Can I switch from an Economy 7 plan to a single rate plan without a smart meter exchange?

Well, thanks for the standard response.

I don’t want a smart meter. I’m not obliged by law to have one.
Last year when I was considering switching away from Econ 7 one of your colleagues told me that I could switch to standard tariff and simply add the day & night rates together to give my monthly readings, which I ‘m happy to do.

If you insist that the meter needs to change from duel rate to single rate, I would be happy to buy my own meter which I can buy for under £40……..

Doing that opens up a HUGE can of worms to be honest. Even if OVO agrees to you doing that, you’ll have 50 years of red tape trying to get the thing approved for use. It’s not worth the hassle.

That’s all speculation and untrue. If smart meters affected your health, then so would pretty much every electrical and electronic device. You might want to check out https://smartme.co.uk 

Last year when I was considering switching to standard they told me that all I would need to do was add my day rate units and night rate units together and submit my reading monthly, as I do currently (separate of course).

As for your comments about health effects, none of your business really.

 

Health matters aside, there’s still the matter of getting permission to have your own meter installed, the fact you’d probably have to pay to de-energise and re-energise the supply, pay a qualified installer to swap the meters out… The money adds up massively. You’re talking at least £300 by the time you’ve done all that.

If OVO agrees to install a non-smart meter, it’d also be a Non-Standard Installation for which OVO reserves the right to charge you for the job even if OVO provides said meter - and they are legally entitled to do so. It’s at least £160 if memory serves.

Alternatively, all suppliers will happily offer smart meter upgrades for free as the supplier will cover the cost of such upgrades.

Ultimately it’s your choice, I’m just a messenger at the end of the day.

I don’t ‘want’ to do that. I just don’t want a smart meter, that’s all. I’ve really no idea why that’s such an issue. They are not compulsory, it’s just that all providers have been ‘told’ to offer them.
Sighs……….

Ultimately it comes down very heavily to supply and demand. Demand for non-smart meters has massively dwindled in recent years, so stocks of them have also been reduced to make way for smart meters. From my understanding, most of the remaining stock is for replacing faulty meters or other edge cases. But eventually they will run out. It’s a case of when, not if.

Suppliers can also force a smart meter on you under specific circumstances. I don’t have the list handy but setting an opt-out mostly just blocks marketing more than anything else.

As an alternative to replacing your meter our Support Team may be able to offer a single rate plan where both your registers are charged at the same rate, @Luminess 

We'd still recommend considering a smart meter upgrade to avoid having to submit multiple readings each month. However this could be a temporary solution if you're not interested in a smart meter.

Bear in mind that if you opt for this work-around you may be limited in terms of switching to another single rate plan with another supplier as you'll still be listed as a dual rate customer on the national database.

This is exactly what I was hoping for Jess, thank you.