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Rank 2
March 21, 2024
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No hot water or storage heating following smart meter installation

  • March 21, 2024
  • 75 replies
  • 4810 views

Good evening,

I had my smart meter installed Monday.

Since then I don’t have hot water or heating (storage heaters).

I found out yesterday as for personal reason myself and my kids we weren’t home.

i thought it might be because electricity was out and a reset my thermostat program but still not working. 
im calling ovo tomorrow first thing in the morning, but after reading some comments I just would like to ask to any of the members if is anything I should say to ovo for them to fix my problem as soon as possible?

thank you in advance 

Best answer by Blastoise186

Updated on 10/10/25 by Abby_OVO

 

Easiest fix is this: Ask the Support Team to reconfigure ECAUL/ALCS Configs. That fixes 99% of these cases.

 

If that doesn’t work, please come back here and reply to this thread.

 

Blastoise186 has left some really helpful advice about this. The following topics may also be helpful:

 

75 replies

BPLightlog
Super User
Super User
March 23, 2024

Unless the electrician was there overnight, they have no way of knowing if the meter switch is working correctly. 
The cables go from the meter to the correct box (assuming the overnight circuits are on the right hand side).

The meter will not switch at 11pm but around midnight which then gives you 7 hours at off peak for the heating and hot water. 
 

Bring me Sunshine ~ E&E {Solar PV, Battery Storage, Hybrid EV, ASHP and Home Assistant automation}
igmendezAuthor
Rank 2
March 23, 2024

Thank you ☺️ obviously didn’t switch on as still not hot water or heating I’ll keep waiting for the engineer 

igmendezAuthor
Rank 2
March 23, 2024

First time I seen this in my meter is that correct? 

BPLightlog
Super User
Super User
March 23, 2024

It’s the little switch symbols which show the state of the timing controls. 
You need the bottom one to move to ‘closed’ (connected) for the overnight circuit to work
 

Bring me Sunshine ~ E&E {Solar PV, Battery Storage, Hybrid EV, ASHP and Home Assistant automation}
BPLightlog
Super User
Super User
March 23, 2024

First time I seen this in my meter is that correct? 

That will probably be your peak tariff price

Bring me Sunshine ~ E&E {Solar PV, Battery Storage, Hybrid EV, ASHP and Home Assistant automation}
igmendezAuthor
Rank 2
March 23, 2024

Oh I see so that should be on the smart meter settings which the engineer will need to check? 

BPLightlog
Super User
Super User
March 23, 2024

Yes, although he might need to get the command sent again from the office - make sure he understands. 
ECAUL/ALCS Configs

Bring me Sunshine ~ E&E {Solar PV, Battery Storage, Hybrid EV, ASHP and Home Assistant automation}
igmendezAuthor
Rank 2
March 23, 2024

Thank you so much!!! My engineer time slot has passed though wonder if they will still coming?

Firedog
Super User
Super User
March 23, 2024

I’m fairly sure you’ll find that everything is as it should be with one exception: power to the second CU hasn’t been switching on when it should. I asked what times this should be; 11pm to 7am is eight hours, and there should normally only be seven (that’s why it’s called Economy 7). This may be different in some parts of the country, though.

The pictures of your TOU registers look quite normal, although I’d hoped to be able to see whether TOU Rate 1 was the peak register or not (it should be!). You can check this yourself by looking again now, or in a few hours’ time. Only one of TOU Rate 1 and TOU Rate 2 should have changed; whichever it is is the peak register.

You can tell during the night whether the ALCS is working by looking at the tiny icons in the bottom right-hand corner of the display. 

  • ı is the switch for power to the ‘always active’ CU - lights etc. 
  • ıı is the switch for power to the offpeak CU - heaters etc.
  • o¯o shows that the switch is closed, as switch ı should be all the time.
  • o´o shows that the switch is open, as switch ıı should be except during the night.
    Switch ıı might change to something else during the night, depending on how the engineer wired up the ALCS. It might show  LC1  or  LC2  or both instead of o´o. All that matters to you is that it doesn’t show o¯o during the night.

 

You say there’s another engineer coming. Ask him to conduct an ALCS test on the meter. This will test whether things are wired as they should be by temporarily activating the ALCS. The display should change and there should be power to the heaters meanwhile. For example, if the immersion heater has an LED indicator, it will perhaps come on while the ALCS is active.

Then, if your heating definitely doesn’t come on tonight, OVO will have to try again to send the ECAUL request. We have seen lots of cases where it doesn’t work the first (and sometimes the second) time, but does eventually. I don’t know whether you can get this done on a Sunday; it would be worthwhile contacting Support either via Twitter or Facebook Messenger (the blue button at the foot of this page), who are there on Sundays. I don’t know if they can persuade the Smart team to spark on a Sunday, though. 

Good luck 🙂

Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA | It may look as if I know what I’m talking about, but don’t let that fool you. |
Firedog
Super User
Super User
March 23, 2024

PS Your latest photo shows the Active Tariff Price. If this is what you couldn’t find last time you looked, it could be that the Smart team at OVO are even today busily trying to get your meter set up properly. The figure shown is the peak time tariff including VAT; it’s pretty high, so are you in an expensive part of the country? Check which region you’re in here:
  

 

Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA | It may look as if I know what I’m talking about, but don’t let that fool you. |