Hi, we are having a bit of a saga here, about a month ago our water immersion heater that works on the economy 7 stopped working. We’ve had various plumbers and electricians at it and it’s still not working, but one of them suggested that we try and see if our storage heaters (which had been turned off for a while) were working. The storage heaters didn’t work either, so having tested everything he came to the conclusion that the problem must lie with the electricity meter. It’s an old one, probably still the original from when the apartments were built 25/30 years ago I think. The electrician said he was fairly sure that a smart meter would not work here, as we are in an apartment block. Have called OVO today to ask for someone to come and have a look at it. They were very insistent on booking an appointment to install a smart meter, which has duly been made, but will it work? And if, as seems likely, they can’t get a smart meter to work in my flat, what is my next possible course of action? At wits end, any advice from anyone who’s experienced a similar issue would be hugely appreciated
Economy 7 not working through old RTS meter - will smart meter work in apartment block?
Best answer by ConfusedJim
Updated on 10/06/26 by Ben_OVO
We’ve had a bit of a breakthrough, one of the flats upstairs managed to get the issue fixed (they were eight months without the economy 7 working so no storage heating and no main water tank all winter!). Finally an electrician noticed that there’s no timer clocks in these apartments, so by fitting one to the water heater and storage heaters he managed to get them going again. Thank God for him because about half a dozen electricians have been to a variety of different apartments in the block and none of them were on the right track.
The man from OVO’s here right now, having heard the story he reckons the combination of the new meter and timer clocks will fix it too.
So it seems there was never anything wrong with my neighbours new meter (Dave from OVO just had a look at his too and said yeah looks like it’s all fine) it just needs a small rewire in the flat and fingers crossed we’ll be sorted
Firedog wrote:
Remember we’re talking about two completely different sorts of supply here. If I’ve understood the situation properly, flats in your block were fitted with RTS systems to control their heating (space- and water). Some occupants were unaware of this, or of the fact that RTS was going away. So now the RTS signal has finally been switched off, the problems for those who hadn’t acted to get an alternative set up in time are coming out to bite.
No one could predict what would happen to an individual household’s supply when the signal went off, because it would depend on the electrical installation inside the property. Some might see the heating working just as before; some might see no heating at all, while others might see the heating on all the time. Those who did have heating might well discover that their bills were much higher than before.
An electrician has managed to get the Economy 7 heating working in one flat by means of installing some timeswitches, but that’s no indication that other occupants would benefit from similar arrangements. We just don’t know enough about his system.
A modern meter is smart enough to be able to switch power to heating circuits on at offpeak times and off again at the end of offpeak periods. What might benefit from a timer in this situation is a water immersion heater, which for many households only needs to be on for a couple of hours a day.
Updated on 10/06/26 by Ben_OVO
We’ve had a bit of a breakthrough, one of the flats upstairs managed to get the issue fixed (they were eight months without the economy 7 working so no storage heating and no main water tank all winter!). Finally an electrician noticed that there’s no timer clocks in these apartments, so by fitting one to the water heater and storage heaters he managed to get them going again. Thank God for him because about half a dozen electricians have been to a variety of different apartments in the block and none of them were on the right track.
The man from OVO’s here right now, having heard the story he reckons the combination of the new meter and timer clocks will fix it too.
So it seems there was never anything wrong with my neighbours new meter (Dave from OVO just had a look at his too and said yeah looks like it’s all fine) it just needs a small rewire in the flat and fingers crossed we’ll be sorted
Firedog wrote:
Remember we’re talking about two completely different sorts of supply here. If I’ve understood the situation properly, flats in your block were fitted with RTS systems to control their heating (space- and water). Some occupants were unaware of this, or of the fact that RTS was going away. So now the RTS signal has finally been switched off, the problems for those who hadn’t acted to get an alternative set up in time are coming out to bite.
No one could predict what would happen to an individual household’s supply when the signal went off, because it would depend on the electrical installation inside the property. Some might see the heating working just as before; some might see no heating at all, while others might see the heating on all the time. Those who did have heating might well discover that their bills were much higher than before.
An electrician has managed to get the Economy 7 heating working in one flat by means of installing some timeswitches, but that’s no indication that other occupants would benefit from similar arrangements. We just don’t know enough about his system.
A modern meter is smart enough to be able to switch power to heating circuits on at offpeak times and off again at the end of offpeak periods. What might benefit from a timer in this situation is a water immersion heater, which for many households only needs to be on for a couple of hours a day.
+8- Super User
… an electrician noticed that there’s no timer clocks in these apartments, so by fitting one to the water heater and storage heaters he managed to get them going again.
Remember we’re talking about two completely different sorts of supply here. If I’ve understood the situation properly, flats in your block were fitted with RTS systems to control their heating (space- and water). Some occupants were unaware of this, or of the fact that RTS was going away. So now the RTS signal has finally been switched off, the problems for those who hadn’t acted to get an alternative set up in time are coming out to bite.
No one could predict what would happen to an individual household’s supply when the signal went off, because it would depend on the electrical installation inside the property. Some might see the heating working just as before; some might see no heating at all, while others might see the heating on all the time. Those who did have heating might well discover that their bills were much higher than before.
An electrician has managed to get the Economy 7 heating working in one flat by means of installing some timeswitches, but that’s no indication that other occupants would benefit from similar arrangements. We just don’t know enough about his system.
A modern meter is smart enough to be able to switch power to heating circuits on at offpeak times and off again at the end of offpeak periods. What might benefit from a timer in this situation is a water immersion heater, which for many households only needs to be on for a couple of hours a day.
If you have an OVO engineer on the job (and not one from SMS), you should get a good solution. Good luck!
If you have an OVO engineer on the job (and not one from SMS), you should get a good solution. Good luck!
Well he’s just finished up, he did a quick load test on the nighttime supply before he left and the storage heaters immediately came on, so everything crossed that the same happens again tonight. I didn’t meet the people from SMS that came, so can’t comment on them, but Dave from OVO seemed to know his stuff. It ended up being a very fiddly job for him and took a fair bit longer than he was hoping, but I feel (quietly) confident that he’s got it all right.
Will update in the morning, hopefully with good news…
If there were a vote for the most interesting thread (question + all replies) of the month, I would vote for this one! Even for some months. I feel very invested! Fingers crossed it gets solved soon.
+8- Super User
… he did a quick load test on the nighttime supply before he left and the storage heaters immediately came on, ...
Good news! That was probably the meter’s Boost function, which allows you to override the internal time-switch that controls power to the heaters. The real test will come overnight, when your Economy 7 offpeak period is due. How did you tell that the heaters came on when the engineer did his test?
Did you get an IHD?
… he did a quick load test on the nighttime supply before he left and the storage heaters immediately came on, ...
Good news! That was probably the meter’s Boost function, which allows you to override the internal time-switch that controls power to the heaters. The real test will come overnight, when your Economy 7 offpeak period is due. How did you tell that the heaters came on when the engineer did his test?
Did you get an IHD?
The storage heater warmed up immediately - however neighbours upstairs has tempered optimism somewhat, he said they did the same test when he had his fitted and all was well, but when the nighttime came around nothing happened. I would guess this is the likeliest outcome as it’s happened to three other neighbours so far, but hey we’ll be no worse off than we were if it doesn’t work. In fact I can try running the hot water booster before I go to bed (usually turn in at 1:30am) and see if it stays warm for the morning, and now I’ll get nighttime rate on that at least.
No IHD - too far from the meter apparently (which surprised me as my flat would be less than 10m from it probably), but that’s a minor problem - I’d imagine I’ll still be going to the meter and doing my own readings in any case
+8- Super User
Congratulations on the new toy 🥂
The storage heater warmed up immediately -
OK. It would be good, though, to have a clear signal. That’s available at the meter itself, and probably also from an IHD - which brings us to ...
No IHD - too far from the meter apparently … , but that’s a minor problem -
Providing an IHD isn’t optional, as far as I’m aware. It could show you exactly when the tariff changes from peak to offpeak, and also when power is turned on to storage and water heaters. It’s vital to make sure that those events are exactly synchronized, but sadly they often aren’t at installation.
What are your offpeak times?
And - surprise, surprise! - could we please have a nice clear photo of your shiny new meter?
I must admit I’m not entirely sure what the off-peak times are - just had a good hunt through the app but no clues to be found there. During the winter the big click used to come at 1am but of course the old meter never changed time for BST.
Well it’d have been nice to see what an IHD could do, but to be fair I’ll be submitting my own readings in any case - don’t trust technology enough to let it go without scrutiny! Perhaps when all this is sorted out I’ll get on to OVO and get them to send one out
Will do you a photo tomorrow when we’ve ascertained if it’s any use or not!
+4Morning
I’d just like to say a big thank you to you for creating this thread, and for keeping it going with such great updates.
Now for the moment of truth - did your heating come on automatically last night?
Once we see the photo of your meter we’ll be able to tell you what the correct peak / off-peak times are.
The storage heaters did indeed heat up! So they’re back in action. The hot water has heated up without us having to use the booster button in the kitchen today, but before all this happened it was instantly piping hot from the tap - now it’s warm at best and takes about 15/20 seconds before it runs warm at all. So we’ve still got a bit of work to be done on that side of things.
And furthermore we’ve still got to get to the bottom of why mine is working and why my neighbours aren’t! There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to what’s happening
We heard the big click from the fuse box switching to economy 7 at 11:30 last night so that must be the start of our off-peak
The new meter doesn’t seem to be added to my OVO account yet, how long should it take to show up? I have the last meter readings for the old one here, but was told I don’t need to submit them
+4Morning
It is a bit of a mystery re your neighbour’s supply. If you hear any further news from them about this, we’d really appreciate it if you could let us know on this thread - it’s all really helpful info for others in similar situations.
Regarding the new meter - it can take up to six weeks for the new meter details to be added to your account, and for us to bill you to the new meter. This is due to an industry-standard process where the meter details are passed to the National Database and the wider Industry. The process is normally a lot quicker than six weeks, and you should hopefully see the meter details on your account soon. If you don’t see everything updated within the next six weeks, please reach out to our Support Team who’ll look into what the delay is.
Thanks again for keeping us updated on this thread. I’ve made a slight alteration to the title, and assigned one of your latest posts as ‘best answer’ to your original question, which’ll help this thread stand out online for anyone else with the same sort of query.
+8- Super User
The storage heaters did indeed heat up! So they’re back in action.
Great! That was the object of the exercise, so we have a win!
The hot water has heated up without us having to use the booster button in the kitchen today, but before all this happened it was instantly piping hot from the tap - now it’s warm at best ...
Right, time for speculation again. I’m going to guess that (a) you have quite a big hot-water tank, say 240 l (like mine), (b) there are two immersion heater elements in it. one at the bottom and the other perhaps 1/3 from the top. The lower one is controlled by the same switch as the storage heaters, so it only operates at night during offpeak hours. The upper one isn’t restricted in the same way - it’s wired to the constant circuit and is switched on and off by the ‘booster button’. It’s intended as an emergency feature, to be used if you run out of hot water during the day; it’s only for emergency use because it will use a lot of power at the highest price.
When RTS was in charge, this booster element would have been wired to the Heating circuit, so less expensive than the other stuff (lights, cooker, fridge ...). Now you’ll have to think twice before pressing the button ...
We heard the big click from the fuse box switching to economy 7 at 11:30 last night so that must be the start of our off-peak
That sounds likely, although I’m wondering why you hear a click from the fuse box. That would indicate that there’s a contactor in there that’s acting on a signal from the meter. The photo we’re waiting for will help! 11:30 sounds suspiciously early for switch-on during summertime - I’d expect it to be midnight at the earliest.
The offpeak period won’t start exactly on the half-hour, because there’s a built-in delay in the meter just to make sure that every storage heater in the neighbourhood doesn’t switch on at exactly the same time - that could overwhelm bits of the network. You should note the exact time, so you know - for example - whether there’s time for a quick electric shower at offpeak rates after the end of the nominal offpeak period.
And furthermore we’ve still got to get to the bottom of why mine is working and why my neighbours aren’t!
No two systems are the same, so it’s quite possible for one to be working while a similar one close by isn’t.
One final update - neighbour upstairs finally has his economy 7 back! He’d been working away for a few days, not had the promised phone call from OVO, so he escalated his complaint further, “giving them one last chance” - he got through to a “Dispute Resolution Specialist”, who sorted out resending the meter timings, and finally the transplant has taken! Let joy be unconfined!
Thanks to all who helped along the whole saga, it’s been emotional
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