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

Having spoken to customer support yesterday about tariffs, I am somewhat puzzled & I need clarification.

I have been in contract for 2 years with Economy 7. This ended this week and I have moved to a variable tariff with the new current rates:

Peak 30.48 p/kwh and off-peak 20.03 p/kwh.

I have also recently installed a PV system with a battery system

My query was, “what is the single tariff I would be offered if I came out of the Economy 7 scheme?”

I expected it to be lower than the peak, but larger than the off-peak and that I could then calculate whether or not my new usage pattern with solar generation would be better served to go to a single 24 hour tariff. The answer I was given was that the tariff would be the same as the peak for economy 7 - 30.48 p/kwh.

Is this correct and why? Obviously, if its correct, I will remain on Economy 7 and use the night time hours as much as possible again.

Hi @Naptonian the main thing that strikes me is that 30.48 definitely looks like the unit rate till end September.…

Perhaps wait till you get an email from OVO about your 1st October rates, then ask OVO again.

I got my email tonight, but am not on E7. 

Your E7 rates are very close (but not exactly the same, probably in different regions) to mine. As Jeffus said, it's probably best to just wait until the October rates are sent out, but I would say that "standard" electric unit rates are always between the day and night rates  so they might have given you the flat rate after October. Another source of cost confusion is VAT, some figures have them added, some don't.  The MSE site figures include VAT, OVO generally don't (not in the app at least), so there's plenty of scope for confusion there, as I have found for myself 🙂.

 Hey @Naptonian,

Welcome to the OVO Online Community.

Great to see our community members giving you some tip-top advice here. 

As this is account specific and unit rates vary depending on region I am unable to answer this question. You are best placed to go to Support with a query like this. 

@Jeffus and @TiminSurrey are right, you’re probably best off waiting for confirmation of the unit rates in October. When you do compare rates between Economy 7 and Single Rate, I'd advise ensuring they are giving you the variable rate for both and make sure they are both with VAT. This will mean you get an accurate comparison. 

Hope this helps.

Hello. I am on a ‘fixed price plan’ with OVO till August 23 and have recently brought an electric car.

Can I have an ‘ economy 7’ plan running at the same time so I could charge the car ar a cheaper rate?

Thank you

@tonyx1302 OVO do have the ‘Drive’ tariff option although I’m not sure if you’d be able to change from your current fixed tariff 

https://www.ovoenergy.com/electric-cars/ev-tariff/

I am currently on Economy 7 but my circumstances have now changed and I do not use much night time electricity, I believe I'll be financially better off reverting to a standard non Economy 7 plan. Can anyone please help me as I can't find any info on the OVO website to do this. 

I’m in the same situation, although in my case the fixed-price E7 contract is coming to an end (today!) and I wanted to switch to single-rate. I used the web chat option at https://help.ovoenergy.com (open weekdays between 8am - 6pm, 9am to 1pm on Saturdays) to make the request. The advisor said he’d made a note on my account recording the request and gave me a case number. Now it’s a bit of a waiting game; I’ll be surprised and delighted tomorrow if I discover that I’ve been migrated to the standard variable single-rate tariff, but I’m admittedly not holding my breath. You will see another reply here from me in the fullness of time. 

When you get through to the webchat, the topic you need is ‘metering’. You’ll also need to know your account number (shown at the top of your bill).

Alternative contact methods are available, but apparently the telephone option is frustrating, with long waiting times and unsatisfactory outcomes being reported daily in this forum - and of course you have no record of the conversation unless you are able to create one yourself. 

Hey @Ernest G ,

Does this actually affect the Meter Readings as well, or just usage data?

The actual Meter Readings are in line with those quoted by OVO but the usage data they produced on 5 January bears no resemblance to what we use. For example, Gas use that day is said to have been 513kwh, whereas our normal use is about 100kwh, or a bit less.

So, the faulty Meter Reading seems to have caused the problem.