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

For that purpose, you might not be able to ever leave THTC. It depends on an absolutely critical factor that even OVO can’t control. If you are in a Load Managed Area - which is determined by your DNO, then I’m afraid you must remain on THTC no matter what - even with Smart Meters.

In those cases, there’s only one way to break out of THTC - which is to get rid of ALL Storage Heaters and Immersion Heaters, then switch to some other option for heating and hot water. If you do that, you’d be allowed to quit THTC and use another tariff. Whatever work that’d need doing would be at your own cost - OVO can’t help you pay for that outside of replacing the meter itself.

Otherwise, I’m afraid your options are limited to Traditional THTC and Smart Meter THTC.

That’s perfect, thanks.

At this time, please DO NOT attempt a Smart Meter upgrade. Your setup isn’t currently supported with Smart Meters regardless of supplier.

OVO is working on adding support but it requires extensive R&D which has produced some very fruitful results. They’ll be in touch with you once that’s all ready to rollout - and it will be prior to the RTS Shutdown.

The new solution will be a drop-in replacement for what you have now, so everything will operate the same way as before.

Have you already removed all Storage Heaters and Immersion Heaters?

If so, OVO may be able to help with this, but you’ll need to contact Support to make the arrangements. Live Chat via https://ovoenergy.com/help is best for this.

If you haven’t removed all those heaters yet, I strongly advise that you don’t go any further until you do.

@Blastoise186 

Thanks for replying.

Storage heaters bin'd 10 years ago... immersion still connected but not used much + shower....but got plans to change that to direct water set up, powered by wood burner and solar thermal!

Would it be possible to use extra meter number for an export meter?

@Blastoise186 

If all us THTC user's get this new smart meter setup that you say is in the works....will we continue being energy provider prisoners, unable to shop for different deals on the market?

@Blastoise186 

😂 there's no load balancing going on with me, it's off at the consumer unit.... I'm not paying £0.27 per unit to help balance the grid!!!!

Eh? I think you messed up a bit there. Use the keyword “Agent” without the quotes to bypass the bot

Have you checked to see if you’re in a Load Managed Area though?

There is no head banging emoji here I’m afraid. Helps prevent spam

Pretty sure it's not a load managed area, I know of others pre OVO who have done exactly what I'm trying to do. Previously SSE said if we had the wiring changes made in the house we could then request a meter change, OVO don't appear to be as accommodating and don't seem to want ad-hoc requests to change meters, the only meter changes they'll entertain are the ones they're planning as part of their roll out project.

At mentioned earlier the plan is to remove the storage heaters and replace with an air 2 air heat pump. There's a case study on the home energy Scotland website where someone was trying to do what I'm trying to do with SSE in 2016, he ended up getting compensation through Ofgem due to delays with SSE changing out his meters. As mentioned I'm not after any compensation, I just want to establish whether my request is a reasonable request and for OVO to make a process available to request a meter change.

At the end of January 2021 my teleswitch broke. I have a 3-phase domestic storage heater load that was on THTC. I was without off-peak heat for weeks (with two small children). The first engineer that turned up didn’t have a ticket to deal with a 3-phase supply, the second engineer didn’t have the right bits with him. The third engineer fitted a smart meter for the off-peak/THTC loading, and left the existing on-peak meter in place.

Happy that it was working, we got more and more frustrated that the billing hadn’t been updated to reflect our new meter. After an Ombudsman complaint, they finally added the off-peak meter onto our bills but in the process deleted our on-peak meter and put us on the Simpler Energy tariff (without any explanation).

The last engineer that came to replace the smart meter (with another smart meter) said that it was actually attached to the system, but not fully commissioned, and then wrote us a note to say that our deleted on-peak meter was “off settlement”, and that we should rewire our THTC installation to make it more compatible with one of the storage heater Economy tariffs.  He also suggested that by moving the meter tails from the output of the distributor's fuses to a block from the output of the smart meter might be a way to take the dumb meter out of service, and feed the whole system off one meter.

I am worried that having all the previously low-rated heaters/shower/hot water will add a lot to our bill. I would rather return to a THTC tariff (or specific replacement equivalent). The engineers have all been lovely, but I have had a lot off difficulty explaining our installation to the Customer Service representatives, and have heard nothing back from the metering team after being referred to them.

I live in Shetland, so we are heavily dependent on our electric heating.

What’s the best way to resolve this in a way that will be satisfactory? Why can’t I go back onto a THTC tariff in the meantime? Is there someone specific at Ovo that I could speak to that would be able to help?

Many thanks for any responses.

Hi @Abby_OVO 

Thank you for your reply. I don’t necessarily mind waiting for the new arrangements to be made, but I’m not happy with the tariff that I was put on as it seems to be at a single rate? Could you provide clarity about it and what other options there might be?

Hi @Abby_OVO 

I’m not sure this answers my question- can you provide any information about the Simpler Energy tariff? Is it intended for storage heaters? Is it a dual rate tariff? I was not given any information about it when I was moved on to it against my requests to stay on THTC (which made sense for my installation).