about how complicated it's going to be and recommending those with THTC wait for the official solution. I’m not an electrician (so maybe I’m missing something) but I am a chartered engineer (so hopefully not a complete numpty) and I find the idea that this is a complicated challenge somewhat bemusing. The THTC system I am familiar with has a single supply to the house that splits and goes to 2 separate meters. From the first it goes to a consumer unit and off the lights, plug sockets etc. From the second it goes to a separate consumer unit and off to space heaters and an immersion heater for hot water. Some of these go via a RTS and some don’t. So all you have to do is remove both meters and the RTS. Insert a smart meter and send the output from it to the two consumer units and its job done.

Please tell me why this is wrong. 

As mentioned many, many times… It’s not that simple.

Backend systems must be updated to support this stuff, OVO’s billing platform needs to be taught how to do Smart THTC, tons of new code written, new meters designed, new meters certified, new systems tested, DCC upgraded, all the intermediary systems upgraded and tested… The list goes on. And that’s before you get to regulatory approval… OVO has been working on this stuff for years - I’ve seen the progress with my own eyes.

Oh, and then you need specially trained engineers - so you have to upskill existing engineers to do these jobs, or add it to the training courses of new engineers. For pretty complicated reasons - not just legal reasons - you can’t just get any old sparky to do this stuff.

It IS NOT just a simple “Lift N Shift” solution.