Is my PAYG meter impacted by the RTS shutdown?

Hi ​@Vreid92 ,

I can’t confirm whether this unit is an RTS Meter or not as the records aren’t available to me. However, it IS a Five-Terminal Multi-Rate Meter so it must be supporting some kind of Complex Tariff. It also appears to have a 2A Relay so it could also be controlling something else…

To tell you more about it though, I need a clearer image.

With that being said, your Meter is reaching End of Service Life as it’s only Certified for 20 years - making September 2027 the expiry date for it. I’d recommend you get it replaced with Smart Meters anyway at a convenient time.

Hi. They have said we cant get a smart meter due to restriction on our property as no signal..they cant give a traditional THTC meter as they are for emergencies and then told me I cant have Economy 10 or 7 as id need to be able to set charge times on my electric heaters but then changed their mind and decided they could, but we are paying a fortune, between £600-£750 a month in winter and our heaters are only on a few hours in morning and night and we only have them set at 19 degrees so not taking the mick... We have new dimplex heaters. We can set charge times on our bigger heaters but not bedroom panel heaters or bathroom..What can i take pictures of to give you a clearer picture? I did ask what happens when RTS shuts down in June and I cant get switched to something else..they couldnt answer!!

A THTC system usually requires two meters, one for the peak rate domestic usage and switched storage heaters/hot water, the other for a 24-hour heating circuit. You don’t appear to have this sort of arrangement. The switched circuit can be controlled by a radio teleswitch managed by the electricity distributor (SSEN), but it doesn’t have to be. Unless you have a box somewhere labelled Radio Teleswitch or similar, it’s most likely that power supply to storage heaters during the offpeak period is controlled by a clock inside the meter itself. So, if this is your only meter and there’s no RTS box nearby, it should be quite possible to exchange it for a smart meter. 

The problem may be that SSE’s records of the millions of installations it was supplying were not completely accurate, but these are the records that OVO has to rely on. It could be that your system was wrongly classified as THTC and/or RTS, which will influence OVO’s response to support requests.  

The meter in the picture is the only one we have, it has the 2 rates on it. And then there is that black box which has stickers on it with old meter reading from previous meters it has been connected to, and it appears to be a fuse box? 100amp fuse. We have 2 fuse boxes for appliances/heating, one which has heaters & hot water and the other is for the lights, sockets etc. Our rates shown on our meter dont even match the rates that OVO have said are for THTC. They are saying that they cant fit a smart meter due to no signal in the area and there is a restriction on my area..but others have moved supplier and have smart meters fitted no problem. Its costing so much, even in summer with no heating on, we are around £200, winter is between £600-£750, heaters are only on for a couple of hours morning and evening for the kids, which makes me think there is something just not right. Have came across plenty of people with new electric heating systems and its costing nowhere near that.

Thank you for your help!😊

What images do you need and I can take some clearer pictures tomorrow? 

It seems to be an awful lot of money considering these dimplex storage heaters are supposed to be 27% more energy efficient🙈.

Thank you for your help! 

I’m no expert, but I think that is the service head, the end of SSEN’s cable into the house. It consists of a cut-out with a big fuse designed to stop the supply if something goes catastrophically wrong in the house. It’s a bit unusual because in most installations, the main cable comes up to the service head, with the onward supply coming from the top. Your main cable comes down, so the box is a bit shorter and wider than usual to accommodate the three cables.

Again, I’m speculating. You didn’t say where you are in the country, so you may well be in what is called a Load Managed Area (LMA), where the DNO (the electricity distributor, in your case SSEN) can shift load away from some properties to supply others if the local network can’t temporarily satisfy the total demand in that area. This would use the Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS) which your system doesn’t appear to use. OVO haven’t yet worked out precisely how to handle THTC systems in LMAs, but that shouldn’t be a problem in your case. There are ways of helping by means of smart meters, e.g. by arranging for meters in the LMA to switch heavy loads like storage heaters on and off at staggered times.

The fact that there’s no signal shouldn’t nowadays preclude installing a smart meter. Normally, after the meter has been installed, its final configuration is done remotely while the engineer is on site. OVO has been working around the problem of no signal by pre-configuring meters for Economy 7 to switch the offpeak load on and off at the appropriate times. 

Last, it’s not easy to establish the life of a meter like yours. Other similar Landis + Gyr meters (with model numbers starting with Z) are only certified for 10 years, so if this applies to yours, it’s well overdue for replacement. 

I would suggest, then, that you get in touch with OVO Support again and ask what the restriction is, pointing out that:

• Your meter’s certification appears to have expired eight years ago, so OVO are bound to exchange it.
• You don’t have an RTS-controlled system;
• You understand it’s quite possible to install a pre-configured smart meter even though they think there’s no WAN (Wide Area Network) signal where you live. Some of your neighbours on the same street have had smart meters installed;
    

It might be more effective to do this over webchat, so you can get a written record of the conversation. If they try to fob you off again, ask if you could be put in touch with the Smart team who would understand the technicalities.

Good luck!

PS If and when you reply, please say where you are - the first bit of your postcode is enough to nail down what should be available to you.

We are in AB45 area. I will get onto the chat today, im due to talk to the handler from the Energy Ombudsman today so I will make sure I mention all of this. 

Good idea with the webchat! As iv noticed previously they say things over the phone and its totally different to what they say in writing, or make a point of phoning when you specify for everything to be done via email just so that there is no record.

I wish I had joined this forum before!

Honestly, thanks so much for your help! Its really appreciated.

Forgot to add, he mentioned to me on the phone about a 'dummysmart meter' but then came back and said there was no signal in the area and the smart meter would need signal to program even if it were a dummy meter so it wasnt possible, i just want to be able to pay monthly or pay online with a smart meter so as im not going to the shop constantly in winter months riskin lives when the weather is bad, but they just dont seem to get it!

I wonder if our resident expert ​@Lukepeniket_OVO has time to read this thread and have any comments on what Mr Reid in Banff is being told, bearing in mind:

• Meter certification possibly expired
• No RTS
• Neighbours with working smart meters
• Keen to move off PAYG

Hey ​@Lukepeniket_OVO , got one for ya!

Hey all,

Looking at the diagram on the front of the existing meter it does indeed look like a 5 terminal meter, initially I believed it to be a dual element meter but I don't now think this is the case. 

If you are in a LMA area we currently cannot conduct these installs within OVO, I do not know about other suppliers. Very soon we are going to pilot to be able to install in LMA areas.

​@Vreid92 do you ever hear a clunking sound from the meter throughout the day or just once nightly? About midnight?