Economy 7 smart meter installed, but only one set of readings showing online?

That does sound positive.

Just checked the meter readings and the off-peak meter is still 0 but it’s also the lowest daily peak reading increase we’ve ever had.

The overview suggests it’s taking peak and off-peak at the same time so I’m assuming they’ll both be on a 30 minute interval.

And the reading details now say smart.

Date              Register   Reading     Type
9 Dec 2025        Peak     00947    Smart
9 Dec 2025  Off-peak     00000    Smart
8 Dec 2025        Peak     00942    Other
8 Dec 2025  Off-peak     00000    Other

So it looks much more positive and I’ll just have to be a bit more patient.

You’re right about the old Economy7 still being on the account as an unknown meter.

I’ve been thinking things over and I suspect the support agent and I must have been talking at cross-purposes while we were both trying to be accurate and fair. They said I was on a single rate and that the engineer will have told us that. Since it was 10 weeks in I thought they were describing a permanent single-rate but after some thought I think they were just confirming the transition between the old meters and the new smart meter.

I’ll keep an eye on the off-peak as I know it should be consuming electricity. If our storage heaters were working after the smart meter went in I hope they’ll continue now they’re on the off-peak rate.

Fingers crossed and thanks for helping an old man understand his new smart meter.

Called the support desk to check on the frequency of readings but they had systems issues so they couldn’t see how the meter was configured. I’ll leave it a week rather than chase every day which is what I’d be likely to do as I’m impatient.

You may be able to see it in your online account.

1. Visit account.ovoenergy.com and sign in;
2. In the top right-hand corner, click on Account and select Profile:
     

   

3. Lower down the page, click on View settings here:
     

   

4. I’d recommend selecting Every half hour for both, but you might want to read this article before choosing: There’s an industry wide change coming to meter reading consent, and we want to share the details with you | The OVO Forum. The change is underway.

NB: Phrases like how often meter readings send are a bit misleading. A smart meter records details of how much electricity you use every half hour and and stores them for 400 days. OVO only polls the meter once a day for the previous day’s usage data, 48 figures at once. Your meter only sends data when it’s asked to.

Thanks Firedog, sadly the web-based profile doesn’t include the “view settings” and when I try to login to the Ovo app I get told it doesn’t handle complex accounts.

Maybe once the old meter config disappears and there’s only the smart meter the “view settings” might become available.

I’ll give the support desk a call on thursday so they don’t think I’m stalking them and to let their link to the billing/metering systems recover (they had problems today).

SteveM

That’s sad. After 10 weeks, I’d have expected your account to be fully up and running. It may be time to submit a formal complaint - in writing, e.g. by email to complaints@ovoenergy.com, with a big heading COMPLAINT. Explain what’s wrong - everything that’s not right about your account, your tariff, your meter and anything else. Keep it simple and succinct, but point out how long it is since your meter exchange.

Yep, I was drafting a complaint letter on monday morning when I noticed the change of contract etc while I was gathering evidence. It seemed like a positive change at the time.

I feel really sorry for the folk on the support desks as I’ve been there in the past, thankfully not for long.

There seems to be a fragility to the systems they use and from my background in IT over several decades I’d have expected most of this to be automated and fairly seamless. 

I find it frankly depressing that something they actually want people to do to make the suppliers life easier is so flakey. And painful. And while our previous meters were probably 20+ years old and still functioning they’re saying the new one will have to be replaced in 2035 which doesn’t seem that far away.

Most of my worry seems to come from the ever-changing communication and a lack of clarity.

A roadmap would help (probably both OVO and customers).

The worrying thing is I suspect most of the power companies work in a very similar hand-to-mouth existence.

But back to the letter, I’ll have some time on Thursday and I’ll make a start then.

Thanks for the support, it’s appreciated.

SteveM

WooHoo!

There are still some things I’d like ironed out but we have off-peak usage recorded. 

Thanks for all the help and advice, it’s been greatly appreciated.

SteveM

And we’ve got some graphs. 
 

So I should be able to get the raw data at some point. I’ll leave that to settle down though.

I’ll also try to get hold of atmospheric temperatures so I can plot against power usage.

And I’ve been able to request 30 minute readings.

And our old Economy7 meter has left the account too.

And I can login to the app now (although it complained a bit about some data retrieval).

So relieved the off-peak seems to be using electricity now.

SteveM

Brilliant ​@BeardySteve!!!

Glad everything’s working as it should. The account must have been updated properly now to say that you only have the one meter / electricity supply, which is why you’ll now have access to the app. Here’s a series of handy tutorials for using the online account and app: