Shetland Times Column 28th March 2025
There is less than 100 days to go to the nationwide Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS) switch-off on 30th June 2025. If you have an RTS meter and have not already contacted your energy supplier for an engineer visit I urge you to do so now.
RTS is the technology used by energy suppliers to switch electricity meters between different tariff rates at different times of the day.
The BBC has had a long-standing arrangement with the Energy Networks Association to transmit radio teleswitching data on 198kHz alongside the BBC Radio 4 Longwave signal.
The technology that supports this is now well past ‘end of life’ and could crash at any time. That’s why it is so important that anyone with an RTS meter gets it replaced by their energy company.
At a meeting in Glasgow last Friday, arranged for MSPs and MPs with representatives from the energy sector, those present were left in no doubt that the issue is not that our constituents are unaware of the RTS switch off. Rather, the problem is that energy customers cannot get appointments for engineers to come and change their meters before the deadline.
It’s a situation that disproportionately affects households across the Highlands and Islands and it was little wonder that a public meeting Shetland Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) organised with OVO Energy was well-attended last week. Like the Shetland Parliamentary Office, Shetland CAB has been dealing with many RTS enquiries and recognise the severity of the situation.
Across the Highlands and Islands, where there are high levels of fuel poverty, along with poorly insulated homes, there is a significant concentration of households with RTS meter installations.
Elected representatives at the Glasgow meeting highlighted the high levels of correspondence we are all receiving from constituents who report being unable to secure an appointment to have their RTS meter replaced, leaving them vulnerable to their hot water and heating not working properly after the deadline.
It has taken some time for Ofgem, Energy UK and energy companies to realise that a serious situation is coming down the tracks the nearer we get to 30th June.
Energy companies are upscaling their activities, but there is a feeling of ‘too little, too late’. Companies like OVO Energy are certainly more visible here in Shetland as the deadline approaches, suggesting more engineers on the ground, and talk of mobilising more.
Highlands and Islands Parliamentary colleagues share my frustration at the slow progress up to this point.
There is another problem that had to be highlighted at the Glasgow meeting: getting vehicles, equipment and people into Shetland via Northlink before the end of June and finding accommodation for them. We know from reports of the recent Shetland External Transport Forum that bookings for cabins and car deck space are already nearing capacity on some dates as we head towards summer.
It is not difficult to see this is fast becoming a nationwide crisis, if not a national scandal.