Told have to switch from radio signal to smart meter?

textbook

British Gas told me I  have to switch over from my current electric meter.  The radio signal meter will stop working and have to go to smart meter.

 Is this true and should I book an engineer to come and do it?

Brie

If you mean BG has said you should have a smart meter then it's likely a good thing to do as it saves you some hassle on reading a meter.  And if they have said you should change the meter that means that they have to change it as it is their meter, not yours.  So their expense.  They should tell you when they might have an engineer available but you don't have to agree to a date that is inconvenient - assuming the the meter is in your home and you might be at work etc.  

molerat

The RTS service is due to be switched off on 30 June 2025.  When that happens the switching between rates could become unreliable.  No one seems to be quite certain what exactly will happen ranging from everything will carry on as normal to the meter will be stuck on one rate.

mmmmikey

textbook said:

I was told have to switch over from British Gas for my electric meter.  The radio signal meter will stop working and have to go to smart meter.

 Is this true and should I book an engineer to come and do it?

The simple answers are yes, and yes - nothing to be concerned about, just something you need to get done.

BarelySentientAI

mmmmikey said:

textbook said:

I was told have to switch over from British Gas for my electric meter.  The radio signal meter will stop working and have to go to smart meter.

 Is this true and should I book an engineer to come and do it?

The simple answers are yes, and yes - nothing to be concerned about, just something you need to get done.

Although to be very clear, you do not need to switch away from British Gas if that's who you pay your bill to and you don't want to change that.

Changing the meter and changing who you pay your bills to are different things.

Qyburn

textbook said:

I was told have to switch over from British Gas for my electric meter.  The radio signal meter will stop working and have to go to smart meter.

 Is this true and should I book an engineer to come and do it?

What tariff are you on?  There are a few oddball tariffs living on which rely on the radio switch and can't be exactly replicated with a smart meter.  In addition, if your existing meter (or the radio teleswitch) switch storage heaters on and off then make sure the new meter can do the same.

mmmmikey

BarelySentientAI said:

mmmmikey said:

textbook said:

I was told have to switch over from British Gas for my electric meter.  The radio signal meter will stop working and have to go to smart meter.

 Is this true and should I book an engineer to come and do it?

The simple answers are yes, and yes - nothing to be concerned about, just something you need to get done.

Although to be very clear, you do not need to switch away from British Gas if that's who you pay your bill to and you don't want to change that.

Changing the meter and changing who you pay your bills to are different things.

Thanks, yes, I've just re-read the initial post and picked up the reference to switching away from BG

Ildhund

textbook said:

I was told have to switch over from British Gas for my electric meter ... Is this true?

We can't tell whether it's true or not until we know exactly what you were told. Yes, the RTS signal is being switched off next year, so many meters that depend on it will have to be changed before then. How this problem will be solved depends on several factors:

• Where you live (postcode area);
• What meter(s) you currently have;
• What sort of heating you have (storage heaters, heat pump, immersion water heater ...);
• What sort of tariff you're on (THTC, Superdeal, ...).

Not every supplier is well equipped to deal with the RTS shutdown.  

MP1995

Just imagine you really need a two rate meter and you ignore getting a smart meter that can handle different rates without RTS.....

Then fastforward to just before or when they turn off RTS....do you think you will get an immediate booking for a new smart meter with everyone else in the same boat needing one?

Gerry1

MP1995 said:

Just imagine you really need a two rate meter and you ignore getting a smart meter that can handle different rates without RTS.....
Then fastforward to just before or when they turn off RTS....do you think you will get an immediate booking for a new smart meter with everyone else in the same boat needing one?

It doesn't need to be a smart meter to be two-rate, although many suppliers will arm twist you to agree to a smart meter.

The 'drop dead' date for the RTS signal is now December 2025.  However, it's slipped many times before and may do so again if the replacement programme misses its target.

No-one will be left freezing or boiling; if RTS units stayed on cheap rate if they didn't 'see' a wake-up signal in the morning, they'd all have been wrapped in silver foil by now !  Such an obvious vulnerability would never have been allowed in the design.

Just make sure you get a 5-terminal meter (not 4) so that you don't lose the functionality for automatic switching of E7 circuits supplying immersion / storage heaters.

Spoonie_Turtle

MP1995 said:

Just imagine you really need a two rate meter and you ignore getting a smart meter that can handle different rates without RTS.....

Then fastforward to just before or when they turn off RTS....do you think you will get an immediate booking for a new smart meter with everyone else in the same boat needing one?

The potential problem is if they have a more complex tariff than Economy 7, chances are the supplier won't set that up because they don't support billing those using smart meter data (which is a choice they've made, it's certainly not impossible).  So if they do have the meter changed, chances are they'll just be put on standard Economy 7 and have to lump it.

Not that members here can help change that.  But they can help OP weigh up the consequences of that happening vs the potential risk of not changing by the time the RTS signal is switched off.

Of course if the OP is on standard Economy 7 already then it's much simpler - although some have E7 off-peak in split blocks overnight, and the smart meters are usually set up to have just one single off-peak block instead so that is a change some have to be aware of.