Off peak storage heater charging duration

A bit of a delay in replying…

When I requested a new smart meter I thought that there wouldn't be any other implications. 

Before the smart meter my Off Peak storage heater charging was restricted, by the electricity board on storage heaters first installation, to 10.30pm-11.30pm & 4.30am-5.30am - a total of only 2 hours.

With the smart meter the Off Peak storage heater charging period is now 12am-7am - up to 7 hours. Although it depends on how much current the storage heaters draw, up to 7 hours charging could put the Off Peak cost up a lot ?? ☹️

In the summer I will turn the heaters input dials down/off but next winter I'm concerned about the increased Off Peak cost.

Secondly, re. the Economy 10 tariff I was trying to align my Off Peak hours to my evening immersion heater use. I don't want to leave it on overnight, & rely on its thermostat to turn off, for hot water later that evening. My pre smart meter Off Peak hours started 10.30pm. I used to switch it at 10.30pm & it heated up by 11pm summer & 11.30pm winter.

My new Economy 7 tariff Off Peak hours start at 12am. Switching it on then means my immersion heater will heat up by 12.30am summer & 1am winter which is not as convenient.

A smart meter was necessary but it had led to other considerations.

Hey ​@Chas888 

I understand your frustration. We’ve had similar conversations with other community members on the forum before.
 

I’ve taken the below information from a similar topic. There is some variation but not much. 

When are my peak/off peak hours?

If you have a Smart meter installed by OVO, the off-peak times can be worked out using your Meter Point Administration Number (MPAN). You can find your MPAN on the ‘Plan’ page of your online account or OVO app (download for Android or iOS)

Please be advised that Secure, Aclara and Honeywell smart meters don't adjust for BST. The result of this is that during summer your off peak times will be an hour later than advised above. 
 

Emmanuelle_OVO - thanks for your reply.

I wasn't told on the phone by the OVO advisor that my new Aclara smart meter wouldn't adjust to BST so my new BST Off Peak hours won't be 12am-7am but will be 1am - 8am … 

I'm not switching on my immersion heater at 1am.

My old Off Peak hours started at 10.30pm, 11.30pm BST.

Secondly, that OVO advisor also probably wouldn't have known that my pre smart meter tariff was capped at 2 hours a night instead from 12am - 7am or 1am - 8am .... but OVO head office might have known - or asked me.

The change to a new smart meter shouldn't penalise a customer twice. I feel a bit aggrieved.

I think I need a new OVO tariff - or a different company. 👎

Easier solution is just to fit timers to your heaters. They’re fairly easy jobs for an electrician to do.

Likewise, if you only need to heat the water for two hours a night, then you can just set said timers for two hours a night.

Blastoise186 - thank you.

Installing new equipment shouldn't result in any downsides for a customer.

I don't think that it's helpful to change my Off Peak from 10.30pm to 1am.

Changing my 2 hour nightly cap for off peak storage heater charging to up to 7 hours is concerning for costs.

It’s not the equipment install that did that change - your new tariff did that. The new meter is merely configured to run based on what that tariff does.

OVO said that I had to have a new tariff after my smart meter was installed. They recommended Economy 7 for my circumstances.

That’s because you were on RTS before by the sounds of things. Migrating from RTS to a Smart Meter requires a change of tariff (unless you were on E7/10 which are straight swaps) because the tariff you were on is no longer supported regardless of the meter that’s on the wall. Smart Meter or not, you were being booted off of the old tariff anyway.

Your off-peak tariff was put on a stop-sell by the industry over 10 years ago. It wasn’t possible for you to keep it.

That’s why you had to change tariff - not because of the new meter.

I hope you’ve learnt to live with and love your new meter.

While I was helping another customer, I came across an article which might be helpful for you: Night storage heaters - Centre for Sustainable Energy. The CSE is a reputable charity with an excellent track record.

​@Firedog thanks for this, they are a great company. ​@Chas888 one thing I will say is that you can look at the CSE website, however if you try and contact them they may not help you over the phone etc if you don’t like in the Bristol / Somerset area. If you don’t live in this area do a quick Google search for energy saving advice organisations in your local area - there should be some.

​@Chas888 here’s some info regarding the RTS shutdown if you haven’t seen it already:

The options that would be open to you here would be Economy 7 (current) or Economy 10. If you contact our Support Team they’ll be able to have a look at your usage and see which one will be cheaper. You may find that the night rate on Economy 7 is cheaper than Economy 10. If you’re currently on the variable tariff then there are no exit fees and you’re not tied in. We of course don’t want to lose customers, however money is king at the end of the day and, if you do find a cheaper and more suitable alternative elsewhere, we’d promote you switching to save money.

It’s a shame, of course, what’s happened with the RTS shutdown, but our hands are tied by the Industry here and so we can only offer you Economy 7, 10, or an Anytime plan (where we bill your total electricity use on the same unit rate. Have a chat with Support, they’ll be able to crunch some numbers to tell you what the cheapest option is.

Let us know how you get on.