I live in the West Coast of Scotland near Oban and have heard horror stories from folk living in my area regarding the new smart meters not receiving a signal, engineers refusing to install as meters too far away from distribution panel, and many others on the THTC forum on Facebook . I have the old style dimplex storage heaters and hot water storage and cannot afford to replace them. They all work perfectly well for my purposes.
I don't want to let OVO near my meters until they can guarantee a working smart meter.
But the day will come and I need to know exactly which questions to ask the OVO engineer before he removes my two thtc meters.
Can anyone suggest what questions to ask as I have little understanding of electrics...such as will I be guaranteed economy 10?
and secondly, what are the consequences if I refuse a so called smart meter. Will I be cut off?
Best answer by Firedog
Oban Station is all of 10 miles from the Torosay TV transmission tower on Mull, so if there’s a smart meter WAN antenna on that tower, the signal should be strong enough to fry the eyeballs of anyone near Oban. Is that where your TV aerial points? Of course, there may be local barriers to the signal where you live, like buildings - including the one you live in. In any case, the installing engineer will have checked whether you’re likely to have good WAN communication before he comes.
The big difference between an RTS-controlled THTC system and one controlled by a smart meter is that there will no longer be a 24-hour heating circuit at a cheaper rate. If you have night storage heaters (NSH), then a split tariff like Economy 7 or Economy 10 might be a good option. If you have only direct heaters - ‘electric radiators’, panel heaters, oil-filled radiators, underfloor heating or any other variety that only emit heat when they’re on - then a tariff like that may not be the best bet.
A smart meter can be set to switch power to heating equipment (both space and water heating) only during offpeak hours, so you’re less likely to have them consuming electricity at peak rates. Another advantage of this is that all consumption during offpeak hours is billed at offpeak rates, regardless of what it’s used for. The Economy 10 tariff gives three hours offpeak during the night, three in the afternoon and four in the late evening:
Click on the image to see a clearer version of it
I’ve done a few comparisons to illustrate the relative costs of these four different plans. You’ll see that the cost depends very largely on the proportion of total consumption that takes place in offpeak hours. It’s not unusual for an electrically-heated household in Scotland to use up to 80% of all the energy it consumes during offpeak hours, since heating will always take the lion’s share of it. You’ll see that a split tariff will not pay if you use less than ⅓ offpeak over the year.
Click on the image to see a clearer version of it
The differing outcomes for the split-rate plans illustrate the cost of the comfort level they entail; some customers will happily pay a bit more overall in order to have the ability to turn on a direct heater in the evening at offpeak rates if it gets too chilly in front of the TV.
I’m sorry I wasn’t able to find the rates that will come into force on 1 April. We know that the price-capped unit rate will rise by about 6.7%, but it’s not yet been announced whether this will apply to any of OVO’s rates. The maximum standing charge will fall by almost 2%.
To your last question, if your meters are not exchanged before the RTS shutdown, there’s no knowing what will happen to your heating. It might stay on 24 hours a day at peak rates, it might not come on at all or it might carry on to more or less the same schedule as before. There is a possibility, however, that suppliers (like OVO) will be forbidden to supply electricity to customers with RTS-controlled systems. I can’t imagine the uproar that would ensue were this to happen, though.
Oban Station is all of 10 miles from the Torosay TV transmission tower on Mull, so if there’s a smart meter WAN antenna on that tower, the signal should be strong enough to fry the eyeballs of anyone near Oban. Is that where your TV aerial points? Of course, there may be local barriers to the signal where you live, like buildings - including the one you live in. In any case, the installing engineer will have checked whether you’re likely to have good WAN communication before he comes.
The big difference between an RTS-controlled THTC system and one controlled by a smart meter is that there will no longer be a 24-hour heating circuit at a cheaper rate. If you have night storage heaters (NSH), then a split tariff like Economy 7 or Economy 10 might be a good option. If you have only direct heaters - ‘electric radiators’, panel heaters, oil-filled radiators, underfloor heating or any other variety that only emit heat when they’re on - then a tariff like that may not be the best bet.
A smart meter can be set to switch power to heating equipment (both space and water heating) only during offpeak hours, so you’re less likely to have them consuming electricity at peak rates. Another advantage of this is that all consumption during offpeak hours is billed at offpeak rates, regardless of what it’s used for. The Economy 10 tariff gives three hours offpeak during the night, three in the afternoon and four in the late evening:
Click on the image to see a clearer version of it
I’ve done a few comparisons to illustrate the relative costs of these four different plans. You’ll see that the cost depends very largely on the proportion of total consumption that takes place in offpeak hours. It’s not unusual for an electrically-heated household in Scotland to use up to 80% of all the energy it consumes during offpeak hours, since heating will always take the lion’s share of it. You’ll see that a split tariff will not pay if you use less than ⅓ offpeak over the year.
Click on the image to see a clearer version of it
The differing outcomes for the split-rate plans illustrate the cost of the comfort level they entail; some customers will happily pay a bit more overall in order to have the ability to turn on a direct heater in the evening at offpeak rates if it gets too chilly in front of the TV.
I’m sorry I wasn’t able to find the rates that will come into force on 1 April. We know that the price-capped unit rate will rise by about 6.7%, but it’s not yet been announced whether this will apply to any of OVO’s rates. The maximum standing charge will fall by almost 2%.
To your last question, if your meters are not exchanged before the RTS shutdown, there’s no knowing what will happen to your heating. It might stay on 24 hours a day at peak rates, it might not come on at all or it might carry on to more or less the same schedule as before. There is a possibility, however, that suppliers (like OVO) will be forbidden to supply electricity to customers with RTS-controlled systems. I can’t imagine the uproar that would ensue were this to happen, though.
We use 3 different kinds of cookies. You can choose which cookies you want to accept. We need basic cookies to make this site work, therefore these are the minimum you can select. Learn more about our cookies.
