[doverboy]

Originally Posted by geoffers

@meldrewreborn - interesting (and just to throw in some more confusion)

Although I'm billed on my ½ hourly ToU usage based on "local time = midnight to 7am", a couple of months ago I discovered that my meter seems to have been reconfigured with 2 Active Import registers, plus the tariff switch timing set set to 00:30 - 07:30 UTC (which currently is switching tariff between 01:30 to 08:30 BST)

Out of interest, I'm going to compare my day/night register readings to the ½ hourly ToU consumption to see if they indeed do match

Even more strange, even though it is only a 4 port meter one of the menus shows options to view/test ALCS 😲
Attachment 4715

Hi @geoffers, just to let you know my situation ...

I am on an E7 tariff in Eastern region with 00:00-07:00 off-peak and 07:00-24:00 peak, meter is a Landis+Gyr E470 4-port with no ALCS circuit, off-peak appliances are on local timers.

My hours were changed to 00:30-07:30, 07:30-24:30 unbeknownst to me by an Energy Specialist on 18 November 2024, through the Registers TPR settings for my account. I found out in mid December that my switch times had changed when looking at my IHD. I downloaded the Bright / Glowmarkt 1/2 hour data and compared off-peak usage between several meter register reads (with known date/times) and the corresponding 1/2 hour data totals 00:00-07:00 and 00:30-07:30 back to 01 November 2024. I found that the total for 00:30-07:30 matched the R2 read data back to 20 Nov (I had to interpolate); prior to 20 Nov the 00:00-07:00 data matched R2. I had been charged peak rate for 00:00-00:30 from 20 November to 17 December when the switch times reverted due to the TPR register settings having been changed back on 15 December.

It took a meter technician booking manager to override the narrative of '2 hour tolerance' through an 'education' session of the two Energy Specialists involved.

Edit sorry ... "I found that the total for 00:30-07:30 matched the R2 read data back to 20 Nov (I had to interpolate); prior to 20 Nov the 00:00-07:00 data matched R2." replaces "I found that the total for 00:00-07:00 was higher than the R2 read data back to 20 Nov (I had to interpolate) and the 00:30-07:30 total matched R2; prior to 20 Nov the 00:00-07:00 data matched R2."

[meldrewreborn]

@geoffers

I tried to reply earlier but......

Perhaps they set up the two registers as a back up in case the half hourly consumptions missed a few blocks.

As to the ALCS could they use the same software in different models. Did the test fail or pass?🤣

Alternatively the ALCS might be there, but just blanked off for a 4 port meter. There will be a logic to it but sometimes its hard to fathom what it is.

[meldrewreborn]

Originally Posted by doverboy

Hi @geoffers, just to let you know my situation ...

I am on an E7 tariff in Eastern region with 00:00-07:00 off-peak and 07:00-24:00 peak, meter is a Landis+Gyr E470 4-port with no ALCS circuit, off-peak appliances are on local timers.

My hours were changed to 00:30-07:30, 07:30-24:30 unbeknownst to me by an Energy Specialist on 18 November 2024, through the Registers TPR settings for my account. I found out in mid December that my switch times had changed when looking at my IHD. I downloaded the Bright / Glowmarkt 1/2 hour data and compared off-peak usage between several meter register reads (with known date/times) and the corresponding 1/2 hour data totals 00:00-07:00 and 00:30-07:30 back to 01 November 2024. I found that the total for 00:00-07:00 was higher than the R2 read data back to 20 Nov (I had to interpolate) and the 00:30-07:30 total matched R2; prior to 20 Nov the 00:00-07:00 data matched R2. I had been charged peak rate for 00:00-00:30 from 20 November to 17 December when the switch times reverted due to the TPR register settings having been changed back on 15 December.

It took a meter technician booking manager to override the narrative of '2 hour tolerance' through an 'education' session of the two Energy Specialists involved.

Very well done!!


This "2 hour tolerance" has all the characteristics of an urban myth, perpetuated by misinformed "Energy Specialists". We've been told in the past that they're all trained to the same standard and all should be able to deal with queries. Perhaps they all need a refresher course on E7 tariff timings and meter configurations.

[geoffers]

Originally Posted by meldrewreborn

... Perhaps they all need a refresher course on E7 tariff timings and meter configurations.

It's not just EOn's CS who are misinformed 😀 - a few choice comments from a similar OVO thread

The conclusion is that the meter’s ALCS is misconfigured and needs to be updated to reflect the E7 timings ... it’s a misconfiguration, quickly corrected by an ECAUL request from OVO

the 5th terminals behaviour is not dictated by the tariff set up on the meter, but instead through an auxiliary specific service request called ECAUL (Control Auxiliary Load). The ECAUL process consists of two service requests (6.14.1 & 6.14.2) that allows us to set up the on/off schedule for the 5th terminal of the meter. The on/off times will reflect switch times of your tariff.

The support staff the customer has been in contact with neither understand the problem nor know how to remedy it.

Summary of guy on the telephone is as the off-peak reading is not changing in peak hour so meter is okay.... there is nothing called ALCS. He never heard them

Maybe the detail ½ way down this thread will help with the C.S education/understanding...https://forum.ovoenergy.com/second-g...ppliances-8545

[Andy65]

Customer Service knowledge, or maybe lack of, is nothing knew. Before Eon took over nPower, I called nPower to confirm my E7 timings. I was asked where I lived so I said Warwickshire, to which the reply was "Is that somewhere in the North East?". She gave up and said that I should just watch the meter to see when the rate changed. It took a complaint before someone could confirm my E7 timings.

Very few have any reasonable product/systems knowledge because they just read from screens, most large organisations are the same. It's quite satisfying when you get through to someone first time who knows their stuff, it's rare though.

There's a certain irony in all of this in that businesses have Community Forums where common and more complex queries are answered by members of the public so that the said business doesn't have to do it themselves, which most likely leads to a Customer Service with less and less knowledge. Train people properly, and manage them properly, and they will receive one phone call instead of 6 or 7. The benefits of solving a query first time and having a happy customer don't seem to be important.

[meldrewreborn]

@Andy65

I don’t disagree. But that’s why customers need to raise complaints- to hold the suppliers to account - and to let the ombudsman and OFGEM impose fines on those suppliers.

[Andy65]

Originally Posted by meldrewreborn

@Andy65

I don’t disagree. But that’s why customers need to raise complaints- to hold the suppliers to account - and to let the ombudsman and OFGEM impose fines on those suppliers.

I'd question whether a business improves as result, I wouldn't be surprised if the odd fine from Ofgem/Ombudsman is significantly cheaper than investing in people properly.

The fact that customers need to raise a complaint in order to have a simple problem resolved is telling in itself.

[meldrewreborn]

@Andy65

customers voting with their feet because of perceived bad customer service suggests otherwise. Octopus thrives on its customer service.

[Beasel]

Originally Posted by geoffers

@alankh - the meter reads are still taken from the meter: the DCC do not access/save the data itself - they just receive a command from the supplier to read the meter and the encrypted reading is returned to the supplier

@Beasel - maybe look at your account meter readings section which may give you a clue -

If they're using monthly meter reads it'll have a section to add the reading (hopefully 2 in your case), but if you're on ToU it will say no need for a reading as ½ hour readings are read from the meter

Attachment 4705

I can confirm I can add 2 readings, Day and Night. This is what set the whole thing off, after I received notification that I was £2000 in arrears. It seems the Smart meter had stopped sending readings 6 months before, usage had since been estimated until there was a "Data Collector" reading. Both Day and Night readings were wildly inaccurate. I have since been monitoring and submitting usage.

[Beasel]

Originally Posted by DebF_EONNext

Hey @Beasel welcome to the community and thanks for taking the time to post!

I'm not going to lie metering isn't my strongest point but I didn't want to leave you without a response! I can see that our lovely members have been supporting you here which is great to see!

I know this has probably been considered but you have mentioned your off peak times (night rate) being 0000-0030 / 0230-0730 / 2230-2400 - Have you given some allowance for GMT / BST clock changes as this may cause the meter to be out by 1hr.

The other thing I would suggest (which you may have already done) would be a kettle test - so during your off peak 10.30pm off peak time turn on a few more things boil the kettle a few times and see which reading is moving. If it is register 1 try again 1 hr later (to allow for changes in bst/gmt) if it is still showing register 1 is moving rather than register 2 it could be that rather than your timings being wrong we have your readings transposed on the system instead, which is something that we can update for you.

Usually if your readings are out by less than 2hrs we wouldn't send an engineer as this is within tolerance levels. Also was this an issue before your meter exchange or has it only been since you had your smart meter installed?

Hello and thank you. My meter shows exactly the correct time. I've done test to show that during so-called "off peak" times, the Day meter is activated. Since my meter is a long way away from my apartment, this isn't a simple check because I have to keep running from one place to the next. My In House Display is too far away from the meter and no longer even charges.
I simply cannot accept that if Eon gives me definitive Off Peak Times, it then chooses to say there is a 2 hour tolerance time. Unacceptable! Particularly since it then, very conveniently, chooses to have the Economy 7 circuit (over which I have no time control) activate BEFORE the off peak time kicks in. And because most of the heating is done during the first hour or so, essentially all my heating is charged at Day rate. It's absolutely outrageous.