Moving to OVO Economy 10 (with or without storage heaters)

I’m so sorry if I’ve misled you. I had assumed - obviously wrongly - that the meter was working as intended and was communicating with OVO. It now appears that that isn’t the case. Remote configuration can hardly take place if there’s no communications channel for the commands to be sent over. This is usually how the initial on-site configuration is done by the meter engineer.

New smart meter installations are usually bedded in within hours, sometimes a couple of days. However, if there’s a problem with communication over the smart Wide Area Network (WAN), it can take longer. Six weeks is the arbitrary waiting period before being able to state categorically that communications can’t be established, at which point (I think) the supplier can (or perhaps must) inform the DCC, the body responsible for the smart meter network, whose headache it becomes.

I wish you’d told us on Sunday that the meter wasn’t communicating with OVO. You may have, but I was perhaps led astray by your references to billing. Billing depends on meter readings, and meter readings depend on communications between the meter and OVO. You’d have saved at least one red face …

There are two LED indicators on the communications hub on top of your meter, labelled WAN and HAN (Home Area Network, the Zigbee connection to your In-Home Display). This page tells you what they mean.    

Firedog, I would have told you on Sunday the meter was not communicating with OVO if I had known at that time. I had assumed that everything was connected properly because the meter was successfully providing an Economy 7 type service. I guess it is controlled differently for Economy 10.

No need for any apologies. We were both working from limited information.

For my part, this could all have been avoided if someone had told me, or documented, that activation of Economy 10 could be delayed, and until then the service would default to Economy 7. That way I would have known why I was not getting an off peak service during the day. 

Some method of identifying the start of the Economy 10 service would also be useful. Meanwhile I will just keep an eye on my storage heater input to see when the light comes on the power point. (It is difficult to read the tiny WAN indicator, especially during daylight.)

All good, thanks.

I don’t think anyone could have told you beforehand that there would be a delay in activating full-fat Economy 10. The engineer should have known whether were likely to be problems with communication.

The WAN LED only tells you the state of communications with the network. When everything is working properly, it should flash every five seconds. On the meter itself, press button A to turn on the lights. There are little symbols in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen which tells you whether the constant (ı) and switched (ıı) circuits are live or not:
  

  
The upper one (ı) should always be closed, the lower one (ıı) only during offpeak periods. The heaters will only have power when the lower switch indicator is closed.

In its current state , the second contactor will be following Economy 7 hours. In due course - when the ALCS calendar has been re-configured - it will follow Economy 10 hours. 

I also live in the Highlands, we had our smart meter installed yesterday on E10, the IHD is still not working some 24hrs later (Waiting on communication data or something is mentioned on the screen.) I phoned OVO this morning as the engineer said it should be up and running within 2hrs. Only to be now told it can take upto 6wks.

There was never any mention of this long wait when we went through the sign up proceadure, and seems very underhand. 

What concerns me now, is what are we paying, are we on E!0, or are we being charged full rate?? Not very impressed so far. And as others have stated the elderly wont have a clue about any of this, and very unfair!

What are the two little LEDs on the communications hub on top of the meter doing? If they’re flashing, how long between flashes - five seconds, two seconds or less?
What does the flashing rate mean?

We can’t really say. If you’re signed up for Economy 10, then you’ll be paying the peak and offpeak rates you were quoted. However, if you have space and/or water heaters on their own circuit, their off/on times may not be the Economy 10 ones. You’ll just have to watch and see when they heat up, or check the symbols on the meter display as I explained above.

Hi @Firedog 

Thanks for your reply, we have 2 green lights flashing about every 5 seconds. Sorry for the bit of a rant, but just annoyed as to how this has been handled. I’ll look into the water heater issue, as the engineer stated that it was not able to be put on the lower rate? again we were not advised of this on sign up for the smart meter and economy 10.

He also said OVO were aware of this, and were looking at doing something to the tariff to account for it. But don’t expect it until at least next summer. 

I am disabled, and costs are bad enough as it is,after yet another tariff increase on the 1st Oct the last thing i now need is more cost for a basic need in the coldest area of the UK.

Crag writes: is what are we paying, are we on E!0

Yes! We don’t know if we will be charged the E7 tariff or E10. I am keeping a note of the running total on my IHD because it is set to E10. I will compare that with my when eventually I see one. 

(It was such a relief to hear from someone who sees things as do. I have been ‘ranting’ for more than a week. Consider putting in a complaint as I did. It is the only way OVO will sort out their communication.)

Thank you. The two lamps flashing at five second intervals is a good sign - communications have been established with both the Home Area Network (HAN) and the smart meter network (Wide Area Network, WAN). The former is the one your IHD connects to, the latter connects your meter to OVO. 

I can’t say why your IHD is waiting so long for data. It could be that its commissioning didn’t work while the meter engineer was there. If you can see the little wi-fi symbol on the IHD’s display, it’s in contact with the meter. If you can’t, try moving the IHD a bit closer to where the meter is.

As regards the water heater, it would normally be wired to the switched circuit that’s only live during offpeak hours. I can’t say why the meter engineer couldn’t do this.

We’d have a much better chance of being able to help you if you could post some photos: one close-up of the meter itself so we can read its display and see its markings, another of the meter in situ showing all the cabling to and from it, and one of the water heater showing whatever controls and switches are associated with it. It might also help to see the consumer units (fuse boxes) close up, so we can see which breakers belong to which circuit. Last, a photo of the IHD with its error message. If you can’t manage this yourself, perhaps you could get a granddaughter or neighbour to help (teenage girls are wizards with smart phone cameras!).  

Just a quick note that the IHD is not used for billing - that is always from the meter itself. Also the IHD might have 2 ‘connection’ symbols .. one is for connection with the meter communication hub and the other for your WiFi if that’s been connected 

Crag: Were you previously on THTC?