Smart meter

sashstam

A new tactic being used by the energy companies is to threaten that you may lose hot water and heating as your current meter is probably an old Radio teleswitch network one.
Not sure if this is true -how can you tell?

Dogbyte009

RTS meters were only used for special tariffs like Economy 7. They switched between tariffs in response to a signal broadcast over Radio 4 longwave.

The RTS signal is due to be switched off in December 2023.

You'll know if you have one because there's a separate box - that should be marked 'Radio Teleswitch' - next to the meter.

The OVO blog has a deeper explanation, and a photo of what the kit looks like: Radio teleswitch (RTS) shutdown sunset FAQ | The OVO Forum (ovoenergy.com)

MWT

sashstam said:

A new tactic being used by the energy companies is to threaten that you may lose hot water and heating as your current meter is probably an old Radio teleswitch network one.
Not sure if this is true -how can you tell?

Generally not true as without the radio signal the switch will default to a standard pattern of switching which may be different to what it is doing now, but it will still switch.

However, regardless of that they can still force the issue and insist on replacing the meter with a smart meter as it will have demonstrably reach the end of its ability to function correctly without the teleswitch working to the correct schedule.

So no, your heating will not suddenly cease to function, but yes they can install a smart meter anyway.

Gerry1

OVO falsely claim that if your Radio Teleswitch is not replaced and it loses the Radio 4 signal:-

>"What will actually happen is that your meter will stop working properly and it may mess up your bills pretty badly. If your heating and hot water are also controlled via RTS, it’s very likely that your house will turn into The North Pole or Sahara Desert…"

This is blatant scaremongering.  Radio 4 LW has had unexpected outages and planned shutdowns but this doomsday scenario has never happened.  Most RTS timeswitches merely synchronise the inbuilt clock's pre-planned switching schedule.  They act just like the motorised rotating disk timeswitches.