Upgraded smart meter not working correctly

There are other experts on here who can give you more advice, but one thing to consider is apart from having the meter installed, has anything else changed in the past 4 days? Are you sure the heaters are off all the time?

It does look like a big jump, but last January you used about 480kWh for the month (15kWh per day), and so far in Jan it looks like you’ve used about 110kWh, which is also 15 kWh per day. 

Obviously if your usage stays at 30 kWh per day you’ll be well above last year, but I’m wondering if there’s some variation through the week which just happened to coincide with the installation.

If you click on each day, you should be able to see a breakdown of the half hourly readings so you can see if it’s consistently high usage, or if there are spikes at certain times….

Here’s the photo so others trying to help don’t have to venture into the Googlesphere:
  

You have a nice new Aclara SGM 1416-B five-port meter that should have no difficulty handling a simple E7 tariff like yours. The red cable labelled L|S is the one that feeds your heating equipment overnight.

Sadly, the detective work you have to do has to take place either after midnight or around 07:30 in the morning, at the meter itself. You might want to do a practice run at a more civilized time:

1. Press button B. This gives access to a different set of menus from the ones you might have seen by pressing button A. These menus are configurable by the supplier or meter owner, so I can’t say just what to press when. 
   You may see the display text change to Credit Mode. If it does, you’re on the right track. On my own Aclara SGM 1416-B, repeated presses of orange button B eventually reveal a screen headed Active TOU Number, giving the number of the active tariff register. This will change from 1 to 2 and back as the tariff changes.
2. Another indicator is in the bottom right-hand corner of the display, two little icons labelled (on my own meter) ı and ıı. The upper one shows the state of the internal contactor for the constant (always-on) circuit. The lower one is for the switched-circuit contactors. 
    

   

   The upper one (ı) should always be closed unless the power has been cut. The lower one should be open during peak hours. During offpeak hours, it will not show open. What it does show depends a bit on how the internal switches are configured; on my meter, when offpeak kicks in, I see  LC1 LC2  indicating that both the 100A contactor for the storage heaters and immersion heater and the 2A switch for a (non-existent) external contactor are closed. If your meter were properly configured, you would see the Active TOU Number change at the same instant as the load control switch changes. This should happen a few minutes after 00:30 (peak > offpeak) and with the same delay after 07:30 (offpeak > peak). 
3. Once you’ve worked out how to see the active tariff rate register (it should be 1 for peak and 2 for offpeak, BTW), and to see whether the load control switch is open or closed, it’s time to grab a torch and a flask of coffee and camp out by your meter from just before 07:30 until you’ve spotted the change, potentially up to 30 minutes later. You might want to take timed before and after photos of the meter display showing the Active TOU Number - they would be compelling evidence for the techs if they illustrate that all isn’t as it should be.

I’ll revert later to comment on your usage figures.

With reference to my long earlier post, on re-reading it I wondered whether I should perhaps have explained why this investigation is necessary. 

The problem you describe is not an uncommon one, and with any luck it’s quite simple to remedy:

• A new smart meter is installed, ostensibly to manage a Time of Use tariff, e.g.  Economy 7 (E7);
• After installation, the heating equipment (night-storage and water heaters) that is supposed to use offpeak electricity isn’t working as intended,
  and/or
• Usage which ought to be at offpeak rates is being billed at the peak rate.  

There are two separate configuration patterns that govern the meter’s peak/offpeak behaviour: the Tariff Switching Table and the Auxiliary Load Control Switch (ALCS) Calendar. 

• The Tariff Switching Table specifies when the meter should stop recording usage on one register and start recording it on another. With E7, there are only two registers: peak and offpeak. This timetable should match the timings notified to you in the tariff details.
• The ALCS Calendar specifies the times when the offpeak switched circuit is energized. [It’s called a calendar because it can be configured for any combination of dates and weekdays. It’s not so complicated for E7.]

For an ordinary E7 arrangement, these two timetables should be identical. This is not always the case with new installations, which is why we have to find out just what times your meter is set to switch. Only when you know this do you have the information to pass on to the metering people so they can send commands to your meter to correct the fault(s).
  

Each SMETS2 meter is configured with a randomized time offset, theoretically 1-30 minutes, but in practice usually less than 15 minutes. It is a number of seconds unique to the meter. The offset is always a delay, with the object of ensuring that not all heating equipment is switched on at the same instant; there could be consequences for the distribution network otherwise. This delay is applied to both the Tariff Switching Table and to the ALCS Calendar. It’s helpful to know how big your offset is, so that you can take full advantage of the offpeak rate for other usage. 

​@bpking a warm welcome to the OVO Forum!

I can see you’ve had some great help from other members here, and if you’ve got the problem ​@Firedog is alluding to then this can be rectified.

It’s also possible that the figures you’re looking at are skewed and incorrect due to the fact the meter has only recently been installed, and details are still being updated in the background. For example, the screenshot you’ve shared showing usage for the 2nd / 3rd / 4th etc will be inaccurate, due to the fact that you didn’t have a smart meter installed on those days.

In order to get the most accurate usage data your meter needs to be set to provide half-hourly meter readings. You can set it to do so via your online account or app, using this guide:

We’ll await further info from you.

Hello again

Thanks for the detailed information regarding the recent smart meter installation and the action I can take to investigate what is going on with regard to the tariffs. Just to provide a little further clarification, the storage heaters are functioning normally.

When I was contacted initially by Ovo, the representative asked if I would like to submit half hourly readings which I agreed to. I will do the work needed to check that things are as they should be for when the E7 tariff switches on. This is really helpful.

I was informed by Ovo that the meter readings may take some time ‘to settle down’ but my main reason for ensuring the meter is set up correctly is to prevent a battle royale in a few weeks if an extortionate bill is generated and I’m asked why I didn’t reach out to Ovo earlier about this.

Thanks again for the advice!

Thanks ​@bpking, please do keep us updated, and feel free to ask any further questions should they arise.

Fingers crossed there’s no issue, and this is just a visual discrepancy on the app/online ‘Usage’ graphs, which is normal following a smart meter installation. When you’re next billed, compare the bill against the bill you had for the same period - hopefully there shouldn’t be a huge difference.

Good afternoon

Just an update following the incredible amount of information provided by everyone on here. It’s all very much appreciated! A representative of Ovo Energy has provided a written confirmation that there is no error in the smart meter readings being provided to Ovo and it does appear that the rates are switching according to the correct timings.

As per your suggestions, I will compare the amount of electricity used in January 2026 to that of January in 2025 and 2024 and, if any large discrepancy exists, will contact Ovo Energy to discuss this further.

Thank you again for your help!

Morning ​@bpking,

I’m glad to hear that everything is as it should be. If there does turn out to be any sort of issue, or if you have any further questions at all, please do get back in touch on here. We’re always happy to help!

Cheers!

Just a word of caution here: it may well be that the tariff rates are switching when they’re supposed to (i.e. at the times given in your plan, 00:30-07:30), although these times will be delayed by the Randomized Offset (RO) as I explained above. However, there is still the question of whether the meter is powering your heating equipment at the same times. You will appreciate that if your storage heaters and immersion heater are being switched on at midnight (+ RO) but the tariff price doesn’t come down to the offpeak rate until 00:30 (+ RO), you could be being charged for 30 minutes’-worth of energy consumed by this equipment at peak rates. 

We have seen repeatedly that in very few cases does the OVO agent check both timetables to confirm that they are properly aligned. That’s why I suggested you should do your own investigation to see the precise time the tariff changes and the switched circuit is energized, and to find out what your RO is*. 

I’d also point out (again?) that the charts and tables on the Usage pages of the account website are of no use for checking the accuracy of billing on a multi-rate system (e.g. Economy 7). This is because billing is based solely on meter readings and takes no account of the half-hourly usage data. While you might expect the whole of the usage in the period 00:30-01:00 to be billed at the offpeak rate, in fact only part of it will, with the rest billed at the much more expensive peak rate. I don’t know if this slightly complicated graphic will make this any clearer:
  

*   If you know what your RO is, you can take advantage, say, of the minutes after 07:30 (08:30 during British Summertime) to use other power-hungry appliances at offpeak rates, e.g. an electric shower or tumble dryer.