Everything you need to know about an Economy 7 (Eco 7) energy plan

Sounds like you’re either using the heaters incorrectly, OR you’re on an unsuitable tariff.

Please post the following in your next reply, as this will help us figure things out:

• Photos of your heaters and hot water setup
• Photos of your current meters

Thankyou ill upload these in the morning , i have the heaters ( Gobarron ones) on at 5:30 am till 07:00am and at night 5:30pm till 7:30pm as cold then . They are 1500w heaters , meter is in garage so will take a picture of set up in morming.

Yup. Definitely not using them in a way that’s suitable for Economy 7. You are using them during Peak hours in the evening, resulting in you paying the more expensive Peak rates - and this costs MORE than the Standard Variable rate does.

Once we get those photos, we’ll see what we can recommend. This might be tricky, but we’ll give it a shot.

We are on ec7 tariff due to water tank , we took this off and went onto svr but we had no hot water as the e7 meter linked to the tank etc was then inoperative . 

Thankyou yeah i know at night is high as before midnight but not sure how to get around this 

That’s the tricky part…

TBH so far it sounds like the best option might be to switch the hot water setup to something else and then get rid of Economy 7. But I’ll ask the others to swing by when they’re next online.

Thankyou

These are the heaters 

I’d be happy with £8 per day.  I’ve averaged £12 the last few days and that’s just with 2 storage heaters on plus the immersion heater on Economy 10.  😥

Thanks for the reply ours are just electric heaters 1500w each and what is economy10 ? Similar to economy 7 . Thankyou

Hey ​@Scw123 

Welcome to the OVO Online Community, 

Do you have a smart meter? Are we getting regular readings? It might be worth checking if your bills are estimated.  

These topics may have some helpful advice:
 

• Questions about your energy use? Check out our handy FAQ F.A.Q.

• Complex Multi-Rate Meter & Heating types F.A.Q.

I took out an evenings and weekend contract with Southern Electric back in 2002, and had a digital meter installed, which autonomously switched for the off-peak times during the week 1930-0730, and all weekend.

I was transferred to OVO, and was still happily carrying on with this plan.

I have just had a smart meter installed, which is capable of handling dual tariffs, but the off-peak times are not correct, last night it switched to tariff 2 at midnight, and back to tariff 1 at 0700.

I opened a chat, only to be told, that firstly it would take 4-6 weeks for the meter to update (??), and then that I was on an economy 7 contract which meant I would only get off-peak electricity 2300-0600, again, that the correct timings would happen in 4-6 weeks.

My tariff on the OVO app shows as Simpler Energy - 2 rate, and I am not sure how this indicates which plan they consider I'm on?

Has anybody experienced similar of OVO believing they are on a different plan to what they originally signed up to?

Hi ​@Pompey_Pip ,

This new setup sounds correct to me. You had a Legacy RTS Tariff - SSE Evening & Weekend by the sounds of things - that is no longer supported and hasn’t been sold for over a decade. As part of migrating to Smart Meters, you would have agreed to change to either Flat/Single Rate, Economy 7, Economy 9 or Economy 10 and it sounds like you picked Economy 7. The hours you’re seeing are therefore correct for Economy 7. The Evening & Weekend Tariff is no longer available and is thus not supported on Smart Meters.

I’m sorry to say this, but your old tariff is no longer available and you can’t switch back to it. IIRC you would have been told this upfront as part of booking the upgrade.

Part of the idea here is to simplify things and reduce the number of complex tariffs on the market. Many of them have become terrible value over recent years and it’s generally considered in your best interests to get rid of them.

Hi,

I was not told anything about having to swap to Economy 7 or 10 or that my existing plan was no longer available.  In fact it is still referenced as a plan on the OVO website https://www.ovoenergy.com/help/article/electric-heating/one-meter-two-rates

The Engineer installing the meter stated that I would remain on the evenings and weekend plan, so what you are stating is the first time I have heard any reference to this scenario.

As I do not have electric heating, or water storage tank, the economy 7 plan is of no use to me at all, and will actually cost me more based on what I am paying for my tariff 1, so if I had been made aware of this, I would have opted for a standard single tariff plan.

You still have that option if you talk to OVO’s Support Team. If you wish, you can ask them to migrate you to a Flat Rate tariff. Given you’re on Simpler Energy, there will be no exit fee.

But AFAIK pretty much all those legacy tariffs are going away - they’re definitely no longer sold! The article does also mention that they’re no longer supported...

I’m not sure this is true. OVO still have a tariff like this available for sale in the Southern region:
  

The smart meter Pip probably had fitted should be capable of handling the evening and weekend part, but not the 24-hour heating part: the load switch is either on or off. Without this, the plan would probably be exorbitantly expensive, always supposing that the billing system could cope with it.

For an Economy 7 tariff to be worthwhile, heating would have to be by night storage heaters. If this is what Pip has, then arranging for them to charge up (and perhaps for an immersion heater to provide hot water) during the night would be a good solution. Otherwise, Economy 10 with its four or five overnight hours and five or six in a couple of slots during the afternoon and evening might work. The cheap rate isn’t quite so cheap on E10, but it would be less than the flat rate.

It’s worth remembering that we’re talking about a Legacy RTS Tariff/Legacy Complex Tariff here. These are exactly the type which trigger Vendor Lock-In and other issues and are precisely why they’re being withdrawn from the market.

IIRC there’s no like-for-like option with any other supplier and OVO supports them purely under a Grandfather Rule at the moment. There’s zero guarantee that support for them will continue into the future.