Consultation on Radio Telecom Services: Electricity Supply Licence Changes

Consultation Response

Credits — Common Weal Energy Working Group

 

Overview

Common Weal is concerned that the premature switch off of RTS transmitters that serve an estimated 600,000 radio controlled electricity meters will result in exacerbated fuel poverty and will be a potential a danger to life if energy services are shut off or if heating services are locked in an active setting.

Common Weal are concerned that the two RTS transmitters, at Westerglen and Burghead, which cover Scotland, are due to be switched off on 30th June 2025, prior to assuring the replacement of smart meters to all electricity customers.

We note that it is mainly Scotland which will be affected by this change as most of England has always had the alternative “smart meter” installed.

Our primary concern is ensuring continuity of electricity supply to vulnerable customers and given the short time scale we believe it is necessary to ensure no homes will have their supply terminated unless there is a danger to life from continuing supply without meters.

We note that Ofgem believe 600,000 customers still had the soon to be redundant meters in January 2025. We feel that a detailed breakdown of this is required especially for Scotland but ideally by Local authority area. This information should be publicly available on Ofgem’s or on an other suitable website so that an emergency response can be planned by support services.

A media campaign is required to remind customers to book replacement meters must continue and it should explain that this only affects people with soon to be redundant RTS smart meters.

We demand that electricity supply must be maintained unless there is imminent danger of say fire or explosion although we are unsure how such a consequence could arise. We believe most customers could continue to receive electricity even after the meter ceases to provide readings to the supplier and they should where possible continue to do so. It is not the customers fault the meters will no longer work.

As you recognise, the suppliers have had sufficient time to replace the meters. The fact that they have not done so, means they are at fault and should not benefit from their mistake nor should any customer suffer as a result. Any customers where it is safe to do so should continue to have electricity provided free of charge until such time as the meters are replaced.

We strongly disagree with the automatic termination of electricity and would anticipate legal action resulting from the precipitous discontinuance of supply. A hotline must be established to ensure any customers disconnected can have a supply restored urgently. Where meters have been replaced and an incorrect tariff results, there should be a credit, preferably automatic, for the difference in cost to the customer. No customer should be disadvantaged or have to pay a higher tariff. We are particularly concerned for the many Scottish consumers who have storage heaters, particularly in rural areas where fuel poverty is higher than than in urban areas. A higher than average number of these are likely to be elderly. It is important that the correct meter is installed for them which can supply the correct tariff at the correct time. In order to minimise the incorrect charging we make several suggestions of steps that should be taken by all suppliers in the course of changing meters.