How can I get BG to replace my RTS meter

BillyJag

Hi all

my first post!

I am a British Gas “customer” on a fixed price tariff 

Last October BG advised that my electricity meter was one of the soon to be obsolete RTS type.

so I dutifully signed into my account and tried to request a smart meter … no appointments available.

Since then I have regularly tried to request an install … no appointments

i have spoken to 4 different agents … no appointments 

I have raised a complaint - apparently gets closed same day as part of BG process - no appointments

There are now three months left until RTS stop working

can anyone advise how to proceed?

thanks

QrizB

BillyJag said:

I have raised a complaint - apparently gets closed same day as part of BG process - no appointments

If you have a complaint number and it's been eight weeks since you raised it, you can take your complaint to the Ombudsman.

TroubledTarts

Be a nuisance to them is one option and as above a complaint to the ombudsman may get things moving.

400ixl

The RTS signal may stop, but what do you think will stop working? You may get some drift without the RTS signal, but it is not going to stop working.

Alternative option is to change to a supplier that can supply you with a smart meter. Are you on Economy 7 or 10? From what I have read you need to be more careful on supplier with the latter.

Scot_39

Even if the meter works.

A supplier may no longer offer multirate.

Or as one post speculated any rate to those refusing fitment.

The energy companies should be prioritising RTS right now.

But given its BG here who knows and I'm nor sure many would trust with a multirate complexmeter replacement given poor e7 support in past.

matelodave

can you please point out which RTS meters have an internal clock - is it in the meter or the RTS switch unit .

 Alternatively will the meter/switch stay in the position that is was in when the signal gets shut off (or when it last saw a signal) o possibly just revert to a default position.

I am trying to understand whether the switch toggles on receipt of an on or off signal or just times out to a default state after a request to switch (although I'm not sure how that works if you are in a region with multiple off peak slots.

I assume that if the unit defaults to day rate then you wont get any off-peak heating or hot water if they rely on a teleswitch off-peak circuit

Gerry1

Unless there's a deliberate scorched earth policy, domestic RTSs on E7 or E10 will just carry on with their normal schedule.  Those on weather dependent tariffs (THTC) etc will probably carry on with a default schedule.

I don't believe the scaremongering guff that No-One Knows What Will Happen.  If there's really any genuine doubt, then  all that someone needs to do is take an RTS and disconnect its ferrite rod aerial and see what happens.

Rinse and repeat for all the various code sequences.

Scot_39

Elexon still by the way reporting pretty slow progress on RTS meters - still only c10k per month.

https://www.elexon.co.uk/data/trading-operations-report/metering-data-trading-operations-report/

c758,000 in Feb 01 - based on SF settlement - not previous R2 or R1 data points

And the Nov to Dec climb - based on use of data from in theory - if the codes in the spreadsheet mean the same - as their settlement period descriptions elsewhere - more current data - was R2 (5m) then R1(2m) and 1 Feb 25 data (1m) behind real dates - which makes even less sense. 

As you would expect that to drop as more meters should have been replaced in the 3m then 1m lags.  But I could be completely misunderstanding what that means - any one willing to clarify / educate / correct me ?

Makes me worried if they - like some suppliers - are getting the number of meters wrong - due to getting the type of meters in many homes - (from a series of posts here catching several non RTS metering tech - from old mechanical clock to pre smart digital - on legacy tariffs or e7 not already smart) to be replaced wrong.

BillyJag

Update:

I asked customer services to leave my fixed price deal without penalty if there was a risk that BG could not provide the service.

I was then given a number for “retentions”, who then transferred me directly to “smart metering” …. And, hey presto, got a meter install booking.

Would be a lot less hassle for customers and provider if this happened painlessly from the website link or from the initial call to customer services.  This would have saved us both about 11 hours chatting / phoning time.

Onwards and upwards!