I have recently switched to OVO Energy with an Economy 7 tariff.
Shortly before, I had a multi-rate smart meter installed by my previous supplier. The off-peak times were in two blocks: 22:30–00:30 and 02:30–07:30 (times GMT; and also ignore the random switching offset). For the period 00:30–02:30, the tariff returned to the day rate.
On transfer to OVO, it appears that the new tariff information sent to the meter has set the off-peak times to a single 7-hour block of 00:30–07:30 GMT (so currently an hour later due to BST).
However, while the tariff times have changed, the meter’s switching times have not. Thus at 22:30, the storage heater circuit is turned on, but the meter is still charging the more expensive rate. At 00:30, when the meter starts clocking the night rate, the storage heater is switched off. Then, finally, at 02:30, the storage heater circuit comes back on and the meter continues on the night rate until 07:30.
This is a problem for people with storage heaters because the intention is for these to use night rate electricity, as they use a large amount of energy cumulatively. However, with my scenario, they are being activated under the more expensive day rate. Over the course of a year, the additional cost racked up by this will be significant.
Is it possible for the smart meter to be sent updated tariff data to ensure that its off-peak times are aligned with the off-peak circuit activation times?
Before I jump into specifics, please be aware that the advice below may not apply to you. Our Support Team are best placed to access your account and give you account specific advice, so please take this with a pinch of salt.
I’ve shared this thread with a bunch of very clever colleagues who work for OVO to support the smart meter roll out.
They have advised that the tariff and the ALCS (auxiliary load control switch - a relay that can open and close to power things attached to it like storage heaters) are two separate objects in a smart meter.
When OVO implemented a capability for economy 7 (E7) in SMETS2 meters, it introduced it with a working assumption that there was one SSC/TPR combination for each MPAN area and as such, set up the tariffs/ALCS schedules to this assumption.
This has proven to be incorrect and as a result, there are instances where some customers have switched to us on an SSC/TPR that we don't currently support to the minute. This is being corrected, with Kaluza (our billing platform provider) mapping all the possible SSC/TPR combinations to ALCS/tariff schedules for each area, but we’re not sure when this will be delivered.
In the meantime we can do a manual workaround to amend either the ALCS or the tariff. If you haven’t done this already please request that a ticket is raised with Support for this, and let me know here if you have any issues. It might be easiest to simply link this topic in a web chat, which you can access here.
I spotted that same problem with my smart meter on 28 March this year (2022) and reported it to OVO. Four months later and they have not yet sent corrected instructions to my meter, and so are still over-charging me for any power taken by my off-peak connected devices for 30 minutes every morning.
Talking to their customer support on the phone was generally a total waste of time as none of them understood how smart meters work.
Before I jump into specifics, please be aware that the advice below may not apply to you. Our Support Team are best placed to access your account and give you account specific advice, so please take this with a pinch of salt.
I’ve shared this thread with a bunch of very clever colleagues who work for OVO to support the smart meter roll out.
They have advised that the tariff and the ALCS (auxiliary load control switch - a relay that can open and close to power things attached to it like storage heaters) are two separate objects in a smart meter.
When OVO implemented a capability for economy 7 (E7) in SMETS2 meters, it introduced it with a working assumption that there was one SSC/TPR combination for each MPAN area and as such, set up the tariffs/ALCS schedules to this assumption.
This has proven to be incorrect and as a result, there are instances where some customers have switched to us on an SSC/TPR that we don't currently support to the minute. This is being corrected, with Kaluza (our billing platform provider) mapping all the possible SSC/TPR combinations to ALCS/tariff schedules for each area, but we’re not sure when this will be delivered.
In the meantime we can do a manual workaround to amend either the ALCS or the tariff. If you haven’t done this already please request that a ticket is raised with Support for this, and let me know here if you have any issues. It might be easiest to simply link this topic in a web chat, which you can access here.
I did not know that it was called an ALCS, but had worked out that it must exist and be timed separately, and had emailed OVO to that effect and asked them to fix the problem early yesterday morning!
I am an ex-SSE economy 7 customer so my meter had been set correctly set to the times of their off-peak period.
Good to have a sensible answer, rather than the rubbish sent earlier by another forum member.
You have reversed my decision to unsubscribe to avoid the junk in future. Thank you.
Please be respectful of other members and their advice, @JohnRL44 - this is a safe online space for members to offer advice and support to each other. You’re free to ignore it, but please appreciate it and the intention to help. Our house rules outline our expectations for member contributions here:
Sorry you’ve been going back and forth with Support. Thank you for this really interesting question.
It’s account specific and you’ve been in a dispute with OVO so I'd be reluctant to make too many statements about your situation. If your smart meter was installed by another supplier the time pattern regime (TPR) may be set up to provide different hours of off peak usage.
It's possible to test this by doing a load test during any time you think the meter's off peak register is clocking. Boil a kettle and watch one register increase and the other stay the same.
I don't have access to your account and can't see any notes. But in short it's possible to have a smart meter with OVO that is economy 10. If you had it fitted by OVO and have never switched away, it will be economy 7.
Here is some advice you might find helpful in similar threads:
Thank you for the reply, from doing more research on this forum, I now believe that the Auxiliary load control switch is set wrong, would me paying the £149 to have a meter inspection cover this?
Yeh this is tricky to advise on, @Salltysea. I think it’s worth getting our Support team to send this to another internal team who have a lot more training and access to the back end of the smart meter systems.
They will know if and how the change is needed. Keep us updated in case this helps anyone else with a similar question...
Hi Tim, could you advise me of the way to contact the right department, I did have someone helpful, last year who sent an update to my meter, which just stopped the handheld device from connecting, there was then supposed to be an engineer out, this was cancelled twice, and I have not heard from an advanced resolution specialist since Dec 21.
I have been on the phone to mark at the advanced resolution team, he has no access to the readings that my meter sends, and apparently nobody in OVO energy, can see the readings that I can of my energy use!
The SMETS2 team are not answering him and I am not able to speak with them anyway!
Also if this is the case (link below), is my meter timing on economy 10 and and I should be being billed economy 7 rates at economy10 times.?
When you say ‘the readings you see’ are you referring to seeing smart meter readings on your online account or In Home Display (IHD)? If you are seeing usage on the IHD it may still mean we aren’t in communication with your smart meters.
We’ve got a great guide here which will help you identify smart meter issues through the online account or app:
I don’t have access to your account but it is possible that your meter is Economy 10. Here is how to check when your meter is clocking at off peak:
Quote “It's possible to test this by doing a load test during any time you think the meter's off peak register is clocking. Boil a kettle and watch one register increase and the other stay the same.”
It’s good to hear your account is now with advanced resolutions.
We use 3 different kinds of cookies. You can choose which cookies you want to accept. We need basic cookies to make this site work, therefore these are the minimum you can select. Learn more about our cookies.
