If I switch to OVO, can my Honeywell AS300P (SMETS1) smart meter be changed from single rate to Economy 7 tariff remotely?

If you definitely know that you’d like E7 before OVO can support it, there’s another possible route. One of the alternative methods would be to temporarily switch to a supplier that supports your current meter on a Standard Variable tariff (so you don’t get locked in), get them to switch on Economy 7 mode and then switch to OVO from there once it’s been confirmed that Economy 7 is fully activated.

Even though it might lose smart functionality temporarily, your meter would at least be in Economy 7 mode and should retain it when you switch to OVO. If you had an S1 Aclara meter, the easy answer would be to switch to SSE temporarily as I know SSE used Aclara for S1 stuff. But then again, most (if not all) Aclara meters should have already been upgraded by now, so this hack probably wouldn’t be needed for those. I can definitely say that Octopus was not one of the suppliers that used Elster as they used Secure just like OVO. I think this guide over here should help you to narrow down which suppliers definitely won’t be able to help for the time being.

However… It’s not quite as simple for Elster Honeywell meters due to the fact there were two Smart Meter System Operators for these meters and I don’t know which suppliers were served by which SMSO. But that’d make for a REALLY good tutorial idea. It’s on my list! If you can find out which SMSO serves your meter right now, you can try going with a supplier that uses that one temporarily and then use that hack to get E7 active before coming to OVO. It’s not the most elegant solution, but I hope you’re cool with this as a possible workaround.

Still, at least it’s not as bad as L+G where there’s three possible SMSO’s to juggle thanks to British Gas being annoying and spinning up their own exclusive one…

Actually… That’s a thought… If your current meter is one that’s currently operated by CGI Instant Energy or Morrison Data Services, you might get away with moving to OVO by using SSE as a temporary compatibility layer, bridge or pivot point to get your meter into E7 mode before moving over here properly. I don’t think SSE uses both of them but given that there’s a 50/50 chance of your meter being on the right SMSO anyway… That’s better than nothing. If only I could recall which ones both SSE and Scottish Power use...

So I contacted Scottish Power and because I could only speak to a standard customer service agent, they weren’t able to say with 100% certainty that they can communicate with my smart meter. When I check my online account there’s no energy usage data but the advisor did mention that it’s set to update on a monthly frequency, and I’ve only been with them for a few weeks, so that may be why.

They did say it would be a few months before they could switch my meter, as they’re only doing emergency appointments at the moment. Not sure if that includes remote re-programming of meters but they didn’t seem super knowledgeable in any case so I’m not keen on chasing the issue with them.

I’m happy to try switching to SSE if you think they could communicate with my meter. Is there a way to find out which SMSO serves me before I try that, though?

No worries. There is indeed a way to do that via an ECOES Lookup. I don’t know if Jess is able to do that for you, but Scottish Power should tell you this info as it’s the sort of thing that a customer can request. I can’t promise that this sort of hack would work, so it’s definitely a good idea to do the research first so that you don’t end up trapped.

The other option is to try to get Scottish Power to flip the switch now and then move directly to OVO. But I guess it depends on whether you can get them to listen.

I do know that my old S1 Aclara meter that SSE installed was operated by CGI Instant Energy because that was the only SMSO that S1 Aclara meters were managed with. But with two of them being involved with Elster ones, it’s a possible risk that your meter might be on a network that SSE can’t access for S1 meters. If both SSE and Scottish Power happen to use the same one, you might get lucky. But if they’re not, you may not get things working just yet.

We unfortunately can’t guarantee which other suppliers would be able to support your type of meter, @bojack10. The best course of action if you’ve found a supplier that you’d like to switch to is check with them directly that they would be able to communicate with a Honeywell S1 meter and have the facility to update it to a dual rate function once you’ve switched.

Sorry we can’t support you at the moment but thanks for sharing your query here as this may help others who find themselves in a similar position in future. 

Howdy @bojack10 !

I just noticed that it’s been a few days since we last checked in with you. How are things going now? If you still need a hand, please feel free to give us a shout. But if everything’s good now and there’s a particular comment in this thread that you think helps the most, please feel free to mark it as the Best Answer since this helps other members a lot.

And if you could share any updates too, that would be smashing.

We’ll be here if you need us!

Thanks

@Jess_OVO @Blastoise186 

Resurrecting this topic from several months ago to ask if my meter might now have had its S2 upgrade seeing as this was meant to happen in October, I think?

@Jess_OVO, I sent you my meter’s MPAN details via email on 26 May 2021 at 03:05:20 - could I please ask you to check it again, if there’s a chance?

I’m still keen to switch to OVO and/or at least have my meter changed to Economy 7.

Thank you 

Howdy @bojack10 ! Welcome back. :)

It’s good to see you again. It’s a shame I don’t have a magic tool that can query the status of Smart Meters, but unfortunately that would require me being able to access ECOES… Which I’m not able to get into as a forum volunteer. I think it’s probably security or privacy related, something along those lines. The only ECOES record I have the ability to extract data out of is the one for my own supply, since OVO is able to verify that I have permission to view that particular record.

From my understanding, your meter should now have the firmware updates that enable it to run as an S1+ and be migrated to DCC, but it requires the installing supplier to offer the meter up for adoption before it can be enrolled into DCC and made available to any supplier. I keep forgetting whether only the installing supplier can do that, or the last supplier who was able to access the meter, but whichever one it is has to do the next step.

Even if Jess can’t check your record again, you should be able to ask your current supplier to check. Hopefully it shouldn’t take too long!

Hi again @bojack10 - a Halloween resurrection was it? 

Great that you’re still keen to switch to an Economy 7 plan with OVO. Sounds like you’re still waiting for your Honeywell meter to be ‘enrolled’ (which as you mention it was scheduled to completed by October 2021). As your current supplier would let you know when the meters are completing this process, it’s worth checking in with them if you haven’t already. 

Worth bearing in mind that due to the current energy market conditions - it might not be the best time to switch right now, read more about this on our FAQs.

No pun intended but I guess it was indeed a Halloween ressurection! 

I’ll be honest: Scottish Power are pretty hopeless when it comes to anything beyond the most simplistic account query so I don’t have much faith that they’ll be able to advise about my meter. They certainly couldn’t last time, after I finally got through to them.

They’re likely not even the installing supplier; I switched to them after moving in and the meter was probably installed long before that by yet another supplier.

@Jess_OVO Can you please bottom-line this for me: is there still no way for me to switch to OVO with Economy 7?

Thank you both for the continued help.