Radio teleswitch meter, E7 and night storage heaters

Hoddington123

I currently have a RTS meter, economy 7 and use night storage heaters which are on their own circuit and only come on at off peak night times. I have contacted my supplier Eon Next about what happens from March 31 2024 when RTS switched off. They knew nothing! I understand I will need a 5 terminal E7 smart meter? Anyone else having similar worries . 

In addition unable to get any fixed rate deals with Eon as dependent on having smart meter but they don’t have correct meters for my situation!!!

CSI_Yorkshire

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6389691/economy-7-and-ending-of-rts-radio-teleswitch-service/

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6461502/rts/

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6454103/rts/

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6451851/edf-we-need-to-upgrade-your-meter-as-soon-as-possible-due-to-upcoming-industry-changes/

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6387040/is-this-a-threat-to-make-me-go-over-to-the-dark-side-to-a-smart-meter/

QrizB

Just picking up on this point:

Hoddington123 said:

I understand I will need a 5 terminal E7 smart meter?

No, you won't need a five terminal smart meter (although that would be the tidiest solution). You could instead have a four terminal smart meter plus an external contactor.

Edited 31/07 to add the following photo of a tidy meter board that features a 4-terminal smart meter connected to an external E7 contactor:

Hoddington123

What is an external contactor ? and would it still mean that my night storage heaters would turn on automatically at off peak night rate

molerat

Hoddington123 said:

What is an external contactor ? and would it still mean that my night storage heaters would turn on automatically at off peak night rate

Yes.  Instead of the 5th wire the main out goes to a block and is split into 2 with one going to the E7 board via a relay / contactor.  The contactor is triggered at off peak times by a smaller wire coming from the meter energising only the E7 circuits

Gerry1

It's not your problem, you don't need to take any action.  If your preferred tariff requires a smart meter you're still likely to get it as long as you've agreed to let them fit one.  The exception would be a clever Time of Use tariff, but plain old E7 will be fine.

Hoddington123

Ok thanks for your help. Would Eon. Installation team know all of this when they come to set up a smart meter doyou think. ??Not much confidence in their customer service team who didn’t even know what RTS meter was or that it was being switched off

[Deleted User]

Hoddington123 said:

Ok thanks for your help. Would Eon. Installation team know all of this when they come to set up a smart meter doyou think. ??Not much confidence in their customer service team who didn’t even know what RTS meter was or that it was being switched off

We all expect CS staff to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of everything energy related: in truth, that isn’t the case. Most suppliers have a dedicated metering team who exist to deal with all metering issues.  One can only hope that their installer is briefed on what is needed ahead of the visit.

molerat

Would Eon. Installation team know all of this when they come to set up a smart meter do you think

Unfortunately that is down to the roll of the dice

inspectorperez

I have this issue, but my supplier is EDF.

After much head scratching and excellent support from the experts on this website, I was eventually able to bypass the normal customer support lot who really didn't have much of a clue, and ended up with EDF advanced metering team which seems to go by the name of "Collections and Extra Support". This lot knew exactly what they were talking about and were very helpful.

Eon may well have the equivalent.

Hoddington123

Ok thanks for all your help . I might see if Eon have some similar team. Still surprised that Eon have not contacted me about my RTS meter but guess still 8 months before it ends.