RTS (Radio Teleswitch Service) Shutdown Update

My bill says “Simpler Energy - Economy 10”

On the meter pressing the blue button cycles through 3 different readings - R1, R2 and Total. I submit the R1 and R2 values as my peak and off peak readings.

Thanks!

Thanks, that helps a ton. Seems the source I was using has bad info - apologies. I’ve switched to one of the others I’ve got in my toolkit.

That’s not an RTS Meter - it definitely runs locally only. You can ignore the letters if you wish, but upgrading to a Smart Meter anyway also works - it’s worth considering.

If you’d rather stop them, Live Chat at https://ovoenergy.com/help is faster than Email.

To anyone else reading this, please be advised that opting out of Smart Meter Marketing does not apply to critical communications such as RTS Shutdown matters - OVO is entitled to bypass your opt-out in these cases.

​@Blastoise186 Thank you so much for your help.

Hey ​@pennard 

Glad to see one of our amazing volunteers, Blastoise186 has already stopped by with some really helpful advice here!

As they’ve mentioned, although it may not be an RTS meter, it’s always worth considering upgrading to the smart meter now while you’ve got the letter. All meters do expire and will need replacing at some point due to their certification. You can read more on that below:

• Meter Certification - What you need to know! Tutorial

I hope Blastoise’s advice was helpful.

Looking at that image the meter certification is over 9 years old, so it may be that which is prompting the replacement before it reaches 10 yo - rather than being anything to do with the RTS switch off:
(Maybe they just gave you the wrong message about why it should be/ needs to be replaced?)

Hi, I've been lurking on this forum for a while now, but this is my first post.  I live in MPAN 17 area (Kyle of Lochalsh, Northern Scotland) and have two supplies with separate meter arrangements. One supply is a 2-meter THTC setup, and the other (supplying an annexe) is a an Economy 10 meter exactly like @pennard showed in the photo above.  This meter has a 2014 certification date.  I have had no communication from OVO regarding either supply.

When I try to book a smart meter exchange for the Eco 10 supply on-line, I get the following message:

"Sorry, we can't install a smart meter yet

We check multiple criteria to make sure we successfully install your new smart meters on the day. Your account does not pass our eligibility check right now. Eligibility can change so please come back to try again soon."

I've been getting that message for many months now. From what I've read on this thread and others, I presume all this could indicate that:

1. I am not in range of the Arquiva network, or
2. I am in a load-managed area, or
3. Both.

I am happy enough to leave the non-smart Eco 10 supply alone for now, but realise that the clock is ticking on the THTC supply.  If I can't get a smart meter for the existing Eco 10 supply, then what hope is there for my THTC supply?  Given the all the tales of failed installations on this forum thread , and the current weather conditions, I am not inclined to press this further with OVO at the moment, even though OVO does seem to be improving recently.

Do any of you OVO-connected people have any advice?  Thanks.

Hey, welcome ​@Jantang !

We’ll need to see the meters in this case as it’ll help us figure this out.

We’ll see what we can advise from there!

​@Blastoise186, this is the THTC setup:

And this is the Eco 10 supply:

Thanks.

Thanks!

Let me tag ​@Bradley_OVO as I think he’ll need to check a few things with internal teams.

I can’t see anything obvious that’d be a blocker...

You have to remember that the many having sucessful installations do not feel any need to come here and tell others about it (some have done anyway, thanks to those).

It can make things look one sided when you only see the reports of errors.

​@Jantang Thanks for the detailed explanation and photos showcasing your current THTC and Eco10 set up. I might need to pop you a private message here for some more info to help look into this further.

​@Lukepeniket_OVO Any ideas in the meantime?

Luke doesn’t have time to reply properly right now, but he thinks it’s the Three-MPAN thing that’s causing this issue.

If you think about it, not many people have a setup like this one...

Hey ​@Jantang 

Have you reached out to our support team about this? I’m surprised that we haven’t written to you. But we do have a process in place for this cohort of customers & should be able to get your meters upgraded. This is current advice:
 

The RTS signal will end for our customers on 30 June 2025. The period between 1 July - 30 September 2025 will then be used to close-down the RTS signal and allow us to manage any unexpected customers impacted.

After a very successful pilot, from the 17th June 2024 we will begin writing to our Economy 10 RTS customers to invite them to call us to arrange for their meter exchange. 

We are continuing to work at pace to enable the same solution for the majority of our other RTS customers and our aim is to begin writing to these customers in Aug 2024. 

Many thanks to ​@Blastoise186  and ​@Bradley_OVO  for responding and looking into my issues.  This is what I believe have I learnt:

Firstly, my location has no or poor WAN coverage.  This is probably why I have not yet been offered a THTC meter exchange.  I am told that this is:

 "something our teams are working on resolving currently. I've had it confirmed that once a solution has been found OVO will be in touch with you directly to organise the meter change (which will be before the switch off date)."

Secondly, I might be able to request a smart meter exchange for my ECO10, but again:

"there would be factors that need to be addressed beforehand, which would explain why you're getting that error message when trying to book yourself online.
If you have a complex heating system set up we'd need our specialised metering team to do some investigation to make sure the exchange, in its current form doesnt impact this - seems to be judged on a site by site location currently."

The heating system is not that complex, just an Air-Source HP.  All I would want is a functional reaplacement for the existing meter.  However, without any WAN coverage, the exchange would be pointless, as I would still have to submit manual meter readings.

I am not entirely sure what the Three-MPAN thing that ​@Blastoise186 mentions, but the lack of WAN coverage would seem to be the killer.

So, it looks like I must carry on playing the waiting game.

Oh, and ​@Nukecad , I have seen enough positive comments on here, to let me believe that it can indeed be done, if the preconditions are right.  Thanks.

MPAN, or Meter Point Administration Number is basically the supply number. In your case, you have three because of your THTC + E10 setup.

​@Blastoise186, Yes, and so what is the issue?  The E10 is a completely separate supply and account - effectly a completely different building.  The THTC has 2 MPANs, but they are still on the end of just one cable.

That’s all Luke was able to tell me so far. But it’s a possible contributing factor.

​@Blastoise186 Thanks. Thinking about it some more, I suppose that it is quite possible that the two supplies share the same tap off the overhead transformer.   So, having two E10 supplies switching heating at the same time could create some new unexpected loading issues.  Hmmm!

Happy to have supported you ​@Jantang - Apprecaite not the immediate resolution we want right this second.

Glad to know that our internal teams are making all proper precautions ahead of contacting customers like yourself - Where your THTC supply is concerned, this will be OVO’s initial point of concern in resolving ahead of the switch off date. So, you can rest assured that you’ll be contacted ahead of this date! 

I would love to be able to acknowledge a sucessful smart meter installation.  I have had 2 “no shows” from the installation engineers to date and I am crossing my fingers (and legs and anything else I can cross) that my 3rd appointment scheduled for tomorrow will take place.  I will then be happy to report back here of a successful installation. Otherwise it will be a complaint to the ombudsman and a report back here of a third missed appointment.

I can now report a successful smart meter installation this afternoon.  This was achieved swiftly and efficiently by a very pleasant OVO engineer who answered my questions and explained how the home display worked.  The display appears to show the correct electricity rates for E10 in my area (MPAN 17) and has switched rates at the correct time this afternoon - will have to see if the evening and night switching times are ok.  Very happy so far, but will have to see if the Economy 10 tariff is the right one for me considering that I am losing my 24 hour cheap rate for water and panel  radiators that I had on THTC tariff.

Nice one ​@metalsman , thanks for letting us know!

Just got a few things for you to be aware of, hope you don’t mind! Long story short, please be aware that:

• The new meter may take up to six weeks before it starts to submit readings that show up on your account
• The new meter will need to run a bunch of tests and firmware updates over the next week or so
• It may take a few days before your new meter and tariff shows up on your account at all - hang in there!
• It’ll take around six weeks for your account to fully update as industry processes need to run to have all the systems catch up
• The engineer has taken the Final Readings from the removed meters and submitted them on your behalf - you’ll see these on the final bill that references them
• You’re more than welcome to swing by here again if you’ve got more questions :)

This thread is a goldmine! But there’s still something I couldn’t find any help on:

My Mum’s house in Northern Scotland (MPAN area 17) has storage heaters supplied via an RTS-controlled meter with a THTC tariff. The hours during which the heaters charge are controlled automatically depending on the weather forecast, which is great because it means she doesn’t need to fiddle with the heaters’ charging controls herself. Just set and forget.

But of course soon she will need to get a smart meter and switch to an E7 / E9 / E10 tariff. So does this mean waving goodbye to the handy automatic weather-dependent charging times? I can’t see anything which suggests this feature will be retained :-(

Thanks for any insights!

Welcome ​@lordvalumart ,

Thanks! I’m glad it’s helpful - it’s been a long process to get this out and it literally took over two years before I was able to get this one released. :)

Weather dependent switching was exclusive to certain Legacy RTS Tariffs only and is no longer available - this was terminated once all the RTS Tariffs were withdrawn from sale over a decade ago.

Economy 7/9/10 has never offered this functionality regardless of meter type. Smart Meters that manage these tariffs handle all the load switching locally on the meter itself - there’s no control signal to depend on which means it’s more reliable. Once configured, the meter will keep switching the load on/off pretty much bang on time no matter what happens to the WAN connection in the area.

Any heaters that are currently THTC controlled will still have the automatic charging retained when on Smart Meters, so you won’t need to mess around. The only difference in that regard is that the charging times will become more predictable rather than being random.

Hope this helps!