Major update for 600,000 energy customers as meters will be switched off before June
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MORE than half a million energy customers could be moved onto smart meters in the next six months ahead of a big switch off. Letters are landing on doormats of 600,000 households who are on old meters that use Radio Teleswitch Service, or RTS for short.
![[A person's hand checking a gas meter during an energy crisis.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/man-trying-get-extra-heat-881198613.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
RTS is the signal that's used to broadcast long-wave radio channels and is also used by hundreds of thousands of electricity meters. These legacy devices have been used to charge customers on multi-rate tariffs, commonly called Economy 7 tariffs, more at peak times but less at off-peak times.
They need to be replaced before June 30 when the RTS signal we be switched off for good. Suppliers have raced to get these customers moved to smart meters before the deadline. The Sun reported in October how 800,000 customers still needed to make the move, slightly less than the 900,000 at the start of 2024.
Now new figures reveal that 600,000 are still on RTS meters with just six months to go before the big switch off risking them "going dumb". Anyone on RTS who fails to move to a smart meter could see that their "heating and hot water supply stops functioning as normal".
This include higher bills as suppliers won't be able to tell if you've used energy at peak time, or off peak. There's also a risk that heating or hot water, or both, could be left on continually, or stay off. The energy regulator Ofgem along with suppliers and consu er groups last year launched a major switchover plan to get those affected on to up-to-date meters.
