Are Economy 10 tariffs available yet?

Ok, I think I’ve caught up with some of this so that I can make an initial response. Please bear with me as the Thread Trawl continues, further posts will be added shortly.

@Mo59 in that case Economy 10 is probably better so you get the extra boost. The last thing you want is to run out early in the afternoon and have nothing for the evening! IMO Economy 7 is of less benefit if you get freezing cold Scottish weather more often than not. You should consider your welfare as well as your wallet.

Switching between the two is possible and WOULD NOT require an engineer visit, but I would personally recommend going with one and sticking with it if possible.

@johndebs The advantage of a Smart Meter is that it keeps a copy of ALL billing data locally - this can be used to repair billing issues later if needed - including fixing Peak/Off-Peak timing issues. The meter knows exactly when power was used, which means that if E7/E10 got crossed, OVO could use the meter data to fix it and correct the bills. This cannot be done with any RTS Meter and it’s a massive advantage that works in your favour.

The meter will control the heating/hot water directly so that it operates only during Off-Peak hours unless you manually hit the Boost button to let it run on a temporary one-time override during Peak hours at Peak rates - but that’d be solely at your discretion as to whether and if/when you hit the Boost button or not. Otherwise, it will NOT permit them to run outside of Off-Peak hours without your explicit instruction to do so. It’ll have a dedicated circuit to run that stuff on so that it has 100% control over preventing unwanted Peak usage.

If it doesn’t do that, it’s an easy fix - one SMETS Command to update ECAUL/ALCS Configs can instantly reprogram it with the right hours and force it to do what you expect without an engineer visit. You can’t do that with RTS.

Everything at your property will otherwise work exactly as it does now.

Thanks Blastoise186 , some reassurance that all will be well. Have a good weekend.

You haven’t actually said so, but I assume that your heating equipment is on a separate circuit switched on and off according to the tariff timings. This is exactly what a five-wire smart meter would do, too. The fifth contactor feeds the heaters, and it is turned on and off by a switch within the meter. It has been a bit hit-and-miss whether this works as intended straight after the new meter has been installed, but it can usually be configured correctly in a few days. 

I take it you’ve done your sums to find out the relative costs of Economy 10 v. Economy 7. You would need to know just how much electricity you use over a year at peak and offpeak rates. If the heating usage has been metered separately, there may be some extra benefit with E10 because power-hungry appliances (e.g. tumble dryers, cookers, washing- and washing-up machines) can be run during the daytime E10 offpeak periods at a cost of something like 7.5p/unit less than they would cost to run on an Economy 7 tariff.  The rates depend on which region you’re in, and I think there are bits of Gloucestershire in three different regions. The differences between regional rates may be more than you imagine. 

You can see the basic current and future rates (to December) in these tables, which will give an idea of how much prices for you might go up on 1 October. OVO then has some leeway when determining how to make the split between peak and offpeak rates.

Yes our heating/water are on a separate circuit switching on & off as you say hence having to have 2 meters to give the 4 separate readings.

E7 has never been an option for us due to having to have a pm boost to the storage heaters. Superdeal has achieved this quite well for nearly 30 years with SSE despite their customer service of good diminishing to awful over the years! Don’t ask! We have been given the choice by Ovo to switch to E7, E9 or E10 & hope that by choosing E10 we shall get a reasonable result & similar if not slightly better results than Superdeal. No other options exist so we have to go with it.

Like many the THTC system, that has worked so well for so many years, is being turned off. I’ve been offered Economy 10 as an alternative. With THTC my hot water and storage heaters are heated automatically during off peak periods. As far as I can see only the storage heaters will work in off peak Economy 10? Can’t see why as currently both hot water and storage heaters are on the same circuit.

You’d think that it would be that difficult to replicate the THTC system in a single smart meter. You’d also think that having provided us with a number to call the people might have all the answers to these questions!

Why do you think that your water heater wouldn’t work at the same times as the space heaters? There are some THTC systems that have different arrangements for space heating and hot water, but then they wouldn’t be on the same circuit.

If heating (space and water) are on the same circuit separate from the one that’s always live, then the separate circuit will be fed from the meter’s auxiliary load tail. The timings will be set by the ALCS* calendar in the meter, and the meter registers (peak and offpeak) will be set to switch at the same times. What those times are varies a lot, and I’m not quite sure how that is determined. The installation engineer may know ... 

It is quite common for both the space heaters and the water heater also to be wired up to the 24-hour circuit; the space heaters so they have power to any controls and internal fans, and the water heater to allow for a boost if somebody uses all the hot water and it’s a long time until the next regular offpeak session. 

Once you know when the installation is due to take place, you might help to make it as painless as possible if you contacted Support via webchat so you could send them photos of the current set-up, along with any information that you think the engineer might need, like what sort of heaters you have. Where the meter is located will affect how well it will be able to communicate, so say whether it’s in an enclosure on an external wall or in a cramped cupboard under the stairs, say. Again, photos help.

The engineer will appreciate it greatly if you’ve taken a feather duster, a brush and dustpan and/or a hoover to the meter’s lair beforehand to deal with any accumulation of cobwebs, dust and debris. 

*   ALCS - the Auxiliary Load Control Switch inside the meter that turns power on at the start of an offpeak period and off at the end of it.

Booked in for today. Engineer called, cannot install due to our unusual setup, requires a change to 3 phase system by the grid people, and then a reschedule with OVO. Suggested several times to OVO that they sent an engineer first to ascertain our system or receive a photograph but both suggestions were rejected. Result - wasted journey for engineer, wasted day waiting in & wasted time arranging the meter ‘room’! 

Why is that? Are you running a cannabis farm?

We are on Superdeal & have been for over 25 years. OVO engineer came a couple of days ago to fit an E10 smart meter but could not do the job as we have 2 ‘fuses’ & requires attention from the grid people. All beyond me & totally confused. I have a long standing billing problem with OVO, unable to get my meter readings accepted by them & being pushed to have a smart meter fitted when my system will not accept it! A complete shambles.