Economy 7 and ending of RTS (Radio Teleswitch Service)

Ectophile

arlowood said:

Well my flabber has been well and truly gasted.

Just received an email from So Energy with the following content:-

"We’re Sorry for Sending You the Incorrect Email

Hi ,

You may have accidentally received an email from us regarding your electricity meter needing to be replaced.

We do apologise for any inconvenience caused. Unless you have previously been contacted regarding the BBC RTS switch off, please kindly disregard our email.

If you have already booked a smart meter appointment with us, if you wish, you can cancel this without charge via your online account.

Kind regards,

The So Energy Team" It would seem that they have now decided/realised that my current electricity meter (see my post dated September 12th on page 12 of this thread) does not fall under the category that is affected by the BBC RTS switch off. This email was received about 30 mins after another insisting that I needed  to book an appointment to have my meter replaced with a new Smart Meter. I think in total I have been sent about 30 "accidental" emails over the past 8 to 9 months or so but I am pleased that they have now admitted the error of their ways. I'm sure my meter may well become technically obsolete in the next couple of years but until then I am happy to stick with it and send them online readings as necessary.

I had the same email.  But So Energy don't supply my electricity, and I'm not on Economy 7 anyway.  I assume their computer had a glitch and sent out the original email to everybody, even people it didn't apply to.

Joolski

I also received a letter about the RTS Teleswitch being turned off next year.  I am on Economy 7 with an Immersion and Storage Heaters coming on at night,  and over the last couple of years I had read other people reporting of various things going wrong, so I had held out all this time because of this.  But I now feel a lot of those problems could have been in the early years, with the early smart meters.

I know there are a lot of people with technical knowledge on this board, and thank you for the various info you have given.  This post though is aimed at people who are worried or anxious about changing over to a smart meter (as I was).  I finally arranged for the switch to happen this week, and just wanted to let the many people who are still reticent know that things went very smoothly.

I made sure to tell the Engineer that I was on E7, plus had storage heaters, and he said everything will be exactly as it was on the old meter.   And, having tested it all during this week, it is!  

Just make sure you ask the engineer to explain exactly how to read the meter (just for your own knowledge).   He waited while I scribbled myself a quick idiot guide - it's not difficult at all, but does involve pressing buttons in the right order - but providing you write down notes it's as easy as anything.  And you can't do anything wrong, as it just returns to the start screen after a short while.

And finally, the IHD  (the In Home Display unit that they give you)  is pretty pointless.  I played around with it awhile, and although it does show a meter reading, it's the Day rate and Night rate all added together, so not much use for anyone trying to track how much their heating is using. 

If anyone is anxious and wants to ask a question, just post or send me a private message and I'll see it. Good luck!

lilac_dawn

Thanks for this as I’m in the same position as you but was trying to console myself with the fact that I would be able to see what the heating costs via the IHD gizmo. Is there still a way to see how much has been used overnight? I’m looking to upgrade my storage heaters and want to see ££ of using new versus old. 

UncleK

I found this guide from Octopus is quite useful as to how to read meters - it covers lots of them so you might want to screen grab the one for your meter and print it out and leave it by the meter.

Joolski

Hi @lilac_dawn - I'll start by saying the easiest way to see how much has been used overnight is to read the actual meter when E7 has switched off in the morning.

Re the IHD (the in-home unit) - I think there are different types/brands of IHD's - my one is the size of a mobile phone.  So on my IHD, on the Start Screen, it shows you how much kwh you have used so far today.  As it re-sets each midnight, it means that during the winter months when my Economy 7 hours are roughly 12 midnight till 7am, - providing I look at it when I first get up and before using any electric (like boiling a kettle) - then that will be a pretty accurate Night Rate reading.

But to be honest, apart from that it's pretty useless from a separate Day and Night rate point of view.

But - when the engineer installs it, just tell him you want to be able to read the actual meter yourself and get him to slowly talk you through it - write the process in a notepad (or even ask him if he minds you filming the procedure on your phone?).  The different brand meters all work a little differently, but from what I've seen when I researched it, they all have a process of pressing this button, then this or that, etc, and then you get to see your readings.  Mine are called T01 for the Day rate, and T02 for the Night,  and really it is just a case of getting used to it.  Then you can go and get your readings each time E7 switches off in the morning, and you should be able to do the comparisons you want.  I've been doing readings every day since it was installed at beginning of last week (just to check all working correctly using E7), and I don't even need my idiot-guide anymore!  You'll just get used to doing it.  Hope this helps!

Joolski

@UncleK - yes, I also had seen something like this -think it was done by Citizens Advice Bureau, but the same type of thing.  It confused me at first, but did give me an idea of what to expect. It really is just a matter of pressing buttons in the right order!    But you're right in getting a screenshot of it to help.

QrizB

lilac_dawn said:

Thanks for this as I’m in the same position as you but was trying to console myself with the fact that I would be able to see what the heating costs via the IHD gizmo. Is there still a way to see how much has been used overnight?

My Geo Trio II IHD has a handy barchart view that shows how much electricity was used in each 30 minute period of the current day.

I can also get much the same info from Octopus's website or app.

lilac_dawn

I’m with EDF so I guess I’ll just have to see what I’m given! 

Stubod

Sorry for being dull, but how does it work when they turn off the RTS system? We have 2 seperate fuse boxes, and as I understand it currently the RTS "switch" turns on the supply to the 2nd (Economy 7) fuse box at around midnight which then powers up the storage heaters. NB The storage heaters are "dumb", so start working as soon as the electric supply starts around midnight, and only "turn off" when they reach the temperature set by the thermostate. 

Am I right in thinking that the new type mains fuse box (fitted a year ago with a smart meter) will be performing this function somehow??

ie they can't simply switch the whole (both) fuse boxes over to a 24 hour supply as the (old) storage heaters will keep coming on as and when the temperature drops as there is no way to set the time they come on??

QrizB

Stubod said:

Sorry for being dull, but how does it work when they turn off the RTS system?

If you keep the old RTS meter and switchgear, rather than moving to a smart meter, it's likely (but not guaranteed) that the RTS meter will continue to switch at the last times it was set to.

The clock might drift over time, moving your E7 times earlier or later.

It's possible (but unlikely, in te short term) that the rTS meter will get stuck in either the cheap or day rate mode.

Stubod said:

Am I right in thinking that the new type mains fuse box (fitted a year ago with a smart meter) will be performing this function somehow??

Your new fusebox is very unlikely to include any timed switching function.

Stubod said:

ie they can't simply switch the whole (both) fuse boxes over to a 24 hour supply as the (old) storage heaters will keep coming on as and when the temperature drops as there is no way to set the time they come on??

If the RTS gets stuck on the cheap rate setting, what you describe is one of the options.

If it gets stuck on the peak rate option, the heaters will never warm up.

But getting stuck is a fault mode, and is unlikely in the short term. In the longer term it will be replaced by a smart meter.