Does OVO have fixed rate plans for THTC meters?

Hi @awills61 

I am just a customer like you

Do you get the same with this link?

https://products.ovoenergy.com/journey/renewal/energy-renewal

OVO is definitely offering fix deals right now. I managed to generate a few quotes for them using my randomly selected test postcodes. They’re for actual places around the UK but I never reveal where they are for obvious reasons.

Yes exactly the same.

On the ovo app rather than website

Account - Energy tariff

Do you see a link to select a plan?

The app doesn’t work for me I get the message ‘We’ve moved your SSE account over to OVO and we’re making some changes to the app so it’s ready for you.’ I then get a choice to go to the website.

I do then wonder if that is part of the issue.

When did you migrate from SSE?

August

That is quite a while ago so I would expect the migration to be completed.

I suggest you contact ovo, tell them what you have seen and ask them to investigate your account 

https://www.ovoenergy.com/help#contact_us_container

Sometimes fixed rate offers are limited to a subset of customers but that seems unlikely to be the reason as ovo have emailed you.

I’ve been in touch with ooo and have been told that THTC does not have any fixed rate tariffs as it is being phased out. This was news to me as I was under the impression that ova had developed a smart meter solution for THTC

The implication was that THTC was being phased out not that I would need a meter change. This is what I was told

‘Since electrical heating of that type is being phased out and is only in a minority of homes OVO is not creating tariffs other than a standard tariff for it.’

I suspect you will just have to wait to see exactly what you get in terms of a setup, meter, tariff, how close it is to what you have and how well it works based on your usage and setup.

The problem is THTC is a minority if you look at the whole of the UK however in many areas of Scotland this type of tariff is the only suitable solution for electric heating (with the benefits of 24 hour off peak on some heaters and also the same on showers and feature effect fires).
 

Any other meter / tariff  is less advantageous to users. Doesn’t have the same amount of off peak hours or the 24/7 off peak on the other systems. 
 

what we need is a clear steer on wether or not a THTC equivalent is able to be installed or not. I know they exist as blastoise is on record as having seen them. I’m still to be contacted by Ovo on this and I believe the timeline for shutting off the RTS is now March (although it’s changed that often I think it will be going on long after that). 
 

my huge fear is that any new meter put into my property will mean expensive work needing to be done to the electrical system of my property to ensure everything I have works. Which I know a supplier won’t help with.  However I have a system that works, I can afford and that’s not guaranteed with another type of meter / tariff. I’ve already put a substantial investment into modern storage heaters so why should I have to fork out again for something that’s not my fault, I have no control over and could quite easily be solved with a more manual time switch. 
 

These metering systems are not simple things to replace as the systems up in the far north can be a spaghetti junction of fuse boxes / multiple meters and time switches. 
 

if the company are looking at fairness for all then surely a fixed rate that is lower than variable should be offered to all customers and not just those with more normaL setups. 

There’s more people still using this system than OVO seem to care to admit.  I for one haven’t long replaced my storage heaters to more modern ones, and although they are reasonably expensive to run, I am happy enough with them as I don’t want the expense or upheaval of bringing gas in and fitting radiators.

I only hope a workable solution can be found that at least gives similar timings to what we have.

There are also issues in the north of Scotland with load management which means that some of the meters that have been tried just won’t work. 

Suppliers (SSE before Ovo) have had long enough to come up with a solution. It’s simply not fair on people with THTC and the other “exotic” tariffs (yes there are loads more than just THTC - restricted hours A,B etc) to be left hanging and in the lurch. 

there are also tariffs in the Scottish power area (weathercall if I recall), super deal in England etc - so it’s not just The old hydro region that’s effected. 
power is expensive enough without it being made worse by meters that don’t give the same benefits as THTC. 

Why are people with these meters discriminated against (yes I went there) - it was the same with SSE - no deals were usually available and if they were they were for far shorter terms. 

my big gripe here is that electric heating can clearly be classed as part of the net zero plans. Ensure it’s on a “green”‘tariff (yes I know that all the power that comes in is a mix of gas, coal and nuclear etc) and lower the heating unit cost?

technically it’s a more carbon neutral heating system (with the caveat of the power mix) - no need for an expensive and noisy heat pump and the boiler system that comes with it. Can easily be linked up to solar and storage battery… win win 

The north of Scotland nearly always has a fabulous very low carbon generation, mostly down to wind power. 
I’d just like to put in a good word for heat pumps though, expensive - yes, to install but three times more efficient so three times cheaper to run in terms of kWh of electricity, but they are not noisy unless there’s something very wrong with the bearings on the fan. 

And can also need planning permission…. 😂 I get what you are saying but the huge upheaval in having that and the boiler / rads that goes with it… I’ll keep my quantum heaters. 😂 

I read that air to air heat pumps can be just as efficient and are cheaper to install, no radiators. No grant available for them though, as yet.

I recently remembered I had created this topic about fixed rate deals on THTC and have now got a similar query surrounding the current replacement process. If we choose E10 as our new tariff will there be fixed rate deals available? Looking at the OVO site I don’t see any for my post code. 

It’s early days yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone’s already considering it as a future enhancement.

Either way, have a chat with OVO Support and they can check more deeply.

I’ll ask internally @awills61 if we currently offer fixed rate deals for Economy 10 & report back 😊

I’ve had a response from an expert:

All tariff's are available to all customers however this may mean that certain "exotic" multi rate meters, like E10, will be offered a consolidated single rate instead of their normal 3 rates for E10. These customers will be displayed a message when they go online because we cant sell muti rate online, they need to call into us instead.

So the short answer is call our support team & they’ll be able to look into your set up & discuss what options are available to you. 

Thanks for the info

Hi I had a thtc on a prepaid meter but as the rts was being switched off thought I'd better change out the meter to ensure supply however I've only just found out after the works done OVO only gives a single rate for prepayment on the new(not so) smart meter so my cost has just increased £12 to £15 a week .

I was never forewarned by anyone at OvO so 8 now have a tariff not fit for purpose 

This doesn’t sound reasonable, but it rather depends on your heating arrangements (space and water). Unless you have storage heaters, the dual-rate tariffs (peak and offpeak) available might not work out well. THTC is sadly moribund, and one feature that will affect many THTC customers is the ‘constant heating’ circuit providing power at a reduced rate. This just isn’t possible with modern meters.

You shouldn’t have to be paying much more just because you have a new meter. The tariff you’re on isn’t particularly expensive compared with the other available options, but it might be worth investigating what other suppliers have to offer.

If you post a photo of your meter, we may be able to suggest something.