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288 Topic threads
Blastoise186
Plan Zero Hero
Blastoise186Plan Zero Hero
Posted in Home and heating
RTS (Radio Teleswitch Service) Shutdown UpdateF.A.Q.

Updated on 14/11/24 by Abby_OVO Check out our dedicated RTS FAQs page for more information. RTS Shutdown Update July 2024 Hey! The name’s 186, Blastoise186 and I’m one of the Forum Volunteers who you’ve maybe seen helping around here. I’ve been working with OVO to get the most up to date information possible for you and they’ve passed over the following helpful updates and details.One of the recent hot questions we’ve seen on the Forum (for a while now) is what’s happening to RTS meters. The RTS (Radio Teleswitch Service) is shutting down soon, which especially affects complex ones like THTC (Total Heat Total Control). I’ve covered this before in one of my older posts linked below – so check that out if you’re interested in why this is happening. That post already has many questions covered, so this one will focus purely on the next steps.Radio teleswitch (RTS) shutdown sunset FAQIf you’re interested in what all the different meter types are/were - just ask below. Not sure if you’ve go

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Firedog
Plan Zero Hero
5 days ago
BPLightlog
Plan Zero Hero
BPLightlogPlan Zero Hero
Posted in Home and heating
Dashboard for Home UsageBlog

With the raft of online apps and services now in everyday use, I had begun to get frustrated that for some simple things (like thermostats, energy usage and security cameras) it was necessary to open a whole array of different programs. I stumbled across the concept of gathering these together under one service and now have a very easy, comprehensive option via something called Home Assistant (HA). (available on mobile app and pc)Although it has been many years since I did any real programming, I decided to try out this system and have found it a lot easier to put together and operate than I expected.First of all, I need to say that it is often not totally without cost. The system can be run on an existing computer but as the service really needs to be running all the time, most people tend to use some sort of minicomputer. I used something called a Raspberry Pi. This is a small electronics board – which can be bought as a full system or piece by piece – which links to your broadband r

2464
BPLightlog
Plan Zero Hero
4 months ago
Emmanuelle_OVO
Community Manager
Emmanuelle_OVOCommunity Manager
Posted in Home and heating
Solar installed by OVO? We’d love to hear from youBlog

Updated on 09/10/24 by Shads_OVOSolar power is a great way to generate your own renewable energy, and gain energy independence. We’re proud that we’re now offering solar, even if you’re not an OVO customer. If you’ve recently begun your solar journey and had your panels installed by OVO we’d love to hear more about your experience.  Not yet had solar installed but thinking about it? See our solar product page.  Whether you’ve already got solar panels, are interested in getting them installed, or are simply a green tech enthusiast here to find out more – we’ve got a number of topics here on the Forum which may interest you. Find out more about OVO’s solar offering:   Check out this collaborative user guide to all things solar:   Here’s a community members guide to help if you’re planning a DIY-approach to installing solar panels:  We're also looking to get some feedback from customers who have Charge Anytime and Solar, on what they would like to see if we were able to offer both service

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Chris_OVO
Community Moderator
6 months ago
Emmanuelle_OVO
Community Manager
Emmanuelle_OVOCommunity Manager
Posted in Home and heating
Complex Multi-Rate Meter & Heating typesF.A.Q.

Updated on 14/06/24 by Shads_OVO Update on RTS shutdown: As part of the RTS Project development, we are really happy to share with you our progress: As you may be aware, the RTS signal that instructs some of our meters when to move to the “Off Peak Period”  will be closing down soon and we need to arrange for all of our RTS customers to have a meter exchange so they don’t lose any of their meter functionality. The RTS signal will end for our customers on 30 June 2025. The period between 1 July - 30 September 2025 will then be used to close-down the RTS signal and allow us to manage any unexpected customers impacted. After a very successful pilot, from the 17th June 2024 we will begin writing to our Economy 10 RTS customers to invite them to call us to arrange for their meter exchange.  We are continuing to work at pace to enable the same solution for the majority of our other RTS customers and our aim is to begin writing to these customers in Aug 2024.  We will continue to update you o

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C
Carbon Cutter**
14 days ago
T
Carbon Cutter****
Tazzyy74Carbon Cutter****
posted in Home and heating
meter tampering

Hi I need help I'm been charged 300 / 400 for electric some months I'm single parent in 3 bedroom house and my heatings been off since it warmed up in Feb 2022 .I've nothing turned on hardly in my house just a freezer fridge that run all day I have no heating we sleep down stairs but I'm still getting outrageous bills .A meter reader said whwn I posted a picture of my meter it's been tampered with but my energy company won't listen they said the locks still on it but theirs more wires than b and q 

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Chris_OVO
Community Moderator
44 minutes ago
S
New Member*
sandmarkNew Member*
Posted in Home and heating
Need help with FIT payments

Hi can I get Ovo to pay me what I am owed from my solar panels? Since SSE sold us out without warning I’ve not had a single payment from Ovo. I’m tired of being fobbed off with “expect payment in 10days” It never happens. Since my first readings in September I still haven’t been paid and it’s now nearly February. I’ve also given Decembers readings and been told not to expect payment before March.Why is this? It only took SSE 4 weeks to pay out. I am desperate for money and incurring debts I’ve never had before. We hardly dare put on the heating and we are both in our 70s and very poorly. We couldn’t even afford Christmas presents . I am so dejected. I’ve now got a claims number but have been told it will be (guess what) 10 days before they deal with it. This is the third time I’ve rung about it. Why didn’t they give me a claims number after my first phone call? I could have been well through the process by now. Can anyone help or advise me?

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S
Carbon Cutter**
9 days ago
R
Carbon Cutter*****
razorCarbon Cutter*****
Posted in Home and heating
EcoDan flow temp dropping over night at coldest time

I have noticed that over night the flow temp drops a lot and our upstairs temps fall quickly.Downstairs is very nice and warm.Could anyone help explain what might be happening here?My curve is 45@0 and 20@20. As you can see in the graph the flow temp was at its coldest when the temp outside was coldest. Graph is a 24 hour period. 

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Chris_OVO
Community Moderator
2 hours ago
D
New Member***
DIRK053New Member***
posted in Home and heating
Overnight boiler costs

Afternoon all We have just moved into a new house with a Combi boiler, previously house had a standard boiler & storage tank.Have noticed over the last week or so that the boiler ticks in a lot even when it is off(not manually activated, no timer and the thermostat is set lower than the ccurrent room temp)Having looked at some of the overnight events. I see we are using between 3.5/4kw per hour.does this seem normal? 

576
BPLightlog
Plan Zero Hero
4 hours ago
M
New Member*
MovieBoy75New Member*
Posted in Home and heating
Replace Storage Heater with Electric Heater

Hi All, Wonder if anyone can answer this.I have one Storage Heater in my property which i would like to replace for a standard Ceramic Core Electric Radiator. I understand that it would have to rewired differently via an electrictian and i would need to change my Tariff (Currently on Economy 7 Ovo Tariff) so i assume to Economy 10. My Water is heated at night via Electric immersion heater which i assume ties in with the Economy 7 as it keeps in around midnight i think. I have a smart meter installed aswell in the last couple of yearsSo what is the best way to tackle all of this as i cannot get a straight answer as if i change the Storage Heater to normal Electric heater won’t this affect the water heating because of Tariff change or am i looking at this all wrong.Any advise could be appreciatedThanks 

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Firedog
Plan Zero Hero
12 hours ago
A
Carbon Cutter****
Albot81Carbon Cutter****
Posted in Home and heating
Smart meters, direct unvented water cylinders, THTC

Thanks all for all the various valuable info about meters, the switch overs and installations etc pending. We currently are in the West of Scotland (mainland), have all electric and old economy 7 box etc. On the THTC. The folks at OVO I've spoke to already have offered economy 7 (overnight), economies 9 and 10, which is basically split over 3 periods in 24 hours. Questions are i suppose is as currently we're on overnight off peak, but aware that the off peak would be split over the day, which may be handy for being savvy with new style electric Quantum heaters we have (got rid of the old brick ones) and timings. The direct unvented water cylinder we have is 210 litres, any ideas whether then this would be heated 3 times a day for example with economy 9 or 10 rather than the current overnight? Plus am guessing it would be 2 smart meters for on and off peak? Many thanks, aware lots of this may have been already answered in various places, but just before i speak to them again about getti

16327
A
Carbon Cutter****
17 hours ago
D
New Member*
DougMcANew Member*
Posted in Home and heating
THTC not supplying enough power??

Hi All, new to the Forum but having a real issue. We have modern Dimplex Quantum storage heaters connected to our THTC (SSE Horstman K series) meter which works on the radio signal. We are on the OVO Simpler Energy tariff. It has been working fine last few years but a few days ago we started noticing the storage heaters not putting out any heat. They normally charge up off peak overnight and then release heat through the day. From looking at the meter and input data on the Dimplex we only appear to be getting a few hours of heat input overnight - some nights none - not enough to look near heating the heaters. We have changed nothing so can only assume a problem with meter/RTS signal/OVO. Have reported to OVO and a meter engineer is supposed to be coming. We are in the North of Scotland with SSEN as DNO. Any thoughts or advice greatly appreciated. 

353
BPLightlog
Plan Zero Hero
1 day ago
H
Carbon Cutter***
HarryZMCarbon Cutter***
Posted in Home and heating
Moving Gas Meter

Hi. I am planning renovations on my home and wanted to understand from the supplier side the process of moving a meter.From my understanding the transporter (in our case SGN) can move the whole meter as is to the desired location at a cost. After the move, could OVO upgrade my meter as its a U6 (is this free to upgrade it to a U16)?It would also be good to know about upgrades for a old elec meter and fuse box too. I was told they are both outdated.Is there a service where we can get advise from someone at OVO with a visit? (cost/free?)

9515
Blastoise186
Plan Zero Hero
1 day ago
juliamc
Carbon Catcher***
juliamcCarbon Catcher***
Posted in Home and heating
Worcester Greenstar combi boiler hot water settings: What does e on the dial mean ?

Why is there an ‘e’ on the dial ? Surely it is more efficient to lower the hot water temperature towards ‘min’ ?What hot water temperatures do the different numbers give ?

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juliamc
Carbon Catcher***
1 day ago
C
Carbon Cutter****
connorsbjcCarbon Cutter****
Posted in Home and heating
Moving from THTC to another tariff- Will all consumer units be connected by Ovo to the new meter ?

We have THTC with consumer units for Storage heaters,fixed appliances & lighting/mains.Will we be able to move to Economy 9 when the new meter is installed ?Will all consumer units be connected by Ovo to the new meter ?Can the power be delivered without being on a timer so we can manually control the heating.Would like some idea of where we from here & whether the future will be more expensive.Thanks 

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Firedog
Plan Zero Hero
2 days ago
A
Carbon Cutter*
AliSmiCarbon Cutter*
Posted in Home and heating
Should my ASHP be using so many kw?

Hello My Grant ASHP (Grant Aerona3 10kw R32 Heat Pump) has consumed almost 10kw in the space of 10hrs, from midnight to 10am.  The heating was set to be steady at 17.8 and nothing else was running overnight.  It was cold last night, getting down to aprox 2-3 degrees.Does this sound normal?Thanks so much in advance.

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Chris_OVO
Community Moderator
3 days ago
C
Carbon Cutter****
Christine1983Carbon Cutter****
Posted in Home and heating
Can someone help me understand my gas usage?

I've recently moved to a bungalow, it's just me and I only use the radiator on the bedroom on 20c for around 2 hours every night and my bill is over £100 pm  !  My shower is electric. Gas only used for radiators. I don't use much tap hotwater at all, rarely actually to save... and I washing in a bowl  I can't really understand the kW in the ovo app.  Could someone explain what I'm possibly doing wrong to cost this much?!   Am I better to use my sitting room wall electric heater? 

11628
C
Carbon Cutter****
4 days ago
F
Carbon Cutter*
frogeyespriteCarbon Cutter*
posted in Home and heating
High electricity usage since renovation

Hi,  we’ve moved back into our home since a complete renovation and our electricity bills are now 1.5+ times higher.  we have a smart meter, but only received our home display a few days ago and so far it’s not connecting to the network, so we can’t see live usage figures.  However, I have noticed some substantial peaks at certain times of day, which is making me think the cause might partially be down to the hot water system.  we have a Worcester Bosch system boiler along with a 250l cylinder, but this is all heated by gas. since we heavily insulated the property during the refurb, our gas usage is about the same or less.  Do the pumps for hot water in ‘system’ heating/hot water arrangements, use a particularly high amount of electricity? has anyone seen this before? thanks  

11711
BPLightlog
Plan Zero Hero
5 days ago
U
Carbon Cutter*
ubhank48Carbon Cutter*
Posted in Home and heating
New Smart Meter with Economy 10. Storage Heaters switching off 10 minutes after rate change

Hi,Have recently been switched from THTC to Economy 10 because of the RTS signal switch off and have a new smart meter.I also have storage heaters that are switched by the meter to come on and go off at the rate change. At present although the rate changes at the specified times the heaters themselves are not coming on until about nine minutes later and conversely are running on past the rate change by nine minutes. Does this mean I am paying those 9 minutes at the higher rate ?If so how can I get the times for switching off the heater circuit to be in line with the rate change as this is set in the meter?Does anyone else have this problem, and what is the answer?Any help would be appreciated.

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U
Carbon Cutter*
7 days ago
P
Carbon Cutter****
Phil225xeCarbon Cutter****
Posted in Home and heating
Can I access downloadable usage data for prior year?

I asked support if they could provide hourly or ½ hourly gas usage date for the prior year as I need this for analysis for optimizing a heat pump set up. They informed me they only have it by day. I am currently embarking on the arduous task of copying and pasting this from the online usage data into an EXCEL file day by day!! Has anyone else asked for a similar data file or found a easy way to extract this data?

14715
MikeWilliams
Carbon Cutter**
8 days ago
D
New Member**
DMorriNew Member**
posted in Home and heating
Recently moved from THTC 2 meters to Economy 10 with Smart meter in preparation from RTS switch off. How can I tell if my storage heaters charge up only at off peak hours?

Hi I recently moved from THTC 2 meters to Economy 10 with Smart meter . I did this in preparation for the RTS switch off next year.I am a bit worried because I don't know how to tell whether or not my Quantum Storage heater charges up during off peak hours or not? I believe that the meter/circuit board automatically switches on the storage heaters to charge up during off peak hours only? Is that correct? It isn't something which I have to set but rather the meter automatically communicates to switch the storage heater to charge. But how do I check that this has been set up and is working correctly so that I'm only being billed during off peak hours? That's my worry.... what if its wrong and I don't realise?I have the actual storage heaters set to Comfort Home All Day. And my understanding is that this just releases heat from the storage heaters all day long and that I probably don't need to worry about timings etc for that as it is the charging up of the storage heaters which is the ex

13810
M
Carbon Cutter**
8 days ago
Abby_OVO
Community Manager
Abby_OVOCommunity Manager
Posted in Home and heating
Power your solar battery with low cost, greener energyNews

What is Battery Boost? Battery Boost is our new solar battery add-on. It uses our smart charging technology to allow us to top up your battery when your solar panels aren’t generating enough electricity from the sun.  What are the benefits?We’ll continue to charge your battery even when the sun isn’t shining, at an exclusive rate of 10p per kWh, meaning you can power your home for 58% cheaper than your usual rate*. Our smart charging tech ensures that your battery will be charged at time’s when the grid is using cleaner energy**. You can continue to sell back any unused energy at your usual export rate.  How does it work?All electricity you use will first be charged at your normal OVO electricity rates. At the end of the month, we’ll work out how much energy you’ve used to charge your battery. We’ll then add credit to your energy account in the first 7 working days of the following month. This means the cost of powering your battery reflects the 10p per kWh rate for Battery Boost. For

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Emmanuelle_OVO
Community Manager
9 days ago
G
New Member*
Graff25New Member*
Posted in Home and heating
Will I be charged an exit fee

My fixed for gas and electric finishes on December 15 will I still be charged the exit fee ?

847
S
New Member*
20 days ago
M
Carbon Cutter*
MisterMintsCarbon Cutter*
posted in Home and heating
Boiler leaking and can't get help or guarantees

I had a boiler service and repair done in September through OVO beyond. Boiler was only providing around 20-30 seconds of hot water at a time and I ended up paying £230 for the flow control to be repaired which fixed the issue. However I now have a leaky boiler (Worcester Greenstar 30i) which is leaking from the front right corner, and a quick Google is suggesting this is also a problem with the flow control system. Therefore I can only really come to the conclusion that the initial repair was either done poorly or incorrectly. Understandably I've been told to turn the water off at the stopcock, but I can't seem to get through to anyone who can get an engineer out to repair it unless I wait until 8am on Monday to make a call. I've been told I can call the Gas Safety numbers but it's have to pay whatever the cost is for an emergency call out and there's no guarantee I'd get that money back/be able to make a claim.From my point of view, the original work wasn't done to a high enough stan

381
Abby_OVO
Community Manager
11 days ago
Tim_OVO
Community Manager
Tim_OVOCommunity Manager
Posted in Home and heating
The Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) - Getting paid for the energy you export to the grid - FAQsTutorial

Updated on 08/12/23 by Emmanuelle_OVOInterested in getting Solar Panels? Find out more here: OVO are now installing Solar! 😁​​​  SEG - Smart Export Guarantee - Your FAQs What is the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG)? The Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) gives micro-generators (such as homes with solar panels) the chance to earn money for every kWh of energy they export to the national grid. This replaces the Feed in Tariff (FIT), which was closed to new applicants in 2019. The key difference between the FIT scheme and SEG that generator are only paid for the energy they export on SEG rather than the energy they generate as well, as they were with FIT.  Who can sign up to the SEG tariff? Generators (or homeowners) who own one of the following technology systems; anaerobic digestion, hydro, micro-combined heat and power (with an electrical capacity of 50kW or less), onshore wind, and solar photovoltaic exporters with up to 5MW.  In order to apply for SEG you mustn’t be receiving FIT export payme

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Emmanuelle_OVO
Community Manager
11 days ago
D
New Member***
dshNew Member***
Posted in Home and heating
Hot Water Tank Insulation for Mitsubishi Ecodan Heat Pump System

We have a Mitsubishi Ecodan pump to do hot water and underfloor heating. Generally we are very happy with it but we're slightly surprised about how quickly the water tank loses heat. Here is a graph - the "room temperature" is actually the temperature of the cupboard that all the kit is all crammed into (it's very small and a tight fight). The house is brand new so is generally very well insulated - should I expect the pump to have to come on every 12 hours or so? Is this normal? Here we didn't use any hot water at all from 8pm to 7am. 

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Shads_OVO
Community Moderator
13 days ago

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