No hot water after your smart meter was fitted on Economy 7? Here's what to do
Stay safe with electrics. Never open your meter, the cover on your hot water tank's immersion heater, or the inside of a fuse box. The checks below only involve switches you'd normally use. If you see burning, smell hot plastic or a switch keeps tripping, call an electrician.
Lots of people on Economy 7 find their immersion heater stops heating overnight, or their storage heaters stay cold, straight after a smart meter is installed. It's a very common problem, and in most cases nothing in your home is broken. The new meter just hasn't been set up to switch your off-peak circuit on at night.
- Get hot water tonight using the boost or "day" switch on your tank.
- Check the immersion switches are on and nothing has tripped.
- Look at your meter's screen during off-peak hours.
- Call your supplier and ask them to check the meter's off-peak switching.
- If the supplier says the meter is fine, call an electrician.
Each step has important details below. Tap a step to jump to it.
Why this happens
On Economy 7, your hot water tank (and storage heaters, if you have them) is usually wired to a separate off-peak circuit. That circuit only gets power at night, when electricity is cheaper. Before your smart meter, something else switched it on and off: a timer built into your old meter, a separate time switch, or a radio signal.
Your new smart meter is supposed to take over that job using a switch inside it. That switch has its own schedule, and your energy supplier sends it to the meter remotely. If the schedule isn't sent, or the wrong one is sent, your off-peak circuit never gets switched on, so your water never heats up overnight.
Confusingly, the meter can be charging you the cheap night rate correctly while the switching schedule is wrong. They're two separate settings, which is why your bill can look fine while your water stays cold.
Step by step
1Get hot water tonight
Most Economy 7 hot water tanks have two heating elements with two switches. They're often labelled "Bath" and "Sink", or there's a "Boost" button or dial.
- Bath (or "Off-peak") heats the whole tank overnight on the cheap rate. This is the one that's stopped working.
- Sink (or "Boost") heats a smaller amount of water at the top of the tank, using normal daytime electricity. This one usually still works, because it isn't on the off-peak circuit.
Switch on the Sink or Boost to get some hot water now. It costs more to run, so turn it off once you have what you need. This is only a stopgap until the meter is fixed.
2Check the simple things
- Make sure the switch for the immersion heater is on. It's usually on the wall near the tank, often with a red light.
- Some homes have a second, smaller fuse box just for off-peak circuits, near the meter. Look to see if any switch is in the "off" position. If one is, you can push it back on once. If it trips again, leave it off and call an electrician.
- If you have a separate timer on the immersion, check its clock is right. A power cut during the meter fitting may have reset it.
3Look at your meter's screen during off-peak hours
Many smart meters show whether the off-peak switch is on or off, usually as a small symbol on the display. Some people also hear a click from the meter when it switches on at night.
Check your supplier's guide for your meter model (the name is usually printed on the front) to find out what the symbol looks like. If the switch never comes on during off-peak hours, that confirms the meter needs setting up.
Don't worry if you can't work it out. Your supplier can check this remotely in step 4.
4Call your energy supplier
This is usually where it gets fixed, and often without anyone needing to visit. Many people get passed around, so it helps to use the right words. You could say:
"My immersion heater (and storage heaters) stopped working after my smart meter was installed on [date]. I'm on Economy 7. Please check that the off-peak load switching schedule has been sent to my meter, not just the Economy 7 tariff times. I believe it's called the auxiliary load control switch, or ALCS."
A few things worth knowing:
- The fix is usually sent to the meter remotely, but it can take a few days, and it sometimes fails the first time. If nothing changes after a few days, call back.
- Write down the date, time and name of each person you speak to.
- Some older wiring setups need an engineer to visit. If so, ask the supplier to book one.
5If the supplier says the meter is fine, call an electrician
If your supplier confirms the meter is switching the off-peak circuit on at night, but you still have no hot water, the problem may be the immersion heater itself, its thermostat or the wiring. That's a job for a registered electrician. Don't take the cover off the immersion heater yourself.
Are your off-peak times now different?
Your off-peak hours after a smart meter is fitted might not be the same as before. On some smart meters, the off-peak period stays on winter time (GMT) all year, which means it starts an hour later on the clock in summer.
If you use a separate timer on your immersion heater or storage heaters, ask your supplier exactly what your off-peak hours are now, and set your timer to match. Otherwise you could end up heating water on the expensive daytime rate.
Questions people ask
Can a smart meter break my immersion heater?
No. The meter doesn't damage the heater. The problem is almost always that the meter isn't switching the power on at the right times.
I'm paying more because I've been using the boost. Can I claim it back?
You can ask. Tell your supplier what happened and how long it lasted. If you're not happy with their answer, you can make a formal complaint. If it isn't sorted within 8 weeks, you can take it to the Energy Ombudsman.
Does this affect storage heaters too?
Yes. Storage heaters on the off-peak circuit stop charging for the same reason, and the fix from your supplier is the same.