News that the Radio Teleswitch meter signal is due to be turned off on 30 June 2025 is of national importance. We all need to check our electricity meters.
The 30 June deadline and why it should be marked on your calendar.
The Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS) is a technology that controls the heating and hot water supply in many households across the country. RTS uses radio signals to switch between peak and off-peak rates and is often used to control supply to heating systems and storage heaters, for example. The news that this signal will be switched off on 30 June needs your attention, now!
This news is important for householders and some business owners too. If you check your meter and find you do have an RTS meter, then you should have received a letter from your energy company about the switch off, asking you to get in touch to arrange for the meter to be replaced. If you have this letter and you haven’t done anything about it, you must contact your energy company immediately. The longer you leave it the greater the chance you will get caught up in the rush to install a new Smart Meter before the 30 June deadline.
How can you tell if you have an RTS meter?
You may have an RTS meter:
- If your electricity meter has a second box next to it labelled ‘Radio Telemeter’.
- If your heating or hot water is automatically switched on and off.
- If your meter switches between peak and off-peak tariff rates.
- Your home is heated using electric or storage heaters.
- There is no gas supply to your area, including households in rural areas and high-rise flats.
- If you are or used to be an OVO Energy customer with an energy tariff called THTC (Total Heating, Total Control), unless you since had a smart meter installed to replace the RTS meter.
How big an issue is this?
Dave Dougan, SNP MP Angus and Perthshire Glens, and their spokesperson on Energy Security and Net-Zero, stated in Parliament on 4 December 2024:
“I am pleased to raise the issue of the Radio Teleswitch Service decommissioning in the House this evening. This is a pressured and important matter for 4,665 households in my constituency, a further 80,000 households across the north of Scotland and fully 800,000 households across Great Britain. The ending of the Radio Teleswitch Service, or RTS, which controls ‘total heating with total control’ meters, is of vital importance to electric-only customers and yet remains a troubled landscape to some extent.”
If you have an RTS meter, it is important that you get in touch with your energy company as your heating and hot water will stop working properly on 30 June. They will arrange a free replacement.
The Heat Project have issued a link to an explanatory video on YouTube. If you have any concerns about your own situation or those of friends and relatives, contact the Heat Project via martin@theheatproject.org in the first instance. They are the experts on this issue and will be able to offer advice and support to ensure you have heating and hot water after the RTS switch-off.
Act now! Stay warm!
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