There are big changes coming for electricity customers on the Total Heating with Total Control (THTC) tariff on Great Britain and it is vital people know what to do and when.
This affects 4,665 constituents across the whole of my Angus and Perthshire Glens constituency, 80,000 across the North of Scotland and 800,000 across the GB energy market.
It is the ending of the Radio Teleswitch Service, or RTS, which controls Total Heating with Total Control meters by switching on and off the second meter which provides lower rate electricity. The system is wholly dependent on a radio signal generated by a geriatric valve-based transmitter – which is on its last legs and for which there are no more spares.
Like most of the electricity network infrastructure on Great Britain, it has been less a beneficiary of strategic investment, and more allowed to decay with a ‘fingers crossed’ approach to planned maintenance. RTS is the antithesis of robust, which is why it will finally come to an end on 30th June 2025, after the original target of 31st March 2024 was predictably missed. Hopefully, this migration will be completed before RTS keels over of its own volition.
THTC customers must therefore switch to smart meters to avoid their system becoming inoperable. This could result in heating and/or hot water being continually left on or off, or storage heater charging happening at the wrong time of day. Anyone who has ever had this system will know that this outcome would be a ruinously expensive way to heat a home, rendering it not even a theoretical option.
Many constituents are aware of the switch but have contacted me with concerns that they are being asked to switch to smart meters without guarantees that a smart meter will work properly in their property or how much it will cost.
These are valid concerns given the number of smart meters that, once fitted, cease working or never worked correctly in the first place. But in this instance, the energy companies can and will take much greater care when fitting THTC customers with smart meters.
Many of us with smart meters have them simply to see at an instant how much energy we’re using, but for former THTC customers the smart meter will not be some passive read-out that gives meter readings occasionally, but rather will act as the brains of the dual rate system.
Currently in Great Britain, smart meter information is transmitted over a wide area network, sent to and from each property’s communications hub. In Wales and southern and central England, smart meter data is transmitted over mobile phone signals provided by Virgin Media O2, but in the north of England and Scotland, it’s transmitted over long-range radio waves provided by Arqiva.
When smart meters are installed in THTC customers’ homes, the engineer will ensure they are working properly and controlling the system with a two-way signal which is functioning. In the very rare occasions where a signal cannot be maintained, customers may have a timed meter installed to provide a reliable service.
What is not an option is continuing with the current system past June 2025. The signal will stop and therefore so will THTC, so customers must contact their energy company to get the ball rolling on this as soon as possible. The energy companies, who are responsible for ensuring every customer has the system they need in place before the RTS system shuts down, are confident they can do this in time.
They point out however, that at the current rate of install it will take until 2028 to complete every RTS switchover. This cannot happen so I have urged the UK Government to provide impartial public service encouragement to this priority. If everybody waits until April or May, thousands will miss the deadline.
What is also vital is that customers are reassured that they will not bear the financial risk of system failures in the event they have done everything asked of them and done so ahead of June 25. This situation is not of their making so neither should they bear the costs of any failure.
I have yet to hear back from the UK Government about their intentions on this point.
