Anybody with an RTS meter successfully had a traditional (non smart) meter installed?

[Verbena17]

Hi
We currently have a traditional digital electric meter and it gives a day and a night reading which is controlled by Radio Teleswitch Signal. Before Christmas, Octopus changed out tardif to a single standard tariff when I asked them and it’s actually cheaper than the Economy 7 one we had been on! So now we are on a single tarif with the same day and night charges, I don’t see what they can’t simply fit us a new traditional meter.

We do not want a Smart meter and have told Octopus this.
Initially, two of their staff agreed with me that it should be a simple cancellation of one reading once the BBC switch off happens - that whichever reading is left working, we will just give that each month.

All was ok but now Octopus are saying they have no idea what will happen once the switch off happens (I find it hard to believe they don’t know) and they will only install a smart meter.
Ive stated that for health reasons we don’t want one installed and instead, we would like them to install a single reading digital meter.
They said they can’t/wont.

Has anybody else had this issue and sorted it somehow, without a smart meter?
Some homes cant even have a smart meter and so then, the energy comp has to fit a traditional one.

I was in the same position as you. RTS meter but with no E7 appliances. I didn’t want a smart meter fitted but Octopus wouldn’t leave me alone until they fitted a new smart meter in.

Anyway, it was fitted the beginning of February and omg what a difference it’s made to my energy bills. We’ve made significant savings since we’ve swapped over. Last months April bill was over £50 cheaper than April last year. February and March saw £30 per month saving compared to last year. I do all my washing and dishwashing on the night rate.

I never need to read the meters again. I wish I’d been pushed into a smart meter sooner.

The OFGEM requirements make it incredibly difficult for suppliers to install non smart meters.

Most smart meter installation issues have now been resolved, and even where communication issues remain the solution in many cases is to still install and then rely on manual readings.

I had an RTS meter. One with four readings although one was always zero. It had an economy 7 reading although I couldn’t get economy 7. Eon swapped it for a normal meter late last year as part of the transition. Apparently I had to go to a normal meter before a smart meter was installed and I have never got around to organising that.

Octopus have agreed to wait until the switch off, to see what happens but said it quite likely won’t continue to work.
I’m sure they’re lying.

I stated on our account that we don’t want a smart meter for health reasons, as apparently they aren’t covered for health claims for smart meters.

Ive been reading the Commons Select Committee smart meter evidence today and there’s loads of evidence showing of health risks and how people who are electromagnetically hypersensitive can have health symptoms relating directly to smart meters.
Then there is the fire issue. For people who have meters inside (we have ours in our hallway), if they’re located in the same place as an escape route, it’s potentially preventing escape if they set on fire - which many have.

For us, the valid reasons for not wanting a smart meter definitely outweigh the potential savings.

This is interesting as I don't want a smart meter and my meter is very overdue to be replaced

I think you might be losing perspective on some of your concerns.

On the fire risk front - Does this mean that you don’t have any electrical devices in your hallway or escape route? For example an RTS meter? If you do, then the smart meter fire risk is no different.

For electromagnetic sensitivity- does this mean you don’t have Wi-Fi, or blue tooth in use in your home? Or carry a mobile phone? If you do, then the smart meter is no different.

This. ⬆️

It is different though - the findings outlined in that paper are stating why people shouldn’t be forced into having one…that it isn’t compliant with the Human Right Act.

The info in that paper explains the very real findings about health concerns.
I’m not saying anything about the devices we already have - I’m saying about not being forced into something I don’t think they’re being truthful about.

So this morning, I’ve just found out from someone in the next village to me, that Octopus told her that her home is in a black spot and so they cannot fit her a smart meter. She has the same RTS meter as I do.

So whilst she doesn’t currently need to replace her traditional 2 reading meter, at some point she might and Octopus won’t be forcing her to have a smart meter fitted. How does that work then?

Then literally told me “nobody makes traditional meters anymore”. What they mean is, “we can fit a traditional meter but we’re not going to - we are going to force you to have a smart meter”.
That’s unfair and surely not right.

The point of my post though, wasn’t asking ‘should I have a smart meter?’.
It’s asking had anyone successfully not had one fitted and how did they manage it?

Octopus weren’t fibbing. RTS meters, like other dual rate meters, can switch a separate circuit for storage and immersion heating. In the absence of the radio signal, many RTS meter will lose this functionality. So, anything which is wired to such a circuit may stop working altogether, until some re-wiring is done.

Yes and I wasn’t talking about people who have their heating and water systems wired into it.
Octopus have known our situation since the start and so know we don’t have storage heaters, electric heating & that we don’t use use lots of overnight energy. And yet, instead of telling us what the CAB told us today, they said they have no idea what will happen (for our situation) and that our only option is a smart meter.

There’s a chance that people may still have something connected to the switched circuit and not be aware, even though they’ve changed to a single rate tariff.

You are being utterly unreasonable to think that there are health issues with smart meters anymore than mobile phones and internet which you are using

I’m actually shock that the OP would rather cling to her old meter than change to a smart meter and start saving money. The £110 I’ve saved in three months since I’ve had my smart meter fitted, destroys all my initial worries about changing over.

Exactly, but people don’t want to hear this. They’ll happily transfer gigabytes of data to and from their various devices, but think that the miniscule amount of data that a smart meter sends and receives in a day will somehow damage their bodies.

Whilst at the same time having the odd drink and bar of chocolate , having a gas hob and a wood burner and getting behind the wheel of a car

The monthly cost is fine for us and I’d much rather keep on using a perfectly fine traditional meter than one which the WHO in 201a described as being Group 2 possibly carcinogenic.

Like others have said, to concentrate on smart meters whilst ignoring everything else in your home that has the same issues seems interesting at least.

You mean this?

https://www.iarc.who.int/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/pr208_E.pdf

It’s a rather old paper. Also, it assesses the risk in the context of wireless phone use. As I’m sure you’re aware, we don’t carry smart meters around with us, interact with them regularly throughout the day, or hold them against our heads.

"Then literally told me “nobody makes traditional meters anymore” who is making this old tech? Why would they make a product that very few people need? I used to work for an energy supplier both pre and post opening the market. Most of the time when one of these is fitted it is a refurbed meter. As meters have a end of reliability date we used to switch them out for new ones and the old ones were refurbished. We covered a large rural area so lots of customers only had electric and storage heaters for heating. A lot of people on economy 7.

We know some of the meters used to fail before their end date as we fitted piggyback meters ie two meters for one property to check the consumption was being recorded accurately by the first one.

Octopus are the best, I never worked for them but having had my electric supplied by lots of companies, in my opinion they are brilliant. What you need to understand is that Octopus do not own your meter, they merely bill you for your usage. The meter belongs to the geographical electricity company and they probably have a say in what meter is fitted too so it isn't all on Octopus.

This honestly feels like you are saying the fax machine is the best way to communicate when everyone else has moved onto email.

As for carcinogens, alcohol is a toxic, psychoactive and dependence-producing substance and has been classified as a Group 1 carcinogen. I think that is more of a concern that a meter.

But if the smart meter is commissioned, it’s giving out that radiation all of the time. In my case, I don’t carry around my mobile with me at all - only if I leave the house when it’s in my pocket.

It’s not giving out radiation all the time, it sends the occasional burst of data to the IHD, plus phones home to the supplier about once every 24 hours. It’s a tiny drop in the ocean compared to the amount of radiation being emitted by your internet router and mobile phone.

Health issues aren’t the only concern though.
Privacy & being much more easily controllable by outside sources (energy companies), as well as mistakes with billing (experienced by loads of customers) are also a concern.

Anyway, the main issue was whether anyone had a traditional one fitted instead of a smart meter - not really the reasons for or against having one.

Privacy: suppliers already know how much energy we use. Controllable: they want to sell us energy. The more the sell, the more profit they make. So they won’t be turning anyone off. Billing mistakes: often caused by estimates (and people not checking their meter readings/bills. Functioning smart meters eliminate that problem.