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Smart meter Aclara SGM116B installed- Have lost my Economy 7

  • 23 August 2023
  • 14 replies
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T
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Hello, 
I hope someone can help with my situation because OVO chat is not helping.
I was an SSE customer top-up and moved to OVO. 
I have in my house a storage heater and water, and they run during the night, so ask for a new meter (SSE put the wrong one for 3 years). Monday the engineer from SMS plc came and change a Smart meter Aclara SGM116B, and said that meter was ready for Economy7. Every time I need to contact customer service I mention that I have, even Monday I said to the engineer and I confirm to me that now I could use it during the night because that one is off-peak.
Today I contact OVO . They send me the tariff that I’m in this moment 

Unit Rate (anytime): £0.2859 kWh (£0.2723 excl. VAT)

Standing Charge: £0.6673 Daily (£0.6355 excl. VAT)

Usage Projection: 6520 kWh Exit Fee: £0

“I do apologize, however, these are the tariffs that you are on, I have even doubled checked on my system.

So, you are telling me that I cannot have another tariff? So I will continue to struggle to heat my house and wash my dish because I have a tariff that is not suitable for I what I have?

OVO does not have an Economy7. what is the tariff where the night rate is cheaper than the day rate?

The tariff's that I provided are the one's on your contract and I cannot change them.”

This is part of the conversation today. Not very helpful.

Can someone tell me if this is correct? Why customers cannot change the tariff? if in Ovo website shows different tariffs?

 

Best  regards,

Teresa

 

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Best answer by Firedog 24 August 2023, 14:41

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TeresaSantos

14 replies

T
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Just an update, my meter is an Aclara sgm1416b, and the customer service said that the meter is a single-rate. And should be changed for a multi-rate. Can someone help with this? Do I need to change the meter again?

 

TeresaSantos
Abby_OVO
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Userlevel 6

Hey @TeresaSantos 

 

Sorry to hear about the issue you’re having. 

 

Was the new meter put in after being moved from to OVO? 

 

Would you also be able to clarify if you had an economy 7 tariff and meter prior to the new meter being fitted?

Location: Electric Avenue
T
Rank

Hi @Abby_OVO

This is my new meter, which was changed last Monday. Was OVO by SMS who changed it. I called customer service and spoke on chat and they said that I have the standard tariff, and to request Economy 7 I have to change the meter again because this one is a single rate. But the engineer told me that is the right meter and can have the Economy 7. 

I have a storage heater and a water heater, that run during the night.

Below is the info that the customer service told me yesterday.

Unit Rate (anytime): £0.2859 kWh (£0.2723 excl. VAT)

Standing Charge: £0.6673 Daily (£0.6355 excl. VAT)

Usage Projection: 6520 kWh Exit Fee: £0

“I do apologize, however, these are the tariffs that you are on, I have even doubled checked on my system.

The tariff's that I provided are the one's on your contract and I cannot change them.”

I don't have the Economy7 tariff.

 

Thanks

Teresa

TeresaSantos
BPLightlog
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Hi @TeresaSantos , at the moment OVO can’t change your meter or supply to Economy 7 as their billing system can’t cope with it. I have a similar thing - my meter is quite similar to yours but although it can record 2 different sets of data, if you’re not currently on E7, then they can’t switch you to it. 

Independent volunteer - Sitting in a Faraday cage, waiting for a signal
Firedog
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… to request Economy 7 I have to change the meter again because this one is a single rate. But the engineer told me that is the right meter and can have the Economy 7. 

I have a storage heater and a water heater, that run during the night.

 

That meter is definitely a dual-rate model capable of recording day and night usage on different registers. It is also wired with five tails (the thick cables coming out of the bottom of it), one of which will be the supply to your night storage and water heaters. They are on a separate circuit to ensure that they don’t run in peak periods. 

It sounds as if the meter was incorrectly configured at installation; you should definitely be on an Economy 7 tariff. The rates you quote are closest to those for a single-rate meter in prepayment mode in Southern Scotland (i.e. that bit of Scotland south of a rough line from the Clyde to the Tay) 

  • Are you in Southern Scotland?
  • Is this a prepayment meter?
  • Were you on an Economy 7 tariff before the meter was changed?
    This should be apparent from a bill or statement from a few months ago.

 

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
Jeffus
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Here is some info on your model

​​​​​​

  • SGM1416-B - S2 Single Phase 5 Terminal meter with a 2A Auxiliary Relay for controlling storage heaters

You may find you need to switch suppliers due to limitations in the ovo IT system. 

Perhaps try contacting Octopus and see if they can help. They get the best reviews on Trustpilot and are currently the only supplier recommended by Which.

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/octopus.energy

https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/energy-companies/article/energy-company-reviews/octopus-energy-aESDM2a8ISWP

T
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… to request Economy 7 I have to change the meter again because this one is a single rate. But the engineer told me that is the right meter and can have the Economy 7. 

I have a storage heater and a water heater, that run during the night.

 

That meter is definitely a dual-rate model capable of recording day and night usage on different registers. It is also wired with five tails (the thick cables coming out of the bottom of it), one of which will be the supply to your night storage and water heaters. They are on a separate circuit to ensure that they don’t run in peak periods. 

It sounds as if the meter was incorrectly configured at installation; you should definitely be on an Economy 7 tariff. The rates you quote are closest to those for a single-rate meter in prepayment mode in Southern Scotland (i.e. that bit of Scotland south of a rough line from the Clyde to the Tay) 

  • Are you in Southern Scotland?
  • Is this a prepayment meter?
  • Were you on an Economy 7 tariff before the meter was changed?
    This should be apparent from a bill or statement from a few months ago.

 

I’m located in Larkhall.
Yes, this is a prepayment meter.
No, I never was on an Economy 7 (due to another mistake made by SSE).

So if the meter is incorrectly configured at installation, what I can do?

TeresaSantos
T
Rank

Hi @TeresaSantos , at the moment OVO can’t change your meter or supply to Economy 7 as their billing system can’t cope with it. I have a similar thing - my meter is quite similar to yours but although it can record 2 different sets of data, if you’re not currently on E7, then they can’t switch you to it. 

So, why do they have in this information on their website?

 


 

TeresaSantos
BPLightlog
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Because they do offer those tariffs it’s just that they can’t offer them on your current meter. I’m in the same situation. 

Independent volunteer - Sitting in a Faraday cage, waiting for a signal
T
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Because they do offer those tariffs it’s just that they can’t offer them on your current meter. I’m in the same situation. 

 Does mean this I will have to request a new smart meter?
Thanks for your answer.

TeresaSantos
Abby_OVO
Rank
Userlevel 6

Hey @TeresaSantos 

 

No you won’t need to get a new meter, this won’t change the ability of getting this at the moment. It’s just like BPLightlog said,

Hi @TeresaSantos , at the moment OVO can’t change your meter or supply to Economy 7 as their billing system can’t cope with it. I have a similar thing - my meter is quite similar to yours but although it can record 2 different sets of data, if you’re not currently on E7, then they can’t switch you to it. 

 

We don't currently offer customers who're on single rate to go to economy 7 however if you're economy 7, we can charge you a standard rate for each register. Instead of the peak and off peak.

 

Location: Electric Avenue
Firedog
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We don't currently offer customers who're on single rate to go to economy 7 

 

@Abby_OVO I’m a bit confused by this. I am currently on a single-rate tariff, (Region 11, Direct Debit). When I visit my Renewal page, I see three options, all of them Economy 7:
  

These offers are directly contradictory to your statement that We don't currently offer customers who're on single rate to go to economy 7


However, if I visit the Switch page and plug in my address, I see first:

Good news! We already supply your home, so we can give you a more accurate quote and set your account up faster. If you are already an OVO customer at this property please log in and complete your renewal in MyOVO.

 

Then, only single-rate tariffs, one fixed and the other this:
  

So it’s entirely unclear what would happen if I were to opt to save about £4 a month and ‘Pick my new plan in 1 easy step’ by choosing the Simpler energy - Economy 7 offer. Can you guess? And can you explain why there is such a disconnect between the Renewal and Switch pages? 

I presume that Teresa won’t be able to see any offers at all for a pre-payment plan, even though she found a tariffs page. 

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
Tim_OVO
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Userlevel 7

Hi @Firedog 

 

Thanks for flagging this. 

 

Yes if you’re currently on a single rate tariff, you should be seeing single rate plans on your renewal page. This is interesting, I seem to remember your smart meters went through enrollment and adoption to the national network of smart meters (E&A) with 2 rates being involved. Have you always had the one single rate and it was just that the register needing changing from rate 0 to rate 1 post E&A?

Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there! My green tech: Aclara SGM 1411-B smart meter, Chameleon IHD6
Firedog
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Hi @Tim_OVO 

Of course my set-up is an edge case - it always is. This is nothing to do with E&A (end of February); I’d already switched from dual- to single-rate as soon as my 2-year fixed tariff ended in early January. 

The MPAN makes it clear what type of supply is involved. The Switch page must query the MPAN database to be able to tell whether it’s one of OVO’s, and the Renewal page already knows it is, and also which tariff is currently active. The MPAN tells them what the profile class is (in my case 02: Domestic Economy meter of two or more rates). So it’s clear that the Renewal page hasn’t cottoned on to the fact that my two rates are the same, while the Switch page somehow has.

It’s the Renewal page that needs a bit of TLC to cover this edge case. I don’t think the R1/R2 peak/offpeak confusion is at all involved here.

 

PS (…!) The Plans page shows me a plethora of tariffs of every conceivable stripe. It’s frustrating that appealing tariffs exist that are apparently just not available to switch to.

 

 

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

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