Restricted tariff and meter transitioning to Smart meter - hit a brick wall

hozza94

Long story short:
I am currently on a tariff that is unique to London called Economy 9 with npower (not my choice), which is reliant on the current Radio Teleswitch service which is being phased out in the next year or so. I have been doing some calculations and research, and it appears that a half-hour settlement tariff would be the most economical solution for my flat as I have storage heaters and hot water storage, e.g. Octopus' Agile Tariff. 

However I have hit a brick wall:
NPower is not fitting smart meters to dual-rate customers at all.
Newer suppliers such as Octopus are unable to support my current set-up (or just extremely confused) even I want it to be replaced with a 2 rate smart meter asap. 

I seem to be stuck in no mans land, where I would be happy to take on new technology but is unable to do so as existing supplier is being super slow and new suppliers not able to take me on. 
Who should I start the discussion with in this scenario? I don't want to wait for RTS to be switched off to get a smart meter, as the smart TOU could save me around £300 a year based on current usage. 

Gerry1

What evidence do you have that the Radio Teleswitch is being phased out in the next year or so?

Perhaps the answer is to switch to E7 (either with the existing supplier or a new one on the basis that the RTS just need reprogramming, although lockdown won't help here) and then switch to Octopus?

hozza94

They have only extended the service to 2022 which is a lot shorter than previous extension, and EnergyUK isn't keen to extend it. 
NPower kept saying I would need to get an electrician to check wiring, but my electrician doesn't even know what the supplier is talking about! I am on 5-port meter so shouldn't need any work from an electrician, unless the supplier demand to replace it with a 4-port which would require some drastic rewiring. 

MWT

At least part of the problem has been the lack of availability of 5-port SMETS2 meters...

There has been a SMETS1 version around for a while, but not SMETS2.

I believe they do exist now, but how easy they are to get is a different question...

hozza94

I was speaking to another supplier and their best hope is October this year at the earliest. Look like the current situation has not only stop the meter programme, but also the manufacturing