Call for 'crisis plan' as hundreds of thousands face disruption on July 1
Call for 'crisis plan' as hundreds of thousands face disruption on July 1
392,000 households are currently in the line of fire
A man investigates his fuse box at home - by the light of a candle - in a blackout
Energy campaigners have urged Ofgem to draw up a 'crisis plan' for July 1 when the Radio Teleswitching System (RTS) is switched off, saying hundreds of thousands of households remain likely to face considerable disruption. Simon Francis, co-ordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, warned MPs that the switch-off is 'doomed to failure', adding that hundreds of thousands of RTS meters will still be in people's homes on the date they are due to be switched off for good.
The RTS system, used by older electricity meters to control heating and hot water, uses a longwave radio frequency to switch between peak and off-peak rates. The technology is becoming obsolete and energy companies have a deadline to change their customers' meters by June 30.
However, firms have admitted that current rates of replacement mean it is likely that thousands of RTS meters will not have been upgraded before the technology is switched off. Energy UK, which represents firms, said 392,000 households still had the meters as of mid April.
Mr Francis told the Work and Pensions Committee: 'The process is doomed to failure. We are not going to see the RTS switch off on the first of July.
'There's still going to be hundreds of thousands of RTS meters in people's homes on the date that they're saying they're going to start winding down the signal.
'We don't know what is going to happen. The risks that have been outlined are either that your hot water and your heating are always on and you're going to be running up a massive bill, or it's always off, and even in the summer that's going to be disastrous for people, especially pensioners, in not having access to hot water, or it's going to fix in to a mode where it's going to start charging you at the higher rate, and again, that's going to be a real problem.
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'And I don't think we've heard anything from industry about which of those is most likely, indeed, it might be a combination of different factors in different areas.'
He added: 'So, it's really concerning and we need the industry and Ofgem to present a crisis plan as to what is going to happen on the first of July, to offset this challenge.'
Most homes have standard meters and will not be affected, whether or not they have a smart meter. Ned Hammond, Energy UK's deputy director for customers, told the committee that there was 'a lot of work to do here still'.
He said: 'While the replacement rate has increased a lot, it is clearly not at the point it would need to get to, to get down to zero customers by the end of June. We're working incredibly hard as an industry with Ofgem and Desnz (The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero) on a carefully managed phase out plan to ensure than we can replace all the RTS meters over time and minimise any of those impacts on customers.
'We're very focused on vulnerable customers in these circumstances, in particular as well, to make sure that we are as much as possible trying to engage with them through different methods to help them through that and also be ready to provide them with any support if there are any of those issues.
'We are working very hard on that plan at the moment and we'll have it in place in time for the end of June.'
Industry regulator Ofgem has said the risks associated with not having a functioning meter include heating and hot water left continually on or off, electric storage heaters charging at the wrong time of day, possibly leading to higher bills, and the supplier being unable to confirm electricity usage during peak or off-peak times.
Charlotte Friel, director for Retail Pricing & Systems for Ofgem, said: 'We have been continually monitoring the industry's efforts to replace RTS meters as this ageing infrastructure reaches the end of its life. Last year we decided more needed to be done so convened the sector and made clear to suppliers they have to move faster. Following that intervention, the rate of meter replacements has increase from around 1,000 a month to more than 1,000 a day.
'However suppliers need to do more and ensure customers are protected from detriment, which is why industry is putting in place a phased area-by-area shutdown beginning from 30 June. We have made clear that the signal serving a specific area should not be switched off until suppliers have demonstrated that they are ready and able to respond quickly to any issues customers experience.
'While this carefully managed phaseout should reassure customers that they will be protected, it remains crucial that these meters are replaced so I would urge customers to engage with their supplier when offered an appointment – even if it is after the 30 June date that marks the beginning of the process.'
The End Fuel Poverty Coalition has written to the watchdog and the Government to raise concerns about the pace and communication of the meter replacement effort.
According to Ofgem, you may have an RTS meter if:
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