RTS (Radio Teleswitch Service) Shutdown Update

Howdy ​@thelearner ,

Please rest assured that the House Rules on the OVO Forum fully support discussions regarding other suppliers, even if that means suggesting that someone else has a better deal than OVO it’s fully permitted here. As long as you’re not trying to make money out of it yourself with sneaky affiliate/commission/kickback tactics (especially undisclosed ones!) and you’re not just spamming referral links all over the Forum without adding something that actually benefits the Forum itself, you’re good to go.

We’ll never report, edit or take down posts that fit those criteria above as long as the rest of the post meets the House Rules.

Hope that helps!

So reply from Octopus is that Snug tariff is currently not working correctly and they are working to improve it. Then meter make/model needs to be eligible for it to work and they need to ensure they can connect to it. 

So it probably will happen but don’t know when. 

My mother is currrently on Simpler Energy - Superdeal 01. We need to know if there are any cheap rate periods during the day as she wants to heat her immersion heater when she wakes up and sometimes in the afternoon. 
 

Thanks 

Hi ​@Andysparrow ,

Please see the thread below for more details

• RTS (Radio Teleswitch Service) Shutdown Update F.A.Q.

I’m afraid Superdeal doesn’t offer any guarantee of cheap rates during the day - it’s mostly overnight. With that being said, it usually gives two hours of cheaper heating power during the afternoon for top-ups.

With that being said, please migrate your mother to Smart Meters ASAP. It is likely that Economy 7 or Economy 10 will be more appropriate and her current Meters WILL STOP WORKING from June 2025 onwards, which could leave her with no heating or hot water.

When you’re next with her, please call 0330 303 5063 and ask for Squad 70, or Live Chat via https://ovoenergy.com/help and they’ll set everything up for you.

The Priority Services Register might also be of interest: https://www.ovoenergy.com/register-for-priority-services

Spoke to OVO about my uncles allegedly 3ph supply om 18th Dec. They have all photos and engineer report and I got them to add my email to account and emailed them all the details - no appointments but assured they wiuld call with one. 

Emailed again 15th Jan no reply. Called yesterdaym straight through got an appointment for late Feb - confirmed 3 PH engineer booked, 

The setup intrigues me so going to try and be there for eng appointment.

Hey ​@thelearner 

Thanks for the update, glad to hear you’ve got an appointment booked in.

Let us know how that goes.

Mo59 wrote:

Firedog wrote:

An appeal to successful RTS migrants
 

When your shiny new smart meter has settled down completely a few weeks after installation, your supply will probably have been allocated a new MPAN. The ID part of the MPAN should be the same as the one for the old non-RTS meter, but some of the other figures may have changed. An MPAN consists of “S” followed by 21 digits in six groups, and you’ll see the full thing on your bills. It looks like this:
 

 

I’d be very interested to see examples of the new MPANs, so if anyone can be bothered to reply here with theirs, I’d be grateful. An MPAN is considered PII (Personally Identifiable Information), which a criminal could use for nefarious purposes. However, it’s only the MP ID number that is traceable to a particular address, and I’m not interested in that. The first 10 digits (in this example, 00 111 222 13) will be quite enough. I’d also want to know the name of the tariff you’re now on, e.g. Simpler Energy - Economy 7 - 01/10/2024 (most probably Economy 7 or Economy 10, but there will be others). If you’re no longer an OVO customer, the name of your current supplier would be welcome, too.

I’ll happily explain my interest in this if anyone cares! Basically, I’m trying to find out how these new meters are set up to match the tariff. That way, we may have a way of spotting why a particular meter isn’t performing as expected - e.g. switching tariff rates at the wrong times.

Over to you! 

 

Mine is 02 88 100 17.  I am in Perthshire, Scotland and on Economy 10.  Meter installed 4th November and all worked correctly since installation.

Well Firedog here is an odd one for you.  I had my new smartmeter installed on 28th November to replace my 2 meter THTC set up.  My postcode is AB33 8 in NE Scotland. I cannot give you the section of my MPAN as it has not been added to my bills yet. I can only give you the details which OVO have recorded on the online account history of my readings and that is the PII.

Everything was set up correctly on Simpler Energy - Economy 10 tariff with switch times being correct and the electricity tariff rates being correct for Economy 10.  On 1st January however when the tariff rates changed I discovered that I was now being charged THTC rates even though my times were still Economy 10 and my account said I was on Simpler Energy - THTC.  I have also discovered that while my new meter is registered on my account the old RTS meter is still showing on my account (MPAN 02 529 16 17 2) . I highlighted this to OVO on Jan 2 but despite repeated calls by me to seek a resolution I have got nowhere.

What then does my MPAN state should be in place at my home?

I can’t really make any sensible comment, I’m afraid. I’d just say that replacing a complex multi-meter system with a single smart meter is an incredibly complex process, far more so than just upgrading a single meter. Changes have to be made all over OVO’s systems and on the national databases. Theyr’e not all automatic, and they take time. It may also matter in which order they’re done, so there are multiple opportunities for something to go wrong when it’s all happening under great pressure as the RTS shutdown looms ever closer.

In your situation, I think I would just back off and wait for things to take their course. What is most important is that meter readings are getting through and being recorded on your account. If they are, you don’t have much to worry about so long as you have an idea of what you’re actually spending, even if you have to do the sums yourself. If you’re paying by Direct Debit, and it’s enough to cover your costs, all the rest will eventually come out in the wash. If you’re not, be sure to salt away enough to cover the bill when it turns up.  

By all means keep an eye on your account to spot any changes, but I wouldn’t be bothering support at all if you’re happy with the way the meter’s working.

Just like to add to the PH2 person that here in PH16 have same thing. Hot water on at different times than storage heaters and we have no timers that I can see. I wonder if it’s something that Scottish Hydro fitted for us? Do we have 2 RTS? 

​@Karenergy Welcome back! The last time we heard from you, you explained how the engineer who came to exchange your meter threw up his hands in horror and left without doing anything. Have you got any further?

Your RTS system probably has three different rates: Peak, Offpeak and Heating. The Heating bit is what is controlled by the RTS, charging the storage heaters up when SSEN feel like it for probably 7 hours a day, not necessarily in a contiguous block. The water heater may be wired to work at offpeak rates and times, which might be midnight to 7 am. Only you can tell, but I don’t think an arrangement like this would be unusual.

We are on THTC rate like many others. There are only 2 rates on this tariff.  While I agree that RTS controls the storage heaters I’m confused about what is controlling our main immersion heater if not RTS. It is on at similar but not the same times to the heaters. We have only the most basic (old) equipment. I called OVO last week as fed up getting ‘urgent’ warnings. Was told that there is a hold up because of problems with ‘the signal’ and just to wait and ignore messages….

Thank you - that is what we have (meter readings 1 = ‘Peak’; 2 = ’Off-peak’; 3 = ‘Heating’). I’m having difficulty understanding exactly what will happen with the meter switch. The wiring from our current meter looks like this:

I’m not certain if those three circuits match to the meters/rates and what will happen to them on meter switch. I’m guessing that the new meter will just have 24hr supply and timed supply so maybe these ‘water heater’ and ‘storage heating’ circuits will be merged into a timed supply depending on the Tariff/Meter selected. It also sounds like the new meter and tariff are tied together and Economy 7 or 10 cannot easily be interchanged if we find that we need some daytime heat on the timed circuit. Have I got this about right?

The big difference between a THTC system (if that’s what you have) and a smart metered one is that there is no longer any 24-hour heating supply. All electricity used is measured as it passes through the meter and recorded on either the peak or the offpeak register, depending solely on the time. There is a device built on to the meter that controls the supply to, say, storage and water heaters that are most economical when they only consume electricity at offpeak rates. You could perhaps leave this switched circuit to get on with the job of supplying the heaters and trust to the heaters’ thermostats to stop gobbling power when they’ve got enough. 

Meanwhile, everything else has power available all the time, but if it’s used at offpeak times, it’s billed at the offpeak rate. This is why a tariff like Economy 10 can be a good replacement for THTC. You get two offpeak slots during waking hours which it makes sense to exploit for greedier appliances like cookers, washing and drying machines, hoovers and irons, and also for electric showers and direct heaters where appropriate.

There will be some lifestyle adjustments to be made, but all in all it should be possible to get comfortable at no greater cost than THTC. 

It may be possible to switch from one ToU tariff to another, but it won’t necessarily be straightforward. I wouldn’t bank on it; I’d do the sums in advance to get it right first time.

Thanks, by the way, for the photo. It didn’t help much, I’m sorry to say. There are three live cables coming from the meter, so I suspect that the thinner one is simply a load switch for an external contactor, for example for the water heater. One of the thicker ones will be the constant supply to things like lights, sockets and kitchen equipment, while the other will be the switched (‘offpeak’) supply to the storage heaters. This arrangement could be replicated exactly by the new smart meter.    

Many thanks for the reply. Reading through some posts it sounds like THTC is a Scottish thing and we are near Southampton but apparently configured similarly in our flat. We have some storage heaters that are older and have no thermostat so we’ll upgrade to something more modern when we can afford it. Hopefully we can keep these working as they are now when the meter is changed. 

Yes, there are similar arrangements in your region, e.g. Flexiheat and Superdeal.  There are minor variations (there may not be a 24-hour heating supply at lower rates, for example, just lots of hours each day during which power is delivered for, say, 7 hours at times determined by SSEN via the RTS). I think most of what I wrote earlier applies equally well. 

Enginer came out replaced my rts meter and other meter with exonomy10 he had to reinstall old system as no mobile coverage what does this mean for us in the Highlands 

1. Mobile coverage has nothing to do with it - the smart meter uses a different communications system.
2. The engineer was probably badly prepared. Was he from OVO or one of their sub-contractors?
   An OVO engineer should have known to bring a pre-configured Economy 10 meter with him if there was doubt about the availability of the smart meter network (WAN).

There are a few solutions for those outwith the WAN in the Highlands. OVO’s infrastructure team will be looking for a way to get you connected, so you may want to call OVO and ask what happens next. You should also ask why you weren’t provided with a pre-configured meter.

Hi ​@jaymuirhead,

Thanks for your post, and a warm welcome to the OVO Forum! Sorry to hear about the failed smart appointment. Just to confirm, did they engineer put your original RTS meter back in situ? I can imagine that this must be worrying given that RTS is to be shut off. I hope I can put your mind at ease here - I’ve spoken to our RTS team and they’ve confirmed that there is a fix being worked on for the areas with no WAN coverage, and customers in your situation will be contacted once this fix is in place.

At the moment I don’t have an exact date that this will all be sorted, however it will be before the RTS shut down at the end of June this year. Please do reach out if you have any further questions!

There’s some good info in our RTS Faq’s page on our website here.

LANDIS & GYR 5246C

Is this an RTS meter?         I am told it is NOT …

 https://www.landisgyr.com/webfoo/wp-content/uploads/product-files/5246_Technical_Specification11.pdf      Has no mention of any radio switch elements.

Hi ​@Pollowick ,

It is not RTS. However, that unit is 15 years old so has only five years lifetime remaining before it might require replacement. 

As Blastoise says, no, it’s not. If it were, it would say so on it, with the word radio somewhere.

That’s not the whole story, though. In many cases, RTS-controlled supplies have ordinary meters like yours with a separate radio teleswitch, sometimes even in a different room. Your supplier has worked out from the information they have about your supply that it is RTS-controlled.

Sadly, in a few cases that information is out of date. We have seen cases where RTS-controlled supplies were at some stage changed to do away with the teleswitch, but the supplier at the time didn’t bother to update the information. If you’ve been told that you have an RTS system that has to be upgraded when you don’t think you have, this is a possible explanation.  We could probably confirm that if you posted a screenshot of your MPAN from a recent bill. If you do, please obscure the supply ID - the big box on the bottom line.:
    

In any case, that meter will have to be exchanged for a smart one sooner or later. 

You have both confirmed exactly what I already new - but continued calls, emails and letters are getting to be a nuisance.

There is nothing else connected timeswitch wise - the outputs go to a 4-pole isolator and from there direct to a split tariff consumer unit.

The details -    S  02  136   104

                            20 xxxx  xxxx    624

Firedog wrote:

Pollowick wrote:

LANDIS & GYR 5246C

Is this an RTS meter?
 

As Blastoise says, no, it’s not. If it were, it would say so on it, with the word radio somewhere.

That’s not the whole story, though. In many cases, RTS-controlled supplies have ordinary meters like yours with a separate radio teleswitch, sometimes even in a different room. Your supplier has worked out from the information they have about your supply that it is RTS-controlled.

Sadly, in a few cases that information is out of date. We have seen cases where RTS-controlled supplies were at some stage changed to do away with the teleswitch, but the supplier at the time didn’t bother to update the information. If you’ve been told that you have an RTS system that has to be upgraded when you don’t think you have, this is a possible explanation.  We could probably confirm that if you posted a screenshot of your MPAN from a recent bill. If you do, please obscure the supply ID - the big box on the bottom line.:
    

 

In any case, that meter will have to be exchanged for a smart one sooner or later. 

I did respond to your posts on Friday then editted it with the MPAN detrails - for some reason it decided my post needed “moderation” and obviously te moderators thoink say “thanks” is not acceptable!

That would be the AutoMod. Nothing against you personally - just an automated security tool that we have to use here to keep the… Undesirables… Out.

We’ll get your comment up ASAP in the morning.

Morning ​@Pollowick,

I hope you had a good weekend. Firstly, sorry for your post being blocked - I have now made it visible in this topic. This was automated and, sometimes, the platform can get it wrong. I’m sorry as well for the calls and contact you’ve been getting around RTS removal. If we have your supply down as RTS then your account will fall under ‘Squad 70’ who are our complex metering experts. My advice would be to contact our Support Team and explain what’s happening - they should be able to assess your meter and let you know exactly what the setup is, and whether the RTS shutdown applies to your property. If you contact Support, you’ll be put through to a member of Squad 70 automatically. I would personally recommend contacting by email via hello@ovoenergy.com, sending the photo of your meter to them (make sure that the nothing is obscured in the photo when you email them).

Let us know how you get on with this!