Economy 7 not working through old RTS meter - will smart meter work in apartment block?

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

Morning ​@ConfusedJim, that’s absolutely fantastic news - I’m really happy to hear it’s all working as it should be for you 😊.

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.

​@Firedog thanks again for all the concise info you’ve added into this thread; I’ve added the ‘Helpful Hero’ badge to your Forum profile 😁.

Great! That was the object of the exercise, so we have a win!
    

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 ... 
    

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.
     

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 

Hey ​@ConfusedJim 

Thanks for coming back with that additional update, that’s really good to hear that!

If you ever have any other questions or queries, always feel free to pop back to the Forum.