RTS (Radio Teleswitch Service) Shutdown Update

Hey @Dunny-side-A 

Welcome to the Forum.

As one of our volunteers has already mentioned, we’ve had lots of successful exchanges, but those do tend to go unspoken about as they don’t have anything to raise about the installation. We do tend to see those who’ve faced some kind of struggle but hopefully yours will go smoothly.

Do keep us updated as many in the community will find it very helpful or interesting to know how it goes. 

I see that OFGEM have issued a press release about the replacement of RTS meters with Smart meters today and BBC Scotland even led with this item on its news bulletin.  Here is the link

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/press-release/energy-sector-taskforce-unites-tackle-radio-teleswitch-challenge?utm_medium=email&utm_source=dotMailer&utm_campaign=Daily-Alert_03-10-2024&utm_content=Energy+sector+taskforce+unites+to+tackle+Radio+Teleswitch+challenge&dm_i=1QCB,8QUYV,6OM1R8,10CJ29,1

and another

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/end-radio-teleswitch-service-rts-what-were-doing-help

You will see that they have a new industry wide group to deal with issues and problems with the roll-out and installation of smart meter replacements.  If you have continuing problems that cannot be resolved by your supplier then your next course of action is to get in touch with the new action group noted in the press release.  OFGEM admit that in Scotland alone they have almost 200,000 meters to replace by June next year and going with the present replacement rate it will be 2028 before they are all replaced. This release is to again push the industry (not just OVO) to get their finger out and get on with it, a problem they have known about for years but continually dug their head in the sand.

That last sentence sums it all up really!

Heyho everyone.  As promised - some feedback.  Well...sort of !!!

Today is D-day - ok - it should have been ! hm…

So far - a wasted day - no show and no communication - from anyone.

And no-one at  “OVO-CENTRAL”  knows why - too early apparently.

Our window ‘slot’ for today closed almost 3 hours ago - so … no change here this weekend.    

Next week ?  hm … we shall see -  as everyone is  SO, SO busy …

especially after Ofgem’s wake-up meeting and press release yesterday (3/10) I suppose.  

REALLY ?  the words kick, backside (and teeth ?) all spring to mind ...

Anyway - at least  here at the ranch we still have functioning heating & hot-water for a while longer.

More news - as & when …

Keep smiling.  It could yet happen …

Oh dear! Sorry to hear that but no real surprise to me. Mine turned up as arranged a couple of weeks ago but could not fit the new meter as a fuse box was a little loose! DNO to fix. Not sure which is worse, turning up & cannot complete or not turning up at all! 800,000 meters fitted by next June? 

Can you not claim £30 for missed appointment?

My new meter installation is due on 10 October in the afternoon and OVO have been sending me emails and texts reminding me of the fact - they better turn up.

Yes, you can - unless you were given more than 24 hours notice.

Well according to the statement released today regarding the RTS situation you have got a proportion of 800,000 smart meters to fit successfully! Good luck!

My mother and her friends saw that item on the BBC Scotland news and now they’re really starting to worry.  Mother knew there was something in the offing but I was keeping all the grim news in this forum from her in the hope that her switchover would happen hassle-free.  She (and I) have not had any word about an engineer visit.  How is contact made - email, phone, letter?

Hi @andykelp ,

In this situation, please call 0330 303 5063 and ask for Squad 70. They’ll set you up with a migration Path.

The contact would have been via email/letter.

From my experience they don’t need to worry too much if they have storage heaters. The important thing seems to be knowing this forum exists and can offer help.
In my case the installation broke my off peak circuit entirely and telephone advisers/visiting ‘engineers’ wouldn’t listen to what was the easy solution of OVO back office remotely programming the meter. This fixed the problem. 

This is certainly heating up, forgive the pun! I had a visit from the engineer last week all prepared for the change over to the new meter. Unfortunately the engineer was not qualified to work on my system and couldn’t do the work. The work has been reprogrammed for 7th November. Hope the engineer can complete the work this time.

On another matter I am looking for the new meter to give me exactly the same service as THTC does. Im increasingly doubting that this is the case.

Something worth considering is the change in tariff from THTC.

The main bone of contention is that my storage heaters have convection elements, they are on a separate board,  that I can currently use 24/7 at the low rate. OVO are offering me Economy 10 which will only allow access to the low rate at the set times specified on their website. I’m fairly certain that this will result in an increase in my cost, not my usage, This in my view is a change in contract and OVO should be offering something to compensate and ensure that I am no worse off.

Interested how the current setup works as the with THTC the off peak circuit isn’t energised outwith off peak times so unless that circuit has been connected between the teleswitch (naughty) and meter it can’t be charged at low rate. 
Good luck with your change of contract thoughts. Do you have a written THTC contract? The only way you might get somewhere with that is to go to Ofgem which will most likely go nowhere. 

If you change to E10 all of your electrical usage will be at the cheap rate at off peak times. With THTC only your heating is at off peak rate. Whether that works out cheaper for you depends if you can use high consumption items eg washing machine, tumble dryer etc at off peak times. I keep a spreadsheet of all my electricity consumption so it will be easy for me to check. I am also retired so can transfer high energy usage to cheaper times.

It’s not strictly a change in contract, so much as ending your existing THTC contract and replacing it with a new one, which has a completely different definition.

Whether you’ll be worse off or not depends on how you use energy going forwards. The advantage of E10 however, is that ALL usage during Off-Peak hours counts as Off-Peak and gets the cheaper rate, whereas THTC only gives you the Off-Peak rates for heating/hot water type stuff and nothing else.

Personally, I don’t feel OVO has to compensate you for that - and tbh profit margins are already razor thin for energy suppliers anyway. In my personal view, it doesn’t feel appropriate to make them even more razor thin without a seriously compelling reason.

Well you learn something new every day. Thank you for your responses. I had understood, wrongly it seems, that the teleswitch simply controlled the times the storage heaters were charging. I had believed that the third consumer unit was fed by the lower rate and the other main consumer unit was fed by the higher rate. From your explanation this appears to be wrong and would explain my home usage being similar to that of a small industrial unit. I do have all my paperwork from the original installation by Scottish Hydro Electric back in 1989.

My current THTC installation comprises 2 meters.  1 meter records usage for lights and sockets at the “dear” tariff, and the other records usage for all heating related loads at the “cheap” tariff. This second “heating” meter has 2 circuits which are split into “storage” (switched by RTS) and “24 hrs” usage.  I would like to know if this installation could be configured with 2 Smart meters, i.e a 4 port unit to record the dear tariff (lights and sockets) and a 5 port unit to record the cheap heating tariff with the RTS switching replaced by the 5th port.  Would welcome some discussion on this.

Hi @Gunnista ,

The Smart Meter solutions would run on ONE Smart Meter rather than two separate meters. It’d be a Five Terminal Smart Meter paired up with additional External Contactors to allow one unit to control everything.

Please note that THTC Support is ending soon for 99% of OVO customers, so there is no guarantee you’ll be able to keep THTC after you migrate. I recommend you discuss this with OVO - they’re best placed to identify your tariff options.

Thanks, I understand I am in a Load Managed Area however I would welcome further information on the solution you refer to.  Is there a diagram or schematic I could look at to determine what, if any, changes I need to make to the consumer unit wiring configurations?

No diagram available I’m afraid - it’s case by case. However, any adjustments to wiring will be handled by OVO unless the engineer tells you otherwise.

These remarks are based solely on what I’ve been able to glean from posts at this forum and elsewhere, so please don’t base any decisions on them!

The days of 24-hour cheap-rate electricity for heating are over (or will soon be).  What you’re likely to be offered is a choice of various Time of Use plans with different peak and offpeak periods. In your case, storage heaters and water heaters would be wired on a separate circuit, which I suppose they already are. This circuit would be live only during the plan’s offpeak periods. Everything else would be on a separate circuit (or circuits) that would be always live. 

What you’re charged depends only on the times you use electricity, not what it’s used for. With an Economy 10 tariff, for example, your storage heaters would get five hours of charge at night and five hours during the day, often two hours in the early afternoon and three hours in the late evening. How well this would work for you depends a lot on what type of heaters you have and how old they are.

Many storage heaters have other functions that need 24-hour power, for example electronic timing controls and fans to blow out warm air when you need it, and possibly heating elements so that the fan can act as a convection heater when it’s really cold. This might involve a bit of electrical work if there is only a single feed to the storage heaters.

With careful management of this sort of arrangement, you should be able both to stay warm and to keep costs in check. For example, during the evening offpeak period you might be more comfortable with traditional fan heaters or panel heaters running at the cheaper rate. By confining the use of power-hungry equipment like tumble dryers, washing machines, cookers and hoovers to offpeak periods, you would be able to reduce the amount of electricity you’re using at the higher price. It’s possible that some customers will find that the peak rate is quite a bit lower than the one they’re currently paying.  

You’ll have to dust off the slide-rule once you know what plans are on offer, to be able to compare them to what you’re currently paying. You may have to balance cost, comfort and convenience to arrive at an acceptable compromise, but it should be achievable.

OVO did call my father very quickly after my email and asked us both to call at same time so he could give permission for me to deal with his account, and after that quickly passed on to the team dealing with THTC meter changes who sent me a very good email with the tariff details and walked me through the options. Said he would call back with appointment dates - which he has done, but I wanted to come on here and read the threads before choosing a tariff for my dad. 

They called offering two appointments this week, then next appt’s are in November for NE Scotland, I am going to call back today and try for this Sat appt, we have decided on E10 tariff. Below are the tariff details we got from OVO - hope it is OK posting these here - NE Scotland, probably don’t include the rises on 1st October - not sure. I will post again with updates and I have to do the same for another relative who are on pre-payment card meter. 

Current plan: Simpler Energy - THTC 01 July 2024

Unit rate (Anytime): £0.2547 per KWh (excluding tax)

Unit rate (heating): £0.2135 per KWh (excluding tax)

Standing charge: £0.5993 per day (excluding tax)

New meter options:

Anytime meter

Unit rate (anytime): £0.218 per KWh (excluding tax)

Standing charge: £0.5818 per day (excluding tax)

Domestic Economy meter (off peak hours: 00:00-07:00)

Unit rate (peak): £0.25 per KWh (excluding tax)

Unit rate (offpeak): £0.142 per KWh (excluding tax)

Standing charge: £0.5925 per day (excluding tax)

Economy 10 meter (off peak hours: 04:30-07:30,13:30-16:30, 20:30-00:30)

Unit rate (peak): £0.2288 per KWh (excluding tax)

Unit rate (offpeak): £0.1804 per KWh (excluding tax)

Standing charge: £0.5925 per day (excluding tax)

Economy 9 meter (off peak hours: 04:00-07:00,13:00-16:00, 20:30-23:30 BST)

Unit rate (peak): £0.2378 per KWh (excluding tax)

Unit rate (offpeak): £0.1816 per KWh (excluding tax)

Standing charge: £0.5925 per day (excluding tax)

That’s very helpful, thanks. The Economy 10 rates look to be the most attractive, but whether the plan will work well for your father depends a lot on (a) the heating equipment he already has installed, and (b) whether he’s likely to be able to adjust his lifestyle to the new regime. 

An important thing to note is that on a tariff like this, all consumption in the offpeak periods is charged at offpeak rates. That means he could save quite a bit by doing things like cooking, washing, drying and hoovering between 1:30 and 4:30 pm or after 8:30 pm. Depending on the type, number and sizes of the storage heaters, it might be better not to be charging (all of) them in the late-evening slot, but to use direct heating of some sort (a little 2000W fan heater near your feet works wonders) instead to give instant comfort. It would cost just the same for the same amount of heat and should be more effective. 

An afterthought: beware, too, of any immersion heater for hot water. It might be enough to have this turning on only during the night offpeak period, so a separate time switch for it could be a good investment if there isn’t one already - we’ve seen too many instances of always-on immersion heaters gobbling electricity unnecessarily, when much of the time all they’re doing is keeping the loft nice and warm for the starlings.

It takes 5-6kWh to heat up a 120l tank from cold, so a 3kW immersion heater would take less than two hours to do its job. If the tank is reasonably well insulated, that should easily last all day even including a nice hot bath. Check, too, whether the tank has two heating elements: they often have one at the bottom and another near the top. The upper one should be wired to the constant circuit, so it can be turned on for an hour or so if necessary - at peak prices, mind, unless it’s during an offpeak period - to heat up enough water to keep him going if he’s used up all the hot water ahead of schedule. 

There’s a lot to consider!

Firedog, he has Dimplex Quantum storage heaters, which I believe the engineer will program to match Economy 10 when he changes the meter. He also has 3 wall panel heaters in smaller rooms so could use these in future at off peak rates which would have been peak before. 

We removed his 120l hot water tank and replaced it with a small water heater, as he has electric shower and no bath. It has a separate timer but he just uses the override on button when he wants it warm. 

Have just called OVO again to make the appt to change the meter, had to speak to 2 people before getting passed to correct department, but now been on hold for 25 minutes and have to go out - this is not easy!

Errr … I don’t think meter engineers get involved in programming household appliances. What will happen is that the NSH will be wired to the switched circuit for charging, while their controls and fans (and boost element, perhaps) will be on the normal constant circuit. These two circuits will be cobbled together from the existing consumer units (fuse boxes). Since the charging bit will be active in the late evening offpeak period, it may mean some adjustment to the controls if this charge proves not to be essential. As I said, it depends a lot on the size, number and type of NSH whether the late evening charge is necessary, or whether it just ends up keeping the whole house heated in the wee small hours when the occupant is tucked up in bed. 

You’ll make sure, of course, that the water heater’s timer is set appropriately to operate only during offpeak hours. Its thermostat will help.

The same applies to the electric shower - probably the most power-hungry appliance in the house. I’m no spring chicken, but I did manage for a long time to confine my showers to Economy 7’s offpeak periods. That involved either finishing before 08:00 in the summer or showering after midnight in the winter (that all changed when my offpeak rate leapt from 9p to 23p in January last year). Economy 10 at least allows for a shower during the day or before bed.
 

One thing I haven’t mentioned: if the new meter is set to send half-hourly usage data (which I think it will be by default), you (plural) will be able to see just where the electricity is going. Let’s play Spot the shower: