Help please

hoopie8

I am affected by RTS switch off. I am with British Gas. They sent out 2 engineers to install Smart Meter. Both said I can't have one as I have two meters and two fuse boxes. They said I need a 2ratemeter. BG said they don't supply this and I will need to get my house rewired to accommodate smart meter. Obviously I can't afford this.

I have only been with BG for six months so they new about this issue when they agreed to supply me. 

What will happen come end of June as I cannot have Smart Meter. BG absolutely hopeless . Beginning to get worried about situation now

QrizB

hoopie8 said:

I am affected by RTS switch off. I am with British Gas. They sent out 2 engineers to install Smart Meter. Both said I can't have one as I have two meters and two fuse boxes. They said I need a 2ratemeter. BG said they don't supply this and I will need to get my house rewired to accommodate smart meter. Obviously I can't afford this.

Why's it obvious that you can't afford this?

Wiring aftet the meter is the responsibility of the property owner (freeholder/leaseholder as appropriate).

hoopie8 said:

What will happen come end of June as I cannot have Smart Meter. BG absolutely hopeless . Beginning to get worried about situation now

You'll need to get your installation up to standard.

As asked in the other thread where you posted this, can you share a photo? Do you have a supply that uses two separate phases, or something?

wrf12345

As winter is almost over can't you get them to fit a Smart Meter to the main circuit, leaving heaters unconnected for now? This should cost next to nothing and give you a chance to fit a heat pump over the coming months (possibly free if you can get the grants or a few grand via Octopus or BG), which would bring you into modern times and possibly cost less than a rewire.

Gerry1

@hoopie8 https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81292022/#Comment_81292022

MWT

Switching supplier is also an option as BG have a woeful history of failure with complex metering and smart meters...

Keep_pedalling

There should be no reason you should have to rewire, this is just BG being useless. 

hoopie8

"Whys it obvious that you can't afford this?

Wiring aftet the meter is the responsibility of the property owner (freeholder/leaseholder as appropriate."

Can't understand your comment. I came here for advice not condescending comments. If you can't be respectful don't vomment

Qyburn

hoopie8 said:

.. BG said they don't supply this and I will need to get my house rewired to accommodate smart meter. Obviously I can't afford this.

What sort of heating system do you have, and what tariff? The rewiring might be quite simple.

I saw your response earlier but you have to be realistic. It's been known for over 10 years that RTS is shutting down at some point. It's not unreasonable that some people who still rely on it might have to make changes to their own installation.

QrizB

hoopie8 said:

"Whys it obvious that you can't afford this?

Wiring aftet the meter is the responsibility of the property owner (freeholder/leaseholder as appropriate."

Can't understand your comment. I came here for advice not condescending comments. If you can't be respectful don't vomment

I'm sorry that you can't understand my comment. I'll try again.

The supplier's responsibility ends at the meter. If the way your house is wired means that they can't fit a meter, you (or your landlord, if you rent) are responsible for making whatever changes are necessary.

No-one here on the forum can tell you what those changes are, but it might be as simple as replacing your consumer units.

This is one of those occasional costs of owning a home, akin to replacing a roof or renewing carpets. You (or your landlord) should have a budget for it.

Scot_39

hoopie8 said:

I am affected by RTS switch off. I am with British Gas. They sent out 2 engineers to install Smart Meter. Both said I can't have one as I have two meters and two fuse boxes. They said I need a 2ratemeter. BG said they don't supply this and I will need to get my house rewired to accommodate smart meter. Obviously I can't afford this.

I have only been with BG for six months so they new about this issue when they agreed to supply me. 

What will happen come end of June as I cannot have Smart Meter. BG absolutely hopeless . Beginning to get worried about situation now

Firstly - BG are probably not the best of companies to deal with for complex electrical installations - they had what seemed from posts here a couple of years ago - a disproportionate number of issues with even vanilla smart e7 - let alone anything more complex. The did used to supply 2 rate metering - but not well.

Edit

If its not too late I'd contact other suppliers.

If you have old restricted off peak meter switched circuit electrical heating - e.g. NSH / hot water immersion heating - you don't want to lose your 2 CUs - and twin rate metering.

Many economy 7 / e10 / rts users will have / or had 2 meters and 2 - some even 3 effective if not physical consumer units.  Many will - as was mine - be easily replaced by one smart meter.

Other suppliers like Ovo - are running around doing the remaining 10,000s of their customers on RTS right now. So E10 RTS to E10, THTC to E10 configured smets2 smart etc.

I was on a system where the RTS meter drove 2 live meter tails to restricted distinct CU isolators (essentially from electrical point of view 2 CU's but in one physical box). That only powered water and nsh heating - but at time seperately. The rest of the sockets / lights etc - wired via a second normal analogue spinning dial with digits - 24/7 single rate meter to its own consumer unit.

Both meters were replaced with one single standard 5 port E10 digital meter (but physically identical to my suppliers E7 meter offering - only the off peak times set differently). And that since has been upgraded to smart.  As far as home wiring - and peak off peak unit measuring - both of them operate the same way.

The only major complication edit - installation wise - was the two RTS feeds - had to be connected together - which can easily be done in the meter cabinet -  with a simply "Henley" block.  And that done by meter fitter - not internal wiring at my expense.  But even that took 3 meter fitter visits to get done. (There were some secondary features in my case that made it a little bit more complex - like a remote boost button in the kitchen for hot water that was linked to RTS meter)

Edit : What did happen though is that the off peak rates changed - but then now applied to all circuits in home - so could cook / use washing machine etc at off peak too.

You might at a push need to do some work - but it might be far less than a full CU replacement (well not simply for the sake of a new meter) e.g. maybe having your own isolators fitted for the meter fitter to wire to - but again - EOn fitted the isolator switches for free for me when upgrading the RTS / single rate meters to one 5 port (and that is now a smart meter - upgraded a couple of years later - and just like the first - no internal wiring mods to CU needed).

People have the perception that RTS means everything else is really old - it often isn't - my home is only c25-30 years old - not quite current regs - but closer than many.  Certainly far more modern than even my old parents home after a complete rewiring in the late 70s / 80s.  It now has a smart electric - but not yet gas meter.

If you can post photos of your twin meters and one(s) not too close up - so we can see the meter tail wiring routing - serial numbers redacted / covered up -  as necessary - we might be able to tell you if yours does actually need work - or just like in my complex metering case - a more experienced fitter.

Scot_39

PS I am not sure if BG not supplying a 2 rate meter suitable for the premises is entirely in line with Ofgem's latest advice to suppliers particiapting in RTS replacement posted by another user in a thread here recently.

Which I should have bookmarked - but sadly didn't.

And it certainly doesn't align with my understanding - in fact they did offer vanilla e7 - and at one stage were offering the Dimplex special discounted rate pseudo e7 multirate - i.e. 2 rate tariff.

So not sure if the OP has misunderstood, been told the wrong thing, or if BG have in fact stopped it since

OP - can you provide your tariff name ?

And do you know the current RTS off peak times your existing meters provide you with.