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Can I switch from an Economy 7 plan to a single rate plan without a smart meter exchange?

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Firedog
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… 6 weeks to adjust meter two rate tariffs

 

That’s a bit sad @nealmurphy, but it doesn’t surprise me. It only takes a moment for the monkey to press the lever to deliver the banana after all, but it takes months to teach the monkey how to do it 😉

Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA
Firedog
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You will see another reply here from me in the fullness of time.  

 

As promised: just a little sitrep.

The moment my fixed-rate plan came to an end, things changed at the online account:

  • The Plan page started showing the Standard Variable Tariff (E7) rates I was advised of last month;
  • The Usage pages started using those rates to show daily costs;
  • Live billing died. 

I’m hopeful that this means that the Billing team have got the message (that I wanted to change from dual- to single-rate from 9 January), so charges aren’t being updated until the change I want has been implemented, both at their end and mine by virtue of a tariff update to my smart meter. It will be interesting to see whether this gets done before the end of the month, when my next bill is due, and whether the new tariff will be back-dated to the start of the plan.

 

 

 It was good to learn that usage and billing aren’t interconnected, but arrive at the web platform from different directions. This explains a lot of the unnecessary anguish that many users recently migrated from SSE have been subjected to.

Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA
Firedog
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You will see another reply here from me in the fullness of time.  

 

As promised: just a little sitrep.

 

… the Billing team have got the message (that I wanted to change from dual- to single-rate from 9 January),

 

Yes. Kudos to the Ovoids who made (at least part of) this happen ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  • Having been frozen at the last day of the fixed-rate contract, my billing page is now live again from 1 February.
  • At the end of the billing period including the switch from fixed to variable tariff, my Economy 7 plan now shows the same rates for peak and off-peak. 
      

     

  • These rates have been applied for the whole duration of the variable tariff, i.e. since billing froze.

So, @Luminess, it can be done. My bill for January is 8% lower than it would have been had I stayed on the E7 plan.

 

[OT] 

I no longer have to wait until after midnight, or get up at stupid o’clock, to make use of my greedy electric shower 🙌 This will make a fundamental change to my daily routine.

Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA
P
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Hi,

I hoping a forum member is able to answer my query, or at least steer me in the right direction, as an answer was not forthcoming from customer service.

I transferred from SSE to OVO in January 2022 and changed from Economy 7 to a single rate tariff on 26 January 2023.  That sounds straight forward, however: 1) my online account shows my historical bills as single rate unit price only instead of day and night rates;  2) to make matters worse, my current single rate unit price has been backdated to 1 October 2022 and 3) my account in constant debt and OVO wants to increase my direct debit.

Thankfully the Customer Service Adviser was able to send me a copy of my statements from July - December 2022 which showed everything correctly.  Even though they too see the same online data that I do, as initially thought I rang to clear the debt. 

In order for me to stop receiving emails stating I am hundreds of £s in arrears, my question is who do I need to contact to get my online account corrected?  Apologies for all the info, but I wanted to be clear as possible with what I was asking 🙂

Blastoise186
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Hey @PaulinaMary ,

In the first instance I’d try Collections on 0800 069 9831. If they can verify that you don’t owe a debt, that team has the power to terminate the process and undo any damage.

Hope this helps! If that doesn’t work, stop by again as I might have more options for you.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
Emmanuelle_OVO
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Hey @PaulinaMary,

 

Sorry to hear this,

 

It sounds like there may be a billing issue on your account, I’d advise reaching out to Support on 0330 303 5063 to investigate this for you. 

 

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.
P
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Thanks for your replies.

Collections were unable to assist, so I went back to customer support.  After speaking to a couple of advisers they were left flummoxed of how it happened and what to do.  It has now been passed to the technical team and thankfully my direct debit will remain fixed until it is resolved..

Jeffus
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@PaulinaMary interesting we are seeing quite a variety of bills being re created for different reasons. We are pulling examples together. Some more obvious than others 

I don't work for OVO i am just a customer like you. 

P
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Hi,

I just wanted to update you all that my original query from February 2022 is still outstanding.  OVO closed it without informing me, so I reopened it again in June.  I have just check my account and it still has not been resolved.  What’s the likelihood that is has been closed again, and what more can I do to get this sorted out?

I did suggest they create two accounts for me and close the Economy 7 one once they have updated it with the correct tariff/pricing using the bills that sent me.  It’s also interesting to know that the advisors can see my online account is different to what they have on their system.  Maybe I should suggest they consult with other utility suppliers on how to create a system that could manage tariff changes, as whatever they are doing is not working!

Emmanuelle_OVO
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Hey @PaulinaMary,

 

Sorry to hear this, it sounds very frustrating.

 

I’ll ask Forum_Support to reach out to you, please keep an eye on your private messages. 

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.
M
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As an Economy 7 user with storage heaters with 2 separate meters, I have read that radio telemetry signalling is to be switched off next year so how are we supposed to control our heaters? Will there still be a cheaper rate overnight and we will have to just switch our heaters on manually at night and remember to switch off in the morning?

 

Also, can my 2 meters be replaced with a single meter to make it easier to submit readings and avoid confusion.

Blastoise186
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Hi @Maureen D ,

I can answer that one for you. Just so you’re aware, I’m a forum volunteer so this is my personal response.

Economy 7 itself isn’t going away and will remain available across all suppliers that currently offer it for the foreseeable future. If that ever changes, you’d be warned about it well in advance.

It is true that the RTS Service that powers legacy E7 meters is shutting down. Your meters should continue to run using the built-in local timeswitch that was originally designed as a fallback mechanism. It won’t last forever, but it’d tide you over in the short-term until you can upgrade to Smart Meters. As long as that timeswitch works, your heaters should continue to run as they do now - but please be advised that if your meters are as old as I think they are… There’s no guarantee that it definitely will work.

As for replacements, yup! That’s now a thing. Head over to https://smart-booking.ovoenergy.com and you can make that request whenever you’re ready. The new Smart Meter will be a single unit and the engineer will deal with the removal and disposal of your old meters as part of the service.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
M
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Hi @Maureen D ,

I can answer that one for you. Just so you’re aware, I’m a forum volunteer so this is my personal response.

Economy 7 itself isn’t going away and will remain available across all suppliers that currently offer it for the foreseeable future. If that ever changes, you’d be warned about it well in advance.

It is true that the RTS Service that powers legacy E7 meters is shutting down. Your meters should continue to run using the built-in local timeswitch that was originally designed as a fallback mechanism. It won’t last forever, but it’d tide you over in the short-term until you can upgrade to Smart Meters. As long as that timeswitch works, your heaters should continue to run as they do now - but please be advised that if your meters are as old as I think they are… There’s no guarantee that it definitely will work.

As for replacements, yup! That’s now a thing. Head over to https://smart-booking.ovoenergy.com and you can make that request whenever you’re ready. The new Smart Meter will be a single unit and the engineer will deal with the removal and disposal of your old meters as part of the service.

Thanks very much for the reply.

 

My day meter stopped working the other day so an engineer has been booked to look at it next week.  I will pick his brains regarding the meters.

M
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OVO trying to make me into stay on E7 when it's too expensive for me now the council have changed my heating system without a choice but even though it is not my fault they threatened to charge me £106 if I think about changing it's disgusting and undiluted greed.

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Blastoise186
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Hello @Mark Shaw ,

For a case like this one, I think the most powerful option that OVO offers at https://ovoenergy.com/feedback would probably fix this - which is to email Raman’s team. I’d recommend you try to use the regular route first, but his team are willing to step in if you think the normal complaints process hasn’t worked.

All the details are listed on that page. OVO can make what you’re looking for work for free - you don’t need to pay the £106.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
M
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Thanks for your response because I've lost sleep through worry so to know i was justified in my belief that it's an unfair charge and therefore don't have to pay for it because now I can relax a bit more and have more confidence in the next phone call i might possibly have with them.

M
Firedog
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OVO trying to blackmail me into remaining on E7 when it's too expensive for me now ...

… they threatened to charge me £106 if I think about changing …

 

Something is not quite right here. If you’re currently on an E7 tariff and you want to switch to a standard single-rate tariff, it depends on the type of meter you have. If it’s a smart meter, then it can usually be done remotely at the flick of a switch. If it’s not a smart meter, it might have to be exchanged for a new, smart one. In either case, there’s no cost to you.

You didn’t say what the £106 was for, but that is OVO’s standard charge for work like disconnecting or reconnecting a meter at your request. I don’t understand why this would be quoted to you unless you’d asked for it.

If you explain your situation exactly and what you wanted to be done, and then tell us what OVO said in response, we’d be better able to help. 

 

Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA
Emmanuelle_OVO
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Hey @Mark Shaw,

 

I think you may have been misadvised. 

 

Although we're unable to physically change the functionality of meters right now. We can offer an Economy 7 to Single Rate plan! This means you’ll be paying the same rate for each register.

 

If this is something you’re interested in, please get in touch with our Support Team.

 

 

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.
M
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Thanks. Yes please can I have my current economy seven tariff changed to the single rate tariff without the need for a meter change therefore not needing to pay £106 for the privilege. 

M
Blastoise186
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We can’t arrange that from here I’m afraid. Forum Volunteers can’t access your account

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!

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