Switching to a Economy 7 (two rate) plan - how can I arrange this with OVO?

Hi @Adamamin ,

I’m Blastoise186, one of the forum volunteers. :)

Historically, OVO hasn’t been able to switch members between single-rate and Economy 7 on the new billing platform very easily, but I understand that there’s been work on that to make it possible. I’m going to dig up resources to see whether it works now, but this may take some time.

Bear with us!

I’m on the Simpler Energy plan, can I get access to cheaper overnight electricity on this plan or is there a better plan that will give me access to this? 

Hi @Tedster and thanks for asking this. 

For all plans with OVO, we don't currently have the ability to change the prices you pay from Single Rate to Economy 7. This is something OVO have been working on, and will hopefully be possible in the near future. 

I am going to have a home battery installed which I will charge via a combination of off peak electricity and solar.

Does Ovo Energy offer an economy 7 equivalent tariff and if so what are thd rates and which hours are they available please. Would my smart meter suffice

Thanks

David

Hey @Orchardhouse ,

OVO does indeed have Economy 7 options. But I’m not sure whether you can switch it over at the moment. Last time I checked, this functionality was still in development. Give me a few days and I’ll ask for an update!

Thank you

It would seem logical if the companies are trying to encourage off peak use it would seem sensible to off attractive off peak rates. I know other companies are offering one.

I await with interest

There’s a lot more than just the tariff involved. It requires a different meter with more connections, so the bits designed to run on cheap electricity are on their own circuit, which switches on and off at the appropriate times. There are also two registers, measuring peak and off-peak consumption. This might be costly ...

It depends on where you live what cheaper hours are offered. You should contact your power distributor (AKA network operator) to ask about what you are proposing to do: Who’s my network operator? – Energy Networks Association (ENA) 

You’ll find a lot of experience in these forums, so here are a few interesting pages to start you off: Search | The OVO Forum (ovoenergy.com) 

Thank for the reply. 

Just to be clear. Shell have offered me an economy 7 rate using my existing smart meter - Do I understand correctly that Ovo cannot do this.

Thanks

Hi @Orchardhouse unless something has changed recently, OVO can't currently do this due to limitations in their billing system. I know that sounds strange.

@Emmanuelle_OVO is this still the case? 

Yep that’s the one, @Jeffus. I’m told it’s something that will be available as an option very soon. It’s a feature being made by Kaluza (OVO's technology sister company), so it’s tricky to get exact time frames. @Orchardhouse in the meantime I’d shop around for a supplier that can offer you the best two-rate deal. Some offer more than just a simple eco-7 tariff. Octopus have some good options for energy generators able to store their energy. @jason.lewis can vouch for them. 

Thanks for the clarification

David

A lot of us have moved over to Octopus who also have better SEG for their customers (15p per kWh).

It’s a shame it’s made so difficult as Ovo are losing a lot of customers. 

I suspect it is a loss leader for Octopus. As  they are so much higher than other suppliers. But nothing wrong with that. 

They have openly admitted in the past that Octopus Go is subsidised.

Not that OVO couldn't prioritise the same of course. 

For sure - I mean more and more people are getting PVs and Batteries, why wouldn’t they want to move over to Octopus who also offer a reasonable E7 tariff (benefit from cheap energy to top up batteries at night). It’s a shame as Ovo is a great company, just less innovative than others it seems?

I doubt it’ll stay at 15p - but still for those of us with these systems it’s a no brainer. 

I mean if Ovo had an E7 tariff that was competitive, and even 8p it would make the move less appealing.  

In order for my son to rent out his property he had to have a storage heater installed and now need to swap to Economy 7. This is to get the correct energy rating.

We are being told by OVO that this is not possible.

Has anybody else met this problem?

Hi @Hilary Leggett ,

This functionality is coming soon! OVO is just waiting on their sister company Kaluza to add the required functionality to the billing platform.

How soon is soon? Any idea

Can’t make any promises I’m afraid.

Hi @Hilary Leggett given your situation it is probably advisable to ring a few suppliers and see if they can offer an E7 meter

Yes but they can't take on the meter because OVO have not registered the meter correctly on the ECOES. I am now waiting for OVO to update so I can go to another supplier

At the end of my last fixed term contract in January OVO said they could no longer supply a dual rate plan. I was also led to understand that their current smart meter did not do E7 (E10 is a complete no-no apparently). After countless contacts and escalation into the hands of a senior complaints handler it has now been agreed that an SMETS2 5 pole meter will supply E7 rates to my heating circuit. Given there are 5 connection points I am slightly puzzled as to how the installer will do this. My understanding is that there will be 1 live and 1 neutral in and 1 neutral and 2 live out (one of which will be timed through the 5th port). This leaves the neutral for the heating circuit with no home as the supplies as they currently exist are completely separate. See attached image:

OVO seem to have been installing mostly Aclara meters recently, with their model SGM 1416-B being used for dual-rate arrangements. You may be able to make sense of the diagram on p. 8 of the tech manual for this type of meter, which explains how five tails supply two separate circuits.  

Thanks, had a look but not being an electrian I’m still unsure how one neutral out supplies two physically separate circuits. Two live outs, one of which is timed for the heating circuit is clear but I can’t see how the heating circuit gets its neutral to complete it’s circuit. 

I’m sure @BPLightlog can explain ...