15 hours Ago By Katharine Hay
Tens of thousands of households in Scotland could be left without heating and hot water when a dated electricity meter is set to switch off. Energy companies have said it will be "very, very difficult" to replace all Radio Teleswitching System (RTS) meters with smart meters before the old technology stops come June 30. Most homes have standard meters and will not be affected, whether they have a smart meter or not.
However, campaigners have said some 300,000 homes across the UK that have the old RTS meters could be at risk. Join Katharine Hay on her walk around Scotland, with the Hay’s Way newsletter Energy Action Scotland (EAS) estimates about 30 per cent of those are in Scotland. This means some 100,000 Scottish homes could lose heating or have it stuck on constantly in about eight weeks’ time.
EAS said Glasgow was the local authority area with the single largest share of RTS meters left, with about 20,000 still in use in February. Properties using the meters in the islands authorities combined was about 30,000, according to EAS figures, but with a high proportion of residents by comparison. The Highlands had about 16,000 RTSs running and Edinburgh 14,000.
The governments have called on the industry to "work urgently to continue to increase the pace of replacements". For the past four decades, RTS meters have used a longwave radio frequency to switch between peak and off-peak rates. But the technology is becoming obsolete and energy companies have a deadline to change their customers' meters by June 30.
At the end of March, there were still 430,000 households across the UK using RTS meters for their heating and hot water, 160,000 of those in Scotland, according to Energy UK, which represents energy companies. Frazer Scott, chief executive of EAS, said: “Time and time again consumers are left in the dark by the government and an energy industry failing to deliver on its promises to deliver improvements. “Let’s not forget that many of these firms are making significant profits from customers and yet their customers, including many vulnerable people, may be left without working heating and hot water or facing the prospect of spiralling costs in just a few weeks’ time.
“The impact of failure in the switchover process on the health and wellbeing of people across Scotland don’t bear thinking about.” Simon Francis, co-ordinator of campaign group End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: “We know the situation in parts of Scotland is likely to be absolutely critical. Rural areas in particular are being left behind and we doubt the engineering capacity is available to help households meet the deadline.
” Energy UK has said more than 1,000 RTS meters were now being replaced each day. However, with the March figure of 430,000 RTSs still in use, the daily rate would need to be more like 5,000 to ensure no one is left out. Ned Hammond, Energy UK's deputy director for customers, told BBC Radio 4 the rate of replacement was rising, but added: "Obviously we'd need to increase from there significantly still to replace all the meters by the end of June.
" Asked whether it was impossible to get every RTS meter switched over by June 30, he said: "I wouldn't want to say impossible - but clearly very, very difficult to get to that point.".
