[JS9719]

Good Evening All,

I'm hoping someone may be able to assist as I really have not been able to get anywhere with customer service via telephone or email, no one seems to understand what meter I have or what times the different rates are active.

I am currently living in a rented flat with an old 'Heatwise' meter with which powers storage heaters.
This meter has 4 readings.
(A1) is for my 24hr usage on the ring main.
(B1) is a 'Boost' function designed to give an hour of power to the immersion heater (I've never used the boost button)
(B2) is my evening/overnight reading linked to the storage heaters&immersion only
(B3) is an afternoon period linked to the storage heaters&immersion only.


From my research, I understand that all of the 'B' rates are the heatwise side of the meter, and these would have all been charged at the off-peak rate.
My A reading is a standard meter linked to a standard tarif.

I have only lived in this flat for a few months, and I understand that heatwise is no longer an active tarif. Instead, EON have put me on a standard tarif for the A readings, and an economy7 tarif for the B readings.
This is not suitable, as I am being charged a peak rate for the B2 reading where the storage heaters come on automatically in the afternoon. I have no control over this as they switched on by the meter as this was traditionally an off peak time.

I have tried to explain this at length with customer service but no one understands the meter I have, and no one can explain when it cuts in and out.

Surely I need to be on a tarif where all the B readings are off peak, like originally intended on heatwise?
I also suggested switching to an economy 7 meter, but apparently it is not as simple as that.

Any help much appreciated. I cannot continue with the storage heaters kicking in the afternoon on a peak rate.

theunknowntech I understand you may know a bit on this topic

Thank you
Joe

[JoeSoap]

@JS9719

I know almost nothing about meters but in order to get someone’s attention you need to put the @ symbol at the start of their forum name.

So like this to tag @theunknowntech who will hopefully respond and be able to offer advice.

[retrotecchie]

@JS9719

You only have one option, really. You need to sign up with SSE or OVO as these are the only two energy companies that support your system.

If you moved to E.On Next from one of those companies, you will need to move back. No one else supports Heatsave/Heatwise or FlexHeat systems.

You will also be charged 2x the Standing Charge as your meter has two separate MPRN numbers.

If you moved into the property and E.On Next were your previous supplier at the old address, then I could see why you ported your account, but you have no choice but to pay the rates you are, plus 2x SC unless you go to a compatible supplier...SSE or OVO.

These systems were obsoleted and not installed post around 1993. I had such a system in my first house and only Southern Electric (Now part of SSE) could provide me the proper tariff...none of the other energy suppliers could touch it.

I'll even be willing to bet your meter is possibly a Horstman Telemeter Series K. If so even worse news...that relies on the Radio Teleswitch System which is being switched off in 2023. The only replacement meters for your system are only available via guess who...SSE and OVO.

[JS9719]

Hi @retrotecchie ,
thanks for the reply

The only reason I am on EON is because the flat was already supplied by Eon when I moved in, and I understood that ‘Heatwise’ was previously an Eon specific meter and tariff.

I will have to do a bit of research about OVO, but from a quick search I think they too are phasing out these metering systems.

thanks

[retrotecchie]

@JS9719

SSE are possibly your best shot. Most of these systems were installed in the very North of England and in Scotland by the Scottish Electricity board, and in the South by Southern Electric. Both companies now merged as SSE. They have to keep them alive as they were their own 'legacy' systems.

In fact, of all the electricity companies who merged, people often wonder why two companies at opposite ends of the UK joined forces. Heatwise, Heatsave and FlexHeat are one of the reasons!

[theunknowntech]

Oh boy I hate those systems. I'm afraid I can't easily help much with this one myself, so I called in my friend Blastoise186 for advice, since he knows more than me.

The first thing to note is that you can't sign up with SSE anymore, so it'd have to be OVO. Blastoise has asked his OVO contacts if OVO is able to take on a Heatwise setup because it might cause some complications trying to move that thing around at all. I will update you on that once he gets back to me with an answer. This may take a while so please bear with us.

He also believes what you have described is indeed Heatwise, but photos of the entire setup would be extremely useful for both of us to advise you more accurately. These are extremely exotic and complicated setups and Blastoise wants to make sure he can help get the right information for you. One of his recommendations was to try calling 0345 071 7972 to discuss your setup with the SSE Electric Heating Team, who are basically the only people me and Blastoise can recommend for getting advice that's reliable.

Unfortunately, simply moving to Economy 7 is impossible because there's just no way to make that work easily. Blastoise couldn't think of any tariff recommendations to make either, for which he would like to apologise in advance. This is one of the few cases that actually stumps him - and as my mentor, he usually knows everything.

Migrating to Smart Meters might be possible however, but you're looking at a potentially painful migration process. At very least, you'd be off-supply for several hours while an engineer tries to untangle the mess before they can even start to fit a new meter.

Bear with us, myself and Blastoise186 are still digging into this and I'll update you if either of us find anything. Blastoise can't visit this forum himself because he's just constantly busy, so if he finds anything, he'll relay it through me.

[retrotecchie]

@theunknowntech

I made quite a nice living in the 90s rejigging these systems. Really easy to do, technically, and they will happily work on Economy 7 meters and tariffs, but will involve a lot of internal rewiring and some major changes at the meter cupboard. And an electrician needs to be there when the meter wallah turns up to demonstrate that all he needs to do is connect two meter tails.

[theunknowntech]

Update from Blastoise via Discord:

Hey Tech,

So here's the latest on that Heatwise thing you asked about. I've had a chat with my contacts. They're going to ask around internally at OVO to find out what the options are. You might want to recommend that the customer doesn't attempt to make any switches for now just to be safe. What I can confirm is that very few suppliers supported Heatwise at all, so switching options are going to be limited regardless

[theunknowntech]

Lol, right after I post that, Blastoise pinged me again with a response from OVO. His contacts got this from one of OVO's internal smart meter experts who also happens to know a lot about complex and RTS Meters. Blastoise often jokes about this person being a mysterious smart meter friend, something about the expert never revealing himself, even to Blastoise! I wonder why...

Anyway, @JS9719 and @retrotecchie this is what came back.

Originally Posted by Mysterious OVO Smart Meter Expert

Heatwise is a Scottish Power RTS arrangement. As far as I am aware, they're in the Complex metering pot and work is ongoing to look to resolve getting them onto the new billing platform at some point soon... there's been a recent change to the solutions being analysed and we're working out what that means.

We don't yet know when we'll be able to migrate or take on customers with this metering setup.

Blastoise recommends that you hold fire for now in regards to switching as OVO wouldn't be able to take you on just yet. Even when they do, I would strongly recommend getting your Heatwise setup switched out anyway for something more modern.

[retrotecchie]

@theunknowntech

Good advice. The systems were obsolete mid 90s when it became obvious that there were better and cheaper ways of heating a home and the cost of natural gas, where available, was significantly lower. You might think that electric heating is 'greener', but when these systems were in favour, about 80 percent of our electricity generation was coal-fired and much of the rest was nuclear. Now we have a greener energy mix, electric heating is on the cards again, but not with these older complicated systems.