I had a smart meter installed. Chose economy 7 tariff as have storage heaters and water heated by thermostat on off peak. Since meter installed off peak does not work. Ovo sent an engineer who changed the meter. Still no off peak. Ovo then said they’d fix the problem remotely. They said it was successful but still no off peak. Now they are saying it must be to do with my wiring or configuration and they can’t do anything more. Now what am I supposed to do? No heating or hot water since July 28th.
Solved
Why is my off peak not working after smart meter installed?
Best answer by Firedog
Updated on 09/12/25 by Ben_OVO
You’re not the first to face this difficulty with a new meter. Happily, the remedy is often quite simple.
For a multi-rate system to work properly, three quite separate aspects of it have to be set:
- The correct tariff has to be applied to your account. You can with any luck see it on your Plan page, and it will usually show the offpeak timings.
- The tariff switching times have to be sent to the meter. It will normally start recording offpeak usage on register 2 at the start of each offpeak period and revert to register 1 at the end of it.
- The calendar for the Auxiliary Load Control Switch (ALCS) has to be sent to the meter. This is what decides when to switch power on to the circuit feeding the heating equipment, and in most cases the times will be the same as those in the tariff switching table.
You should be able to see whether the tariff switching table has been properly set up, because the IHD may have been set up to tell you when the tariff changes. It may not be so easy to spot when the ALCS operates unless you have a neon indicating when power is switched to, say, the immersion heater. It is usually possible to spot it on the meter display itself if you know what to look for. We’d need to see a clear photo of the meter to be able to help with that. ‘Clear’ means a close-up so all the markings are legible, and it usually helps to tough a button before taking the picture to light up the display screen. A wider view showing everything on the meter backboard would help, too, so we can see all the cables to and from the meter.
If you find out that the tariff is changing at the right times, but the ALCS isn’t playing its part, Support should be able to arrange for the ECAUL request to be sent to update the ALCS. Let’s make sure that this is the right approach first.
If you need to speak our Support Team to arrange an ECAUL request to be sent, our contact details can be found here:
You can find useful pages about smart meters and IHDs in our Forum Library section here.
+7- Super User
- Solved
Updated on 09/12/25 by Ben_OVO
You’re not the first to face this difficulty with a new meter. Happily, the remedy is often quite simple.
For a multi-rate system to work properly, three quite separate aspects of it have to be set:
- The correct tariff has to be applied to your account. You can with any luck see it on your Plan page, and it will usually show the offpeak timings.
- The tariff switching times have to be sent to the meter. It will normally start recording offpeak usage on register 2 at the start of each offpeak period and revert to register 1 at the end of it.
- The calendar for the Auxiliary Load Control Switch (ALCS) has to be sent to the meter. This is what decides when to switch power on to the circuit feeding the heating equipment, and in most cases the times will be the same as those in the tariff switching table.
You should be able to see whether the tariff switching table has been properly set up, because the IHD may have been set up to tell you when the tariff changes. It may not be so easy to spot when the ALCS operates unless you have a neon indicating when power is switched to, say, the immersion heater. It is usually possible to spot it on the meter display itself if you know what to look for. We’d need to see a clear photo of the meter to be able to help with that. ‘Clear’ means a close-up so all the markings are legible, and it usually helps to tough a button before taking the picture to light up the display screen. A wider view showing everything on the meter backboard would help, too, so we can see all the cables to and from the meter.
If you find out that the tariff is changing at the right times, but the ALCS isn’t playing its part, Support should be able to arrange for the ECAUL request to be sent to update the ALCS. Let’s make sure that this is the right approach first.
If you need to speak our Support Team to arrange an ECAUL request to be sent, our contact details can be found here:
You can find useful pages about smart meters and IHDs in our Forum Library section here.
+7- Super User
Thank you for the photo. It’s a pity you didn’t notice the suggestion that “it usually helps to touch a button before taking the picture to light up the display screen,” because then we’d probably have seen these little fellows much more clearly:
These show the state of the meter’s internal relays. The upper one, labelled ı, shows that the main 100A relay is closed ( o¯o ) as it always should be unless something bad has happened. The lower one (labelled ıı) shows the state of the ALCS, which governs power to the heating equipment during offpeak hours. It is currently open ( o´o ), but it should change to something else at the start of an offpeak period to show that it’s closed. You may see LC1 like in this illustration from an instruction manual:
… but that’s not certain. What is important is that when the tariff changes to offpeak, the ALCS should close in order to deliver power to the heaters and the lower icon should no longer show as open. In your case, I think your offpeak hours are currently nominally 01:00 - 08:00, so looking at the meter a minute before 08:00 should tell you whether the ALCS relay is closed as it should be. If it is, watch it until it changes again in a few minutes’ time* as the offpeak period ends, and make a note of the exact time when it does.
If the relay is closed at 08:00, well and good - the meter’s working as expected, but there may be a fault further downstream, e.g. a fuse blown, a breaker tripped or a wire come loose. You’ll have to call in your friendly neighbourhood electrician if you can’t spot it yourself.
If the relay is open at 08:00, the ALCS has probably not been properly configured. Call Support and ask them to have the ECAUL request sent to your meter to update the ALCS calendar to what it should be to match your E7 plan.
* Offpeak periods don’t start and stop at precisely the nominal times. There is a random delay, usually of less than 10 minutes, built in to each meter just to ensure that not every storage heater in town suddenly switches on at the same millisecond, which might blow up the grid if they did. Make a note of your meter’s delay so you know when it’s best to run power-hungry appliances and you don’t switch them on too early.
+4Hey
Welcome to the community.
I noticed that
You’ll find similar topics below and if you have any further questions we’d be happy to help.
Thank you for your reply. What seems most bizarre and mysterious to me is that everything was working until they put the new smart meter in. It seems as if Ovo aren’t bothering to check if everything is working and I just walking away and leaving customers to sort it for themselves. If these issues are a known problem then ovo should be making sure everything is working properly before leaving a customer In the lurch. I’ve checked the switch things that firedog mentioned and it seems they’re doing what he says they should. But I still have no off-peak electricity. So now it appears it’s up to me to go to the expense of getting an electrician to try and sort a problem which didn’t exist until Ovo started messing about with a meter. I’m really unhappy with their customer service. The customer relations assistant has said that his escalated to another level and I have to wait a few more days to see what they say, but I’m not holding my breath
+4Hey
Technology can be a bit unpredictable at times. It’s so frustrating when trying to fix one thing leads to another issue cropping up! I totally understand where you’re coming from. While engineers do their best to leave everything in top shape, there are some areas they just can't touch because of training and liability rules. I’ve shared an article below that breaks down who’s responsible for what, which I hope makes things clearer for you.
By the way, when you said you checked those switches that
+7- Super User
It seems as if Ovo aren’t bothering to check if everything is working and I just walking away and leaving customers to sort it for themselves. … ovo should be making sure everything is working properly before leaving a customer In the lurch.
You’ll hopefully realize that one thing the meter engineer can’t check is whether the auxiliary load control switch is operating at the right times for Economy 7. Although all the checks that can be made before he leaves are made, he can’t reasonably be expected to come back in the wee small hours to see whether things are working as they’re supposed to just then.
Now you’ve told us that the ALCS is doing its job, but power isn’t reaching the heating equipment. You’ve checked the fuses in the fuse box or breakers in the consumer unit and nothing is off there. OVO engineers aren’t supposed to touch anything downstream of equipment OVO have installed, which all seems to be in order. That’s why you’ll have to get an electrician in to see what the problem is. I should point out that meter engineers aren’t (necessarily) electricians.
I understand from what you both replied with that ovo take no responsibility for their actions. I certainly don’t expect anyone to come in the ‘wee small hours’ but I would expect an energy company to take responsibility for their actions and not wash their hands of errors caused by their operatives or by their technology , whichever is at fault here.. If the system was working before why should the fuses or breakers or anything else suddenly become an issue?
+7- Super User
We have seen customers in a similar situation to yours come here after a few days’ to-and-fro troubleshooting, which culminated in a suggestion to call in an electrician to trace the fault. Sheepishly, but really courageously, they reported that the first thing the electrician did was to check the breakers, found the one that had tripped, reset it and solved the problem in just a minute. Can you confirm that you’ve checked yourself and that all is in order?
We’ve also seen cases where the engineer has done everything he was supposed to, but whoever wired the consumer unit did a poor job of connecting the cable from the meter to the CU. When the engineer reattached the cable at the meter end, he didn’t notice that it had come adrift at the other end. I don’t expect you to look for faults like this - it’s an electricians job.
In any case, safety is everyone’s priority. Fuses blow, breakers trip, things stop working for all sorts of reasons. When a fault occurs, it’s a good idea to get an expert in to check for possible risks - there are two many reports in the press about fatalities caused by electrical faults.
No I haven’t checked the breakers I don’t even know what they are.. There appear to be two fuse boxes one the general one and another labelled off peak which seems inaccessible as there is some sort of box in the way with a wire looking like some kind of anti tamper device.? As you will have guessed I am not an electrician so don’t know what I’d be looking for. Totally agree about safety which is why I am very wary of investigating things myself. And also confused as to why ‘engineers’ who fit the meters are not electricians. I would have thought it would be common sense for them to be both.
+7- Super User
… why ‘engineers’ who fit the meters are not electricians. I would have thought it would be common sense for them to be both.
Think of doctors and dentists. They both carry out maintenance on the same sort of system (the human body), but specialize in different bits of it. Electricians in general don’t know much about meters, but meter engineers know lots about them.
… there appear to be two fuse boxes one the general one and another labelled off peak which seems inaccessible as there is some sort of box in the way with a wire looking like some kind of anti tamper device.?
If you post photos of your fuse boxes, we can probably shed some light on them for you. You should be able to open the lid on a ‘consumer unit’ to get access to the breakers inside. If you can, please prop it open when you take a photo so we can read any labels on the bits inside.
When you ask the electrician to come and trace your fault, ask him to explain what bits of the electrical installation you can safely access; every householder should know how to reset a tripped circuit breaker or replace a blown fuse once whatever caused it to trip or blow has been identified and rectified.
By the way and untelated (?) my smart meter serms to have stopped sending readings to ovo now as well
+4Hey
I’m sorry for the issues you’re experiencing, it sounds like a stressful situation to be in.
With regards to your smart meter’s communication issues, this topic should be helpful:
I’m hoping that
I’ve found this similar topic with the following advice:
Our metering engineers are not permitted to alter the wiring configuration of the customer's property as we cannot confirm that the customer's equipment that is currently connected to the off-peak circuit is suitable for a constant load. Some equipment such as storage heaters are not designed to be on 24/7, and doing so may lead to increased bills and potential damage.
In addition to this, altering the timing of the meter's ALCS connection to be permanently closed, would result in the Proteus EHC1 contactor being permanently engaged which would contravene the manufacturer's intended use.
In a scenario where a customer requests a tariff change from multirate to single rate, OVO would replace the meter and install an isolation switch. The existing off-peak circuit would be left disconnected from the new single rate meter installation, leaving the customer's electrician responsible for reconnecting the previously off-peak circuit to the new permanently energised isolation switch if they deem it suitable.
+7- Super User
Thanks. The first picture is of an unremarkable consumer unit, with all its breakers in the ‘on’ position. If a fault were to develop in any of the circuits listed there, its breaker would trip - drop down to the ‘off’ position. 5 Common Causes of Electrical Trips and How to Fix Them
The second shows an older box of tricks and I’ve no idea what it’s supposed to do. However, the fuse box on the front of it isn’t tamper-sealed, so it should be in order to remove the screw and the cover it’s holding in place. If you don’t know how to check safely for a blown fuse and replace it, you’ll probably want to leave this exercise to the electrician.
… my smart meter serms to have stopped sending readings to ovo now as well
Looking at your online account, can you see half-hour usage data here: Your energy use? What about meter readings here: Meter readings history? If they have indeed stopped updating, can you say when the last sets of both were received?
There’s no way of knowing whether your heating problems and this reluctant data flow are related, but I doubt it.
Hi there is no meter reading history available according to what it says.
also emmanuelle re your comments the property has been on off peak for years. I asked for economy seven and was told this is what I’d get so there’s no real change from what it was in before
+7- Super User
… there is no meter reading history available according to what it says.
OK. I forgot that this was a brand new meter. It can take a few weeks for everything to settle down, so you should really wait until mid-September before bothering about incomplete details on the account website. If readings and usage data are still absent after 15 September, contact Support to ask why.
+4… there is no meter reading history available according to what it says.
OK. I forgot that this was a brand new meter. It can take a few weeks for everything to settle down, so you should really wait until mid-September before bothering about incomplete details on the account website. If readings and usage data are still absent after 15 September, contact Support to ask why.
Firedog has given some helpful advice here. I think as OVO has already exchanged the meter & sent an engineer out, & the issue persists. The next steps would either be to raise a complaint. Or if the support team have suggested that you need to get an engineer out to take a look at your wiring at your own expense, if the engineer deems that the problem was caused by OVO & raises this in their job report, there may be the opportunity for OVO to re-imburse you for this.
Please keep us posted with how you get on.
Can anyone tell me what this is and what it does? The wires go in from the smart meter and out to the off peak bit?
+7- Super User
Can anyone tell me what this is and what it does?
I think it’s just a sealed connector block, used so that the engineer could connect the meter tails (like the brown cable labelled LLL) to the offpeak box without having to open the box and mess with what’s inside. Only you or your electrician can do that. The engineer will have connected the new cables to the existing ones inside the block, tested that the connections were sound and then sealed the block. That way, your electrician can be fairly sure any fault is downstream of the connector block.
+4I’m afraid I’m not able to answer that
+7- Super User
Can we or our electrician undo it to check its working?
I’m sure he could, but I don’t know what the repercussions might be of breaking a supplier’s tamper seal. Breaking one on the meter itself to get access to the internal workings would set alarm bells ringing back at headquarters, but breaking a ‘deterrent’ seal like the ones on this connector block would, I think, just leave evidence for the next meter engineer to notice.
All your electrician would have to do is energize the circuit (using the Start Boost command somewhere on a button ‘B’ menu) and then check for continuity across the block.
[PS ETA] This is just what he will be doing all the way to the equipment that should be getting power but isn’t - as well as checking the fuses first, of course.
hey all!
Sorry for late
Everything looks ok from a wiring point of view but i will need to check back office. Can you direct message me an account number/mpan please?
Cheers
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