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Question

Economy 7 times ?

  • March 30, 2026
  • 8 replies
  • 36 views

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Economy 8 times, is there a place online I can find these to check the current ones ?

Note, this is not E7, or E10, or E9, and comes with 3 periods of off peak.

No it isn’t listed in my online OVO account, I couldn’t find it mentioned in my smart meter display, and so far, awaiting reply back from OVO via Facebook. ( So far they have given me E7 times. )

And it changes more than twice a year doesn’t it ?

Eg. if the weather is really bad.

Otherwise, the only solution I can think of is have Home Assistant monitor the storage heaters 24/7 and report any changes.

Apart from the old fashioned one, of checking 5 minutes before and after every hour of the day to see when they are on and off, and then narrowing that down by keeping an eye on the heaters so you can determine to which minute the reduced rate of electricity kicks in, which is a very tiring solution I would prefer to avoid doing again !

8 replies

Blastoise186
Super User
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Hi ​@shetland ,

The closest match I can think of would be Standard Economy & Heating Load. I seem to recall you’re up in the Scottish Highlands and Islands based on previous discussions so if you’re in the Shetland Islands, this might be what you’re on.

The other one that comes to mind would be THTC. This one is definitely weather linked because during bad weather you’re given additional heating hours and during good weather you’re given less.

Worth noting that support for both of the above is ending soon.

I don’t recall OVO offering Economy 8, but I can try to ask ​@Chris_OVO if he knows anything. Could you show us your meter again please?


Chris_OVO
Community Manager
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  • Community Manager
  • March 30, 2026

Hey ​@shetland,

 

I just wanted to clarify that, as far as I know, we don’t currently offer an Economy 8 plan, as ​@Blastoise186 pointed out. I’ve looked through our internal resources and found details only for Economy 7 and Economy 10. To make sure you have the best information, I’ve also asked one of our heating specialists for any additional options that might be available. I’ll keep you posted!

 

If you’re just asking for the times in general I found the following on   “8 hours of cheaper electricity in any 24 hours for approved heating and hot water systems. These are set at 00.00-04.00 and 12.00-16.00” on Jersey electricity’s website.


Chris_OVO
Community Manager
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  • Community Manager
  • March 30, 2026

Hey ​@shetland & ​@Blastoise186,

 

Apologies for the back to back messages but i’ve had the information back quicker than I anticipated. 

 

“Economy 8, also known as domestic economy, is a Scottish version of Economy 7. If you are in the MPAN 17 or 18 area, then you will be on Economy 8. Your times vary depending on British Summer Time (BST), so please adjust accordingly.​

 

MPAN 17 23.30-07.30 GMT
MPAN 18 23.00-07.30 GMT”

 

I hope this helps! 


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  • Author
  • Rank 8
  • March 30, 2026

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MPAN 17 23.30-07.30 GMT
MPAN 18 23.00-07.30 GMT”
---
MPAN 17 here.

Thanks for trying, but I have 3 off peak periods a day, 

For example, an old example of actual times when it was E7 before getting a smart meter:

1.08am on
3.08am off

7.08am on
9.08am off

2.08pm on
5.08pm off

Now with E8 I get an extra hour, and the times are different.
  ( Nice thing about the new plan is the entire house is on off peak, and not just the heating ! )
  ( Bad thing about the new plan, can’t move to another plan, or supplier ! )

They changed last around winter time, not sure if it was BST related or not.

From the OVO account details:

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Plan name

Simpler Energy - Region Specific
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Copy of chat transcript with OVO:

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 16 Apr 2025 7:47:06 AM - Customer: Is that an E7, E8, E9, or E10 tariff as we have storage heaters.

16 Apr 2025 7:49:03 AM - Agent: As you live in a Load Management area the tariff will be a variable tariff that will be specific to where you live so it will not be economy 7 8 9 10

16 Apr 2025 7:50:10 AM - Customer: Do you have the times it goes from peak to off peak/etc ?

16 Apr 2025 7:50:54 AM - Agent: The times are 00:00-02:00 06:00-08:00 13:00-16:00 21:00-22:00" 
---

I dunno what you call 8 hours then, if not Economy 8 !


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  • Author
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  • March 30, 2026

OVO insist the times are:

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Your Off Peak rates kick in between 22.30 and 06.30 You Peak usage is between 6.30 and 22.30.
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I’ve tried telling them I get 8 hours, split between 3 zones, but they insist this is my times.

Is this a new thing, no more 3 split times ?


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  • Author
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  • March 30, 2026

I assume since the hour went on, the new times will be just 1 hour ahead, but of course, they might not be !


Old times:    New Times:

00.08 on    01.08 ???
02.08 off    03.08 ???

06.08 on    07.08 ???
08.08 off    09.08 ???

13.08 on    14.08 ???
16.08 off    17.08 ???

21.08 on    22.08 ???
22.08 off    23.08 ???

This time, unless someone has an accurate answer, I’ll just check those times myself, and report back, and hopefully save someone else the bother when they want to know the answer too !

But it doesn’t answer the question, when will they change next.

This will hopefully solve that problem with a CT clamp on the storage heater circuit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exgV2g-HK8w&t=4s
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Energy Monitoring in Home Asistant with CT Clamp
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I’m just building a HA PC as we speak for other tasks !
 


Firedog
Super User
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  • Super User
  • March 30, 2026

@Chris_OVO That doesn’t explain ​@shetland’s three offpeak periods. He knows there are three (by virtue of watching the meter with stopwatch in hand). There may be special arrangements up there - Shetland is the ultimate outlier, after all, way off the National Grid. Perhaps Energy Shetland would have a better idea - they may even still have some sort of load balancing in place, although I don’t know how that would work with an OVO-controlled smart meter. 


Chris_OVO
Community Manager
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  • Community Manager
  • March 31, 2026

Hey ​@shetland,

 

I’ll send you a private message to see if I can get you some answers!