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

I wasn't very clear, I was just pointing out that there's also a generation issue in Shetland that's stopping them junking THTC, probably a few thousand homes in Shetland stuck on THTC till Shetland is linked to the national grid.

They're about to switch on the Viking onshore windfarm in Shetland so there'll be 450mw coming down the subsea cable to mainland Scotland shortly!

I have a house in Aberdeenshire supplied by Octopus, elec tracker and solar export and I have full control to choose my supplier and tariffs. And then there's our small house in Shetland, THTC and locked to maybe 3 suppliers with tariffs that don't support modern efficient heating systems.

You'll be glad to know that once the subsea cable goes live UK (mainland) elec consumers will see a very small reduction in their annual elec costs as they'll no longer need to subsidise elec generation for Shetland consumers 👍

Seen this previously. I've been told by OVO that when they install the new meter to replace the THTC setup they'll look to arrange to have the 2nd meter point reference de-energised and move me to a single meter point reference number to allow me to move to a single tariff. Hardly a 100% guarantee but I do have it in writing from OVO following a successful complaint to the ombudsman.

A friend of mine who lives a few miles from me has THTC and is with Utility warehouse (storage htrs removed so static meter reading) has just been informed they're shortly fitting a smart meter and removing the redundant meter for the storage heaters.

Does look like things are starting to move in the right direction.

When the THTC meters were installed, the distributor and the supplier of electricity were probably the same organization, in many cases the local Electricity Board. This all changed with the privatization of electricity distribution and supply, so now we have a hybrid system with regional distribution companies and national suppliers. It’s not surprising that there’s confusion over who actually owns the THTC meters and, more importantly, who is responsible for their management and operation.

Some customers have had success with persuading the DNO to take the initiative to having redundant meters and their corresponding MPANs removed; others (like @Infiltrator’s friend) have seen the supplier do the same. If the THTC meter is clearly not being used, this is a possibility, for example if storage heaters have been replaced by a heat pump. As far as OVO is concerned, having two MPANs for the same supply seems to create an automatic block on having a smart meter installed. Of course there may be other considerations, too, like in communications black spots or in areas governed by load management schemes.

Thank you for sharing your insights & experiences. It’s been a while since we’ve had an OVO update related to THTC, I’m going to see if I can chase up an expert in this meter type & see if there has been any progress or updates.

I’ll report back to this topic. 

What’s probably worth noting however, is something that both myself and @metalsman have been trying to make clear (thanks for the assist by the way, much appreciated!).

The stance we’re taking on the Forum is to try and avoid making promises that we’re not 1,000,000% confident about - such as whether you can simply come off of THTC anytime soon. We’ve opted for this because we don’t want to get peoples hopes up only to throw you off of a cliff later when it doesn’t happen - it’s much better to burst that bubble now and replace it with a new one “later” if that makes sense.

As it so happens, I was chatting to a couple of National Grid engineers about THTC today (as in their DNO engineers who used to be part of Western Power Distribution) since I’m able to do that from time to time, these guys work on the 11,000V substations and transformers as part of their day jobs, so they know what they’re talking about. Didn’t get tons of time per se, but enough for a quick chat. Please note that I don’t normally get direct access to these engineers - it’s literally just a one-off thing and I can’t just turn it into a free-for-all to ask whatever I want for hours on end. I can only get maybe 10-20 minutes a day with them for a few days this month and that’s about it (and I kinda want to make the most of that for more than just one thing!).

They also seem to be taking the same stance - much of the infrastructure stuff is considered sensitive info that cannot be shared publicly because of the risks involved. Likewise, they share the views that the infrastructure up north desperately needs to be upgraded before anyone can even think about permanently nuking THTC completely.

While these specific engineers don’t work up in Scotland, they know how this stuff works pretty well and the discussions I’ve had - while they can’t be posted here - has given me some new info that I can use to further my research in the background.

Appreciate the update. 

It's interesting to note that when THTC was introduced it benefited both the regional energy boards, by managing demand, and the customers, as they were offered attractive tariffs and modern heating systems (storage htrs) to assist to the uptake. It seems nowadays that we have DNOs and separate energy suppliers the only party who still benefit from THTC are the DNOs. The energy suppliers only see THTC as an inconvenience but because its still being used to manage demand the customers are stuck with probably the most ineffective and expensive heating systems - at a time when the government are trying to encourage people to install more energy efficient heating systems. I do appreciate it's not an easy fix but the customers do appear to be getting the raw end of the deal by having no choice and very limited communications. 

Howdy!

Please watch this space, some hot news is on the way regarding the future of THTC. So hot in fact, that I’ve not even had a chance to write the post yet - I literally just got told it today.

At the moment, it’s not ready for primetime juuuuuuuuuuuust yet, but I’m going to start working on getting it written up later this week and hopefully get some initial feedback. I want to make sure it covers as many bases as possible because I can already foresee it blowing up the internet pretty rapidly - and I REALLY don’t wanna mess it up! :)

Please allow me some time to get things written up and checked over, as well as getting permission to make it public (I need OVO’s permission for this one!). We don’t yet have an exact date as to when I can spill the beans, but please keep watching the Forum - feel free to check in anytime and we’ll try to tell you whatever can be made public at that point.

Brilliant posts. Thanks for all your help. I had no idea that Utilities was such a 'minefield!'. I suppose like everyone I just expected, to able to get an energy package that suits my needs. These Energy/Utilities must have something like a 'thirty year plan' to work to. I know the infrastructure/hardware is so out of date, and that technology leaps ahead, and I am stuck somewhere in the middle with my THTC!!!! Not going to do anything rash, just stay with OVO and monitor the costs and see what the future brings. This forum has been very helpful, learned more about the state of Utilities in the UK than countless phonecalls to OVO. Thanks again🙂

Well, in some ways being me has its privileges. I was able to access OVO’s Smart Meter Lab again today - which is HIGHLY restricted access - and had the chance to speak to one of my internal contacts at OVO. This person prefers to remain anonymous which is a request I respect, but they know an absolute ton about this stuff - literally more than I do - and have helped me out several times in the past when I’ve gotten stuck myself.

It’s because of that visit that I now know the planned future for THTC and it’s actually quite interesting - not least because this time, I actually got to see the physical THTC Smart Meter Test Rig rather than just a photo of it on a slideshow.

We were in there for maybe a good hour or so, which was plenty of time for the “Brain Frying Machine in the Cabinet of Doom” that is the Arqiva WAN Rebroadcasting Unit to have fried our brains - except it didn’t because that stuff doesn’t happen outside of comics. And if that monster can’t fry my brain after being directly exposed to it for an hour, then neither can Smart Meters that are 100x less powerful. :)

You’re enjoying all this teasing, I suspect...