New Smart Meter Needs Replacing

molerat

A friend has E7 and had the old RTS dumb meter replaced with smart in July 2025. They have just had communication from their supplier that the meter will stop working on 1 June 2026.

The message they have received is

Your smart meter will stop working on 1st June 2026

We’re getting in touch because we need to make an essential upgrade to your smart meter. We understand this will be an inconvenience and we’re very sorry.

Why your meter needs another upgrade

We previously replaced your meter to make sure your heating and hot water would continue to work. This was because the signal used by your old meter was being switched off.

Unfortunately, your current smart meter model is now being removed from the wider smart network on 1 June 2026. For your meter to keep its smart features, we need to upgrade it before then.

We’re sorry for the inconvenience of a second visit. It was essential to carry out the first replacement to protect your heating and hot water supply. That isn’t affected this time, but this second upgrade will make sure your meter keeps its smart features for years to come.

How this might affect you

If your meter isn’t upgraded before 1 June:

Your meter won’t send automatic meter readings. This means you’ll need to send them manually. If you don’t, we’ll have to send you an estimated bill based on your average energy use

You'll miss out on Beyond extras

You won’t be able to track your energy use and costs in the app

The meter they have is an L&G E470-5533. What is going on ? It seems to me that the meter is going to go dumb but will carry on switching rates. Why were they installing meters that needed changing in such a short timeframe ? Looks like just another screw up in the US military expletive that is the smart metering programme.

TadleyBaggie

Sounds like their suppliers data is incorrect ad they still think they have the old RTS meter.

molerat

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81870259#Comment_81870259

No, the e-mail is clear the smart meter, which they state they recently installed, needs replacing as it is being removed from the smart network.

Ildhund

Many RTS customers, particularly in Scotland, proved to be in 'no-WAN' zones, i.e. unserved by Arqiva's LRR. In some cases, the supplier was authorized by DCC to install a cellular comms hub instead of the LRR variety when the RTS system was exchanged for a smart meter. This was only intended as a stopgap, and now DCC are pulling the plug, presumably having negotiated an end to the 2G/3G mobile contracts that facilitated the solution. This means that those cellular hubs now have to be replaced by the new all-singing-all-dancing 4G LTE/VWAN-ready hubs. In theory, it's a quick and painless process that doesn't even require pulling the main fuse. In practice, I suspect there will be plenty of instances of dodgy communication.

So, not the 'New Smart Meter' that needs replacing - just the CH. I suppose that counts as a 'meter upgrade'.

molerat

Thanks for that simple explanation - why couldn't the letter have stated something around that !

Found an article on the subject https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2025/12/uk-homes-with-out-of-range-energy-smart-meters-get-reprieve-from-2g-switch-off.html

Still begs the question why were they fitting the hubs in July when they were going to lose function in January.

Ildhund

@molerat wrote:

… why were they fitting the hubs in July when they were going to lose function in January

Because the RTS signal was being switched off in September. There was a danger that that would cause heaters to stop working altogether for some victims, just as the heating season was about to start. I think people guessed that the original midwinter deadline for cellular hubs in the Northern region would slip beyond the end of winter. A competent meter engineer should be able to swap out* quite a few hubs every day, so it's not such a big deal. Because the CH belongs to the DCC, I suppose it's theoretically possible for an engineer to drop into a village on the west coast of Sutherland and do every meter in one day, and probably in the neighbouring villages too. I wonder - that sounds too uncomplicated.

*  I learnt that the CH exchange procedure is technically known as Trust Centre Swap Out, which obviously becomes TCSO when you're trying to bamboozle the uninitiated.

squirrelpie

FWIW there's another article at https://meteroperators.org.uk/ofgem-approves-urgent-changes-to-the-smart-energy-code-protecting-connectivity-for-thousands-of-smart-meter-users/