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Hello everyone.

 

About a couple of months ago OVO installed a new smart meter outside my flat.

I am on a multi-rate tariff as I have 2 storage heaters and a boiler running on economy 7.

Since I have a new smart meter I called British Gas for a quote which was given over the phone. But they then automatically transferred my account onto their supply! On top of that they changed me from a multi-rate to a single standard rate! And then my storage heaters stopped working too.

After speaking with OVO about this - they said they could change me back onto their supply. So I asked to be changed to a credit meter (not prepayment) with a direct debit because it was cheaper.

My problem is my storage heaters are still not working.

About a month ago OVO advised an engineer was needed to check the meter. A fortnight later the engineer advised my tariff would be changed remotely by OVO and not him. All he could do was confirm I had an OVO installed smart meter.

OVO customer service passed me to ‘Squad 70’ department to deal with this. One OVO agent was able to change my smart meter from single rate to multi-rate. But for the past 2 weeks my storage heaters still aren’t working. The agent advised the smart meter may be defective or he can send another signal to the meter. But after 4 days of him calling me with updates - he is now no longer calling.

Does anyone know what could be the problem?

smart-meter-type
meter-rate-1
meter-rate-2
fusebox-switches-are-on-(RH)

 

Hi ​@brian563 ,

Bear with me and I’ll ask ​@Abby_OVO to swing by. She’s been able to get some of these solved recently and I think it’s just a case of getting ECAUL done to reconfigure the ALCS Calendar. But it may depend on how badly British Gas messed things up...

Hang in there for a bit and I’ll ask the question.

It's difficult to see in the 2nd photo because of the flash reflection, but looking at the first and 3rd photos the same “switch” (II) is showing as being open on both rates. With  (I) always being closed.

Shouldn't that be changing if the storage heaters are on a different circuit?

 

I think you’ll need to speak to squad 70 again & potentially ask the team to send the ECAUL command to update the ALCS configuration. We’ve seen similar topics on the forum ​@brian563 & this is usually the issue. 

 

 

It's difficult to see in the 2nd photo because of the flash reflection, but looking at the first and 3rd photos the same “switch” (II) is showing as being open on both rates. With  (I) always being closed.

Shouldn't that be changing if the storage heaters are on a different circuit?

 


But it might also be this? I’m afraid I’m not a metering expert. ​@Lukepeniket_OVO might have some advice?​​​​​​​

I’ve checked the manual for the Aclara meters - the II indicator will show as closed when that circuit is energised by the meter and open when it’s not.

Same for the I indicator, except that it will always show as closed when in Credit Mode (as it should!).

So as I thought the screenshots are showing that circuit II is not being energised on either rate.

The question then being should it be being energised on one of them?

Yes - it should be energised during the Off-Peak rate unless you’re on Flat Rate in which case it should be energised 24/7.

Shouldn't that be changing if the storage heaters are on a different circuit?
 

It should if the switch is working properly. I don’t suppose Brian stayed up until offpeak hours (or got up early) to take the photos; any picture taken in daytime hours will show that switch icon open. 

I suspect that “The agent advised …  he can send another signal to the meter” means that the ECAUL didn’t work first time. This is not unusual - it seems that it sometimes takes several goes to get the new ALCS configuration to stick. Brian should persevere with the smart team person he was in contact with to get him to keep trying.

 

Slaps own head - of course - it's showing the current switch status when the photo was taken; whereas the displayed rate is not necessarily the current one in use.

Hi ​@brian563 ,

Bear with me and I’ll ask ​@Abby_OVO to swing by. She’s been able to get some of these solved recently and I think it’s just a case of getting ECAUL done to reconfigure the ALCS Calendar. But it may depend on how badly British Gas messed things up...

Hang in there for a bit and I’ll ask the question.

Thank you very much.

I’ll wait to see if you have a further update. 🙂🙂🙂

I think you’ll need to speak to squad 70 again & potentially ask the team to send the ECAUL command to update the ALCS configuration. We’ve seen similar topics on the forum ​@brian563 & this is usually the issue. 

Yes, I’ll certainly call squad 70 and do as you recommend.

However my experience with OVO energy agents has been very poor.

I am sad that the agent who helped me over a few days has now stopped calling me despite knowing I don’t have economy 7 during winter.

Shouldn't that be changing if the storage heaters are on a different circuit?
 

It should if the switch is working properly. I don’t suppose Brian stayed up until offpeak hours (or got up early) to take the photos; any picture taken in daytime hours will show that switch icon open. 

I suspect that “The agent advised …  he can send another signal to the meter” means that the ECAUL didn’t work first time. This is not unusual - it seems that it sometimes takes several goes to get the new ALCS configuration to stick. Brian should persevere with the smart team person he was in contact with to get him to keep trying.

 

  1. I will take photos of the meter reading during off-peak and upload them here. Should be up tomorrow.
  2. I’ll mention to an agent from squad 70 that several signals may be needed to set the meter properly.
  1. I will take photos of the meter reading during off-peak …
     

Remember that the switch won’t happen on the dot, because each meter has a built-in delay of a few (potentially up to 30) minutes so that every storage heater in town doesn’t start up at the same instant (if they did, the grid would blow up!). Early morning might be your best bet; if your offpeak period ends at 07:00, take the photo at 06:55. 
 

  1. I called Squad70 dept and arranged an agent to send a new signal to my meter. He advised I should check my meter readings after midnight. Also the agent cannot send numerous signals as the meter may ‘freeze’.
  2. I checked my storage heaters but they’re still not coming on.
  3. I have taken pics of my meter reading at 6.51am. 

Should I call Squad70 again and ask for another signal to be sent to my meter?

TOU-rate-1
TOU-rate-2
signal-strength
active-TOU-number

 

  1. I have taken pics of my meter reading at 6.51am. 
    ​​​​

Thanks for making the effort! The pics are pretty conclusive: at the time, the meter was recording on the offpeak register (2) but the auxiliary load switch was open (o´o). When the register switches from 1 to 2, the load switch should close and vice versa.

If you spoke to the agent this morning, you won’t be able to tell whether the ECAUL request was successful or not until tonight. If you can manage, another photo taken at 06:50 tomorrow morning would be convincing evidence. It would be enough at this stage just to capture another ‘active-TOU-number’ image. 
 

I’m curious - how did you manage to get in touch with Squad 70? Were you given a dedicated phone number, or did Support put you through on request? 

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