How to get my supplier to set up my Economy 7 smart meter properly

catwin1

Relevant info:
Utility Warehouse (electricity only)
Economy 7 (dual rate)
Dedicated off-peak circuit in the flat
SMETS2 5-terminal smart meter installed on 28 Sep (EDMI ES-12B)

Good afternoon,

I am in dire need of help as I am at my wit’s end with my supplier… I will try to explain my issue concisely.

I have storage heaters and a water tank running off a separate off-peak circuit with an economy 7 tariff. UW installed a 5-terminal SMETS2 smart meter on 28 Sep and my off-peak circuit has been out of sync with my off-peak rate since then. I have tried to get them to rectify this for almost a month, to no avail. They have given me contradictory responses, but their last stance was that they cannot change this.

After doing some research, I have found that they are in control of when my off-peak circuit (which is - hopefully - connected to my meter’s 5th terminal) switches on, through the ALCS (auxiliary load control switch) in my meter. I have 2 good links to explain this but I believe I am not allowed to post them yet as I am a newbie - happy to share them via PM, or a Google search for "auxiliary load control switch ofgem" and "ovo energy forum getting a SMETS2 smart meter with storage heaters, underfloor heating or other 5th port appliances" should do the trick

I say hopefully because when I called them, they told me that my day rate is Rate 2 and my night rate is Rate 1, leading me to believe that the meter may not have been properly wired. I am not allowed to post photos yet but I can send them via PM.

I want to call them and ask them to configure my meter using the ALCS switch (and give them clear instructions if I can find them - I spoke to a Toshiba engineer and an EDMI CS agent but they only gave me limited information), but I now know that the agents I speak to have no technical understanding whatsoever, and they won’t let me speak to a technician.

I am thinking of sending my request and instructions via email to their Customer Resolutions team, but I want to make sure that this is a good call (should I use their online form instead?).

Do you think this is the right way to go about it? If so, any insights on how to explain the process to them?

Thank you

PS: I spoke to 2 different people at Citizens Advice and they had no clue what I was talking about.

[Deleted User]

Welcome to the forum.

Day rate being R02 and night rate being R01 is nothing unusual.

Why do you think the tariff rate switch and the contactor circuit activation are out-of-sync?  You haven't written anything about that other than "it is".

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

The forum are pretty clued-up when it comes to E7.

I have storage heaters and a water tank running off a separate off-peak circuit with an economy 7 tariff. UW installed a 5-terminal SMETS2 smart meter on 28 Sep and my off-peak circuit has been out of sync with my off-peak rate since then. I have tried to get them to rectify this for almost a month, to no avail. They have given me contradictory responses, but their last stance was that they cannot change this.

How is this problem manifesting, exactly? Are your storage heaters getting hot in the daytime, rather than overnight?

And are UW charging you for daytime electricity at daytime rates?

(Can I also say that you're choice of colour scheme isn't great, if you could stick to black-on-white it would be appreciated.)

catwin1

[Deleted User] said:

Welcome to the forum.

Day rate being R02 and night rate being R01 is nothing unusual.

Why do you think the tariff rate switch and the contactor circuit activation are out-of-sync?  You haven't written anything about that other than "it is".

Thank you for the super fast response!

OK, good to know. I was unsure because it was the other way round on my previous meter.

I can see when my off-peak rate kicks in on my IHD (12:37am) and I compared it to when my usage increases on the n3rgy website (plus, I can see the red led switching on at 11pm on the IHD when I'm not using anything energy-intensive and I can hear my heaters switching on). UW also confirmed that my off-peak times are 12:15am to 7:15am (but it sometimes comes on later, hence the observed 12:37am).

catwin1

QrizB said:

Welcome to the forum.

The forum are pretty clued-up when it comes to E7.

I have storage heaters and a water tank running off a separate off-peak circuit with an economy 7 tariff. UW installed a 5-terminal SMETS2 smart meter on 28 Sep and my off-peak circuit has been out of sync with my off-peak rate since then. I have tried to get them to rectify this for almost a month, to no avail. They have given me contradictory responses, but their last stance was that they cannot change this.

How is this problem manifesting, exactly? Are your storage heaters getting hot in the daytime, rather than overnight?

And are UW charging you for daytime electricity at daytime rates?

(Can I also say that you're choice of colour scheme isn't great, if you could stick to black-on-white it would be appreciated.)

Thank you for the super fast response!

That's great Sorry about the colour scheme, I use a dark theme and didn't notice it had an impact.)

My storage heaters and water tank come on when my off-peak circuit (which is controlled by the meter) comes on, at 11pm. UW are charging me daytime electricity (for all my other appliances, which are on a separate circuit) at daytime rates, and night time electricity at night time rates from 12:37am to 7:37am, but my storage heaters and water tank are being charged at daytime rates from 11pm to 12:37am. My daytime rate is almost 3 times my night time rate, and most of my night time usage (and overall usage) happens during the first hour (11pm to 12am).

[Deleted User]

catwin1 said:

Deleted_User said:

Welcome to the forum.

Day rate being R02 and night rate being R01 is nothing unusual.

Why do you think the tariff rate switch and the contactor circuit activation are out-of-sync?  You haven't written anything about that other than "it is".

Thank you for the super fast response!

OK, good to know. I was unsure because it was the other way round on my previous meter.

I can see when my off-peak rate kicks in on my IHD (12:37am) and I compared it to when my usage increases on the n3rgy website (plus, I can see the red led switching on at 11pm on the IHD when I'm not using anything energy-intensive and I can hear my heaters switching on). UW also confirmed that my off-peak times are 12:15am to 7:15am (but it sometimes comes on later, hence the observed 12:37am).

So - contactor closing at 23:00 but tariff changing at 00:15?

catwin1

[Deleted User] said:

catwin1 said:

Deleted_User said:

Welcome to the forum.

Day rate being R02 and night rate being R01 is nothing unusual.

Why do you think the tariff rate switch and the contactor circuit activation are out-of-sync?  You haven't written anything about that other than "it is".

Thank you for the super fast response!

OK, good to know. I was unsure because it was the other way round on my previous meter.

I can see when my off-peak rate kicks in on my IHD (12:37am) and I compared it to when my usage increases on the n3rgy website (plus, I can see the red led switching on at 11pm on the IHD when I'm not using anything energy-intensive and I can hear my heaters switching on). UW also confirmed that my off-peak times are 12:15am to 7:15am (but it sometimes comes on later, hence the observed 12:37am).

So - contactor closing at 23:00 but tariff changing at 00:15?

That's it - well, theoretically supposed to be changing at 00:15, but changing at 00:37 in reality.

Do you know anything about the ALCS configuration process?

QrizB

We had someone else a month or two back where the ALCS and the tariff weren't properly synchronised. However it's a pretty rare fault.

Does your meter (not IHD) show on-screen which register is active at any given time? Some use a + or a * or some other notation? Can you check it at 11pm tonight, and see which register is active at the time the ALCS activates?

[Deleted User]

Well there is a specific data table that determines which of the 48 periods the ALCS is open and closed.  It's not the same as the table that determines which register should be written to (although the data is normally identical).

One of the defined messages that can be sent to the smart meter is to replace this table.  The only entity allowed to send this message is the supplier.

catwin1

QrizB said:

We had someone else a month or two back where the ALCS and the tariff weren't properly synchronised. However it's a pretty rare fault.

I'll try to find it, thanks. Do you remember how the issue was resolved?

Does your meter (not IHD) show on-screen which register is active at any given time? Some use a + or a * or some other notation? Can you check it at 11pm tonight, and see which register is active at the time the ALCS activates?

I'll check tonight but UW did confirm that my off-peak rate is (officially) from 00:15 to 7:15 (but it's actually 00:37 to 7:37 from what I've observed on the IHD). I'll let you know if the meter corroborates this.

catwin1

Deleted_User said:

Well there is a specific data table that determines which of the 48 periods the ALCS is open and closed.  It's not the same as the table that determines which register should be written to (although the data is normally identical).

One of the defined messages that can be sent to the smart meter is to replace this table.  The only entity allowed to send this message is the supplier.

Thanks! Is this what I should put in writing to them? Any idea how I can get through to a supplier who doesn't understand when I ask them technical questions?