RTS

shellfish61

I keep getting emails from Octopus advising my meter needs replacing and to get a smart meter, ignored. I've now had an email saying RTS will be switched off in March 2024 and that I should get a smart meter. I don't particularly want one, is there an alternative? 

JSHarris

shellfish61 said:

I keep getting emails from Octopus advising my meter needs replacing and to get a smart meter, ignored. I've now had an email saying RTS will be switched off in March 2024 and that I should get a smart meter. I don't particularly want one, is there an alternative? 

There is an alternative to a Teleswitch (assuming you have got one for E7), and that's a 5 wire dumb multi rate meter, that has a built in time switch.  Getting a supplier to install one may well be a challenge, as I don't think they are obliged to.  Worth asking though, as 5 terminal dumb multi rate meters will continue to be available for years to come, as there are quite a lot of homes where smart meters don't work.

Alnat1

I'm sure you'll appreciate the simple answer - no.

CSI_Yorkshire

The alternative to asking for a smart meter is getting a smart meter given to you.

Stop listening to conspiracy theories.

Why do people hear the word "smart" and jump into a frothing frenzy (not this OP, but I'm sure there will be some along in a minute)?  Perhaps we should just relabel them "new electronic meter".

JSHarris

CSI_Yorkshire said:

The alternative to asking for a smart meter is getting a smart meter given to you.

Stop listening to conspiracy theories.

Why do people hear the word "smart" and jump into a frothing frenzy (not this OP, but I'm sure there will be some along in a minute)?  Perhaps we should just relabel them "new electronic meter".

To be fair, there has been a fair degree of trying to hide one of the reasons for installing them (the remote disconnect feature) plus there has been an awful lot of misleading information about smart meters automatically saving people energy.  I'm not convinced that smart meters do really save any more money than someone could save by just making sensible adjustments to their energy usage.  For years I've been doing this, and even if we were able to have a smart meter I can't see any benefit to me.  Getting a smart meter to integrate directly (i.e. not via a remote server) with a home information/automation system is harder than with many dumb meters.

I'm not surprised at some having a degree of cynicism about the things though.  There is a difference between healthy cynicism and outright mistrust though, although in a few cases some mistrust is well-placed.

Be useful to know if the OP has a Teleswitch or not, as if they don't then if RTS gets turned off next March (which is still far from certain) then nothing changes for them.

GingerTim

JSHarris said:

CSI_Yorkshire said:

The alternative to asking for a smart meter is getting a smart meter given to you.

Stop listening to conspiracy theories.

Why do people hear the word "smart" and jump into a frothing frenzy (not this OP, but I'm sure there will be some along in a minute)?  Perhaps we should just relabel them "new electronic meter".

To be fair, there has been a fair degree of trying to hide one of the reasons for installing them (the remote disconnect feature) plus there has been an awful lot of misleading information about smart meters automatically saving people energy.  I'm not convinced that smart meters do really save any more money than someone could save by just making sensible adjustments to their energy usage.  For years I've been doing this, and even if we were able to have a smart meter I can't see any benefit to me.  Getting a smart meter to integrate directly (i.e. not via a remote server) with a home information/automation system is harder than with many dumb meters.

I'm not surprised at some having a degree of cynicism about the things though.  There is a difference between healthy cynicism and outright mistrust though, although in a few cases some mistrust is well-placed.

Access to cheaper tariffs which aren't available to anyone without a smart meter? @[Deleted User] in particular has made some considerable savings.

CSI_Yorkshire

My question stands - would we have had any of these arguments if it was just "your mechanical meter is out of date, we will fit an up-to-date electronic meter"?  I think there would only have been a small proportion.

[Deleted User]

shellfish61 said:

I keep getting emails from Octopus advising my meter needs replacing and to get a smart meter, ignored. I've now had an email saying RTS will be switched off in March 2024 and that I should get a smart meter. I don't particularly want one, is there an alternative? 

With your supplier’s approval, you have the legal right to ‘fit’ your own meter. ‘Fit’ in this context means that you buy a certified meter and also pay for a competent person to carry out the installation. Should you move, the meter becomes the property of the supplier. FWiW, my guess is that smart meters will become mandatory once the present rollout period comes to an end so any investment might be short term.

Can you save money with a smart meter? The answer is an emphatic ‘yes’. My gas is capped at 6p/kWh until late April next year, and I am being paid for all the energy that my PV solar exports. We will undoubtedly see more time-of-use tariffs being rolled out in the next year or so. Octopus already offers a bespoke tariff for heat pump owners. These tariffs require a smart meter.

JSHarris

GingerTim said:

JSHarris said:

CSI_Yorkshire said:

The alternative to asking for a smart meter is getting a smart meter given to you.

Stop listening to conspiracy theories.

Why do people hear the word "smart" and jump into a frothing frenzy (not this OP, but I'm sure there will be some along in a minute)?  Perhaps we should just relabel them "new electronic meter".

To be fair, there has been a fair degree of trying to hide one of the reasons for installing them (the remote disconnect feature) plus there has been an awful lot of misleading information about smart meters automatically saving people energy.  I'm not convinced that smart meters do really save any more money than someone could save by just making sensible adjustments to their energy usage.  For years I've been doing this, and even if we were able to have a smart meter I can't see any benefit to me.  Getting a smart meter to integrate directly (i.e. not via a remote server) with a home information/automation system is harder than with many dumb meters.

I'm not surprised at some having a degree of cynicism about the things though.  There is a difference between healthy cynicism and outright mistrust though, although in a few cases some mistrust is well-placed.

Access to cheaper tariffs which aren't available to anyone without a smart meter? @[Deleted User] in particular has made some considerable savings.

Haven't yet seen one, TBH.  I used to keep track of a few of the popular ones from Octopus for a time, but none ended up any cheaper for our (somewhat unusual) pattern of usage.

May be some can save money, but it's neither universal nor something that just happens automatically.  Someone with a dumb meter can put the effort in to save money if the want to, and not having a smart meter isn't a particular obstacle to doing that.

CSI_Yorkshire

[Deleted User] said:

shellfish61 said:

I keep getting emails from Octopus advising my meter needs replacing and to get a smart meter, ignored. I've now had an email saying RTS will be switched off in March 2024 and that I should get a smart meter. I don't particularly want one, is there an alternative? 

These tariffs require a smart meter.

I wonder how long before the "my supplier is discriminating against me because they won't give me a smart meter tariff for my mechanical meter" complaints start?

GingerTim

CSI_Yorkshire said:

My question stands - would we have had any of these arguments if it was just "your mechanical meter is out of date, we will fit an up-to-date electronic meter"?  I think there would only have been a small proportion.

They should have just been made mandatory from the word go.