Moving from THTC to a single rate

[Crofter]

We're on the archaic Total Heating Total Control which was pretty common for houses using storage heaters, but is now being phased out. The Radio Teleswitch system is to be turned off imminently and we're being barraged with warnings from OVO, the electricity supplier, to get the meter swapped out for a smart meter.

 

This is all well and good (assuming we have a good enough signal for the smart meter to work...) but they will not allow us to keep the current tariff, and are only offering us two flavours of dual-rate as a replacement. From back of envelope calculations, I can see that both will end up costing us more than we're currently spending.

 

It looks like we'll be much better off switching to a single rate (especially once I have done my PV/diverter project) but they aren't offering that.

 

Will I need to get them to install the smart meter first (which they won't do until I've chosen a tariff) and then move to single rate, possibly with a different supplier?

 

Just FYI, we are using A2A heating so low overnight rates are of little use. Good for the immersion heater but that's all. What we want is the lowest possible rate accessible 24/7, as the times that we tend to run the A2A don't line up with off peak hours. And once I have my panels and diverter in place, I'm hoping that our immersion usage will drop substantially over the summer months, which is when the house is mostly occupied.

[JohnMo]

I would get a smart meter, you may need to press them for a 4G version. Believe they run on Vodafone, so check if you actually have a signal.

 

A least with a smart meter you can get a selection of tariffs, no smart meter you are just on standard rate or E7. 

[ProDave]

The whole radio teleswitch replacement is a fiasco.   And this is directly related to that.  THTC in essence is just an normal E10 install with a switched off peak supply, but then with the addition of a second meter that is permanently on metering a heating supply.  It was a creation to try and improve on the main drawbacks of the simple off peak tariffs.

 

Used properly, in @Crofter case the A2A heating could have been connected to the heating circuit and got the cheap rate 24/7.

 

None of the off peak supplies or THTC had remote meter reading, so could have been kept working by replacing the radio teleswitch with any other form of timer. Prior to the radio teleswitch system a spring reserve machanical Sangmo Weston time switch used to be used.

 

I hear so many horror stories of trying to get E7 working on a smart meter that it would put me off trying and just go for a single rate tariff, even of you have to choose one of the off peak rates first to achieve that. 

[JohnMo]

25 minutes ago, ProDave said:

hear so many horror stories of trying to get E7 working on a smart meter that it would put me off trying and just go for a single rate tariff, even of you have to choose one of the off peak rates first to achieve that

You here plenty of stories - suspect it's the energy company issue rather than anything else. The smart meter comes out the box with E7 already programmed. Then it's a matter of the energy company harvesting the correct data either the overall energy delivery (single rate) or day and night (dual rate). I had no issue with a dumb (no communication) smart meter in either flat or dual rate. When it became smart via a 4G connection, had no issues with E7 or current Cosy tariff.

 

But the issue maybe how the house is wired, which could be a dogs diner, not addressed by the smart meter installer - someone else's job.

[ProDave]

The issue seems mostly getting storage heaters to turn on and off in time with the cheap rate periods.  And of course in the case of THTC just fitting a smart meter, timed or not, would usually leave the always on cheap rate supply disconnected.

[Crofter]

1 hour ago, ProDave said:

Used properly, in @Crofter case the A2A heating could have been connected to the heating circuit and got the cheap rate 24/7.

That's exactly what I've done. The A2A just runs off the cheap rate.

OVO are trying to sell me their E9 plan which has off-peak dotted throughout the day, but of course none of the times really match up with when I'd want to run the A2A.

And the off peak rate is only 1p less than I can get a single rate from another supplier.

So the obvious thing to do is jump from THTC straight to single rate, but they aren't offering that.

 

I'm not sure what the implications are for the wiring in the house. I mean, worst case, can't they just install whatever meters are required and just bill me at the same rate for everything that I use?