The adverts featuring Lorraine Kelly paint a worrying picture of people left without heating or hot water or, perhaps worse in mid-summer, their radiators on full blast.
Either outcome could be possible when the Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS), which controls an old type of electricity meter found in almost 400,000 homes across Great Britain, is switched off from 30 June.
In the ads, the Scottish TV presenter urges people to contact their supplier, with the tagline adding: “Don’t delay. The RTS switch-off is on the way”.
Although 1,000 of these old meters are being ripped out every day, the daily rate would need to top 5,000 to stand a chance of reaching everyone in time. Campaigners fear that more than 300,000 homes could be left with a meter that does not work.
One reader, Sarah*, who contacted the Guardian, has been trying for several months to get a new meter but was told by her supplier, ScottishPower, it did “not have a solution” for her home set-up.
Introduced in the 1980s, RTS was designed for people who also use electricity for their heating and hot water. It uses the long wave radio frequency to switch meters between peak and off-peak rates.
These old-fashioned heating systems can include panel heaters or immersion heaters in water tanks that charge overnight when electricity is cheaper. Users are clustered in rural Scotland, northern England and northern Wales, as well as cities including London, Leicester, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The technology is being retired because the equipment that produces the radio signal has reached the end of its operational life and can no longer be adequately maintained.
The switch-off could mean households have no hot water or heating, or have it stuck on constantly, potentially running up huge bills, according to Simon Francis, the coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition.
“We need to ensure contingency measures are in place for those who do not make the deadline and require energy suppliers to ensure fair metering and billing practices,” Francis said.
When Sarah bought her flat in Edinburgh she inherited a complicated RTS system that involved two meters on different tariffs – one for heating and hot water, and another for general use.
“Heating at any time is lower cost,” she said. “This includes our heaters, hot water and electric shower, which are wired into a heat meter and specific circuit. The RTS system heats the hot water overnight.
“The email they [ScottishPower] have sent states that if there is no solution by the time of the switch-off, that my system will either be permanently on, or permanently off.”
Another worry is that her tariff will no longer be available and the “best match” will result in significantly higher bills.
Experts said the RTS switch-off would not involve the actual flicking of a switch to cut the signal nationwide. While the advertised date is 30 June, the process will happen by area from 1 July through to 30 September.
The latest figures showed that as of mid-April there were still 392,000 households with RTS meters. Energy UK, the trade association for the energy industry, said suppliers were focused on accelerating the rate of installations as the initial deadline loomed.
“It will undoubtedly be challenging to replace all these meters by 30 June,” said a spokesperson for Energy UK. “It means getting access to every single property to carry out the installation, many of which are in remote areas, and ultimately it requires all customers to respond to contact from their supplier.”
Ofgem, the energy regulator for Great Britain, is keeping a close eye on proceedings with suppliers required to submit fortnightly updates.
It said that in recent weeks it had seen evidence of suppliers significantly “stepping up their activity” and that solutions to improve smart meter connectivity in the north had been launched.
“We urge any customers who may have previously struggled to get their RTS meter replaced to please contact their supplier again to arrange an appointment,” a spokesperson said.
“Ofgem has also demanded action plans from every supplier, which we are scrutinising on an ongoing basis to ensure that robust contingencies are in place to protect any customers who remain on RTS meters after the phased switch-off process begins,” they added.
Sarah finally secured a meter-switch appointment earlier this month only for it to be cancelled and a new date given in mid-August.
ScottishPower said it had reached the halfway mark in its replacement programme and appointments were booked for more than 30% of the remaining customers with RTS meters.
The switch-off presented “some early technical challenges, including finding a suitable solution for those customers who couldn’t initially be moved over to a smart meter”, it said. “We overcame these technical challenges a number of months ago and are able to offer a solution to all our customers through the installation of a smart meter.
“Customers with appointment dates past the 30 June switch-off are still within the RTS service timeframe.”
* Names have been changed
