Radio Teleswitch Service is Ending
RTS Electricity Meters - Don't Get Caught Out!
‘RTS’ stands for Radio Teleswitch Service.
There are two Radio Towers in Scotland which send radio signals across the country to tell older-style ‘RTS’ electricity meters when to switch between peak and off-peak rates. You may have one of these old meters if you have electric storage or panel heaters, or if you have immersion heaters in water tanks – these typically charge up overnight or during other off peak periods.
‘RTS’ allows energy suppliers to offer different tariff rates; so that consumers can make use of cheaper off-peak tariffs to charge up their heating and/or hot water systems.
‘RTS’ was introduced in the 1980s, and is now reaching the end of its operational life. This means that the equipment that produces the radio signal cannot be adequately maintained anymore.
Ofgem (the energy regulator for Great Britain) has instructed energy suppliers to replace all RTS meters before the service is switched off UK wide on the 30th June 2025.
Trust has no control over the switch off decision.
If you pay a monthly ‘Heat with Rent’ charge to Trust then our electricity supplier ‘EDF Energy’ will be in touch with affected customers to arrange a free upgrade appointment. These customers will receive a letter from Trust in advance with further information.
Trust have been working in the background with EDF to identify RTS meters in our ‘Heat with Rent’ contract. Trust bulk procure electricity from EDF and are the account holder. An upgrade plan commenced in 2024 and the final third of upgrades will continue into early 2025.
If you are not part of Trust’s ‘Heat with Rent’ service and instead pay for your heating and hot water together with your usual energy bills, then you will be responsible for your own upgrade via your own energy supplier.
Unfortunately, Trust will not be able to act on behalf of these customers, nor facilitate the upgrade arrangements. This is because Trust are not the account holder and whilst Trust are the landlord, all meters are the property of the ‘District Network Operator’. Additionally, please note that only trained ‘Meter Operator Providers’ (MOPs) can complete works on meters.
Energy Suppliers have their own ‘MOPs’ and are obligated to get in touch to make upgrade appointments. They should have already been in touch with these customers to arrange an appointment to upgrade meters. If you have not yet heard or are unsure if you have an RTS, we recommend that you get in touch with your energy supplier immediately.
We also highly recommend that customers who fall into this category do not leave it too late to upgrade as there will be increasing demand on appointments the closer to the deadline.
If our customers have an RTS meter and do not upgrade, their heating and/or hot water provision in their home will become affected after the 30th June 2025.
Heating and/or hot water may switch itself permanently ‘on’ or ‘off’. Alternatively, it may charge up at random, wrong times of the day. The electricity supplier won’t be able to confirm how much ‘off peak’ electricity has been used, which means electricity usage and costs recorded by suppliers would be impacted.
If you’re not sure whether you have an RTS meter, there are a few things you can look out for:
- there may be a separate (often black) switch box near your meter with a radio teleswitch label on it
- your property is heated using electricity or storage heaters
- you get cheaper energy at different times of day. Your tariff might be: Economy 7, Economy 10 or Total Heat Total Control
Teleswitches can come in various designs. Here are a few examples:
