Find out what you need to do before support for Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS) meters switch off in 2025.

The technology that supports RTS electricity meters will switch off from 30 June 2025. Without the technology to tell RTS meters when to swap between peak and off-peak rates, they may no longer work properly, and it may mean that a consumer’s heating and hot water supply stops functioning as normal.

If you have an RTS meter, your electricity supplier will get in touch to arrange an upgrade to a smart meter before this deadline.

They must make sure you have a suitable meter installed, and that your service is not disrupted.

We expect electricity suppliers to replace all RTS meters before the Radio Teleswitch Service technology ends.

Support to upgrade RTS electricity meters

We are working with energy suppliers, distribution network operators, consumer groups and others as part of the RTS Taskforce to support people with an RTS meter. Read more information about the RTS Taskforce.

If you have an RTS meter your electricity supplier will contact you to arrange an appointment to upgrade your electricity meter. You should arrange an upgrade of your meter to avoid losing heating or hot water after 30 June 2025.

Find out if you have an RTS meter

You may have an RTS meter if:

• your home has a separate switch box near your meter with a Radio Teleswitch label on it
• your home is heated using electricity or storage heaters
• there is no gas supply to your area, including households in rural areas and high-rise flats
• you get cheaper energy at different times of day, for example, you might be on an Economy 7, Economy 10, or Total Heat Total Control tariff

Get in touch with your electricity supplier if you’re still not sure which meter is in your home.

If you do not know who your supplier is, follow the steps on our find your energy supplier page. 

Contact your electricity supplier to upgrade your RTS meter

If you have an RTS meter in your home, view details on your electricity supplier’s website to upgrade your meter.

• Octopus
• SSE
• British Gas
• Ovo
• Scottish Power
• E
• E.On Next
• Ecotricity
• EDF Energy
• So Energy
• Utilia
• Outfox the Market
• Good Energy
• Sainsbury’s Energy
• Utility Warehouse

Upgrading to a smart meter

A smart meter will give you a similar service to your RTS meter. You’ll also get other benefits, including:

• electricity readings submitted automatically
• access to ‘smart meter only’ tariffs
• the ability to monitor your energy usage
• accurate bills based on the electricity you’ve used, not estimates

Find out more about getting a smart meter.

If you’re not able to upgrade

In some instances, your supplier may not be able to offer you a smart meter at the moment.

If this is the case, they must make sure you have a suitable meter installed, and that your service is not disrupted.

You should contact your supplier to understand the options available to you. 

If you do not want a smart meter

Upgrading to a smart meter is the best option for RTS customers. If you choose not to upgrade:

• your heating and hot water may be left continually on or off
• your electric storage heaters may charge at the wrong time of day, possibly leading to higher bills
• your supplier may be unable confirm your electricity usage during peak or off-peak times, and your electricity costs may be higher than before
• you’ll have a more limited choice of tariffs.

Talk to your supplier for more information.

If you have any questions or concerns that haven’t been addressed in this article, please call our Save Energy Advice Line free on 0800 043 0151, or email advice@epplus.org. Lines are open 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday (apart from Bank Holidays).

Ofgem has appointed British Gas to take on supplying Rebel Energy’s 84,000 domestic customers, and 6,000 non-domestic customers. This follows a competitive process run by Ofgem to get the best deal possible for customers.  

Funds that current and former domestic customers of the supplier have paid into their accounts will be protected, where they are in credit. Domestic customers will also be protected by the energy price cap with their new supplier.   

For existing Rebel Energy customers, energy supplies will continue as normal after they were switched over to British Gas on Sunday 6 April 2025.   

Customers of Rebel Energy will be contacted over the coming days about the changes. If customers wish to switch supplier, they can shop around but are advised to wait until the transfer has been completed. Customers will not be charged exit fees if they decide to switch to another supplier.  

Tim Jarvis, Director General for Markets at Ofgem, said:   

“Making sure consumers face as little disruption as possible when a supplier exits the market is our number one priority, so I am pleased to confirm we have appointed British Gas for customers of Rebel Energy. 

“While I know customers may be concerned, they do not need to worry. All credit balances remain protected, and there will be no interruption to their energy supply while the switch is taking place.  

“Rebel Energy customers will be placed onto a competitive tariff, though should consider what’s right for them once the transfer is complete. They will also face no exit fees if they choose to switch to another supplier.”   

We are delighted to confirm recent announcements, unlocking £87m worth of funding to make homes in the Northwest warmer, cheaper to run, and kinder to the environment.

Warm Homes: Local Grant offers homeowners and private tenants the opportunity to adopt low-carbon heating, while improving the fabric of the property, to make it better able to retain heat. Properties need to have an EPC rating of D-G to be eligible. Residents either need to be on a low income (i.e. total gross household income below £36,000) or meet “proxies” of fuel poverty, such as living in an area of deprivation. The scheme provider can spend up to £15,000 per property, decarbonising the heating system (e.g. replacing a gas boiler with an air source heat pump) and a separate £15,000 on additional works, such as insulation, or even possibly solar panels.

Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund is providing funding to Local Authorities and Social Landlords, to improve their housing stock for their tenants.

Once these schemes are up and running, this provides us with additional support we can help our clients to access.

Warm Homes: Local Grant

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority

Funding: £31,805,813

Cheshire East, together with Cheshire West and Chester, and Warrington
Funding: £7,792,725

Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund – Wave 3

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority  (acting on behalf of a Northwest consortium*)
Grant funding offered: £48,090,405 

* Consortium members: Alpha (R.S.L.) Limited; Birkenhead Forum Housing Association Limited; Blackpool Coastal Housing Limited; Cheshire West and Chester Council; Cobalt Housing Limited; Community Gateway Association; Jigsaw Housing Ltd; Crosby Housing Association Limited; Lancaster City Council; Magenta Living; One Vision Housing Limited; Onward Homes Limited; Pine Court Housing Association Limited; Plus Dane Housing Limited; Prima Housing Group Limited; Progress Housing Group; Regenda Limited; South Liverpool Homes Limited; Torus62 Limited; Weaver Vale Housing Trust Limited; West Lancashire Borough Council; YMCA St Helens; Your Housing Limited; Warrington Borough Council

Energy regulator Ofgem has today [Tuesday 25 February 2025] announced a 6.4% increase of the energy price cap for the period covering April to June 2025.  

A recent spike in wholesale prices is the main driver of today’s price rise, accounting for around 78% of the total increase. A small increase in policy costs and associated inflationary pressures make up a further 22%.

The price cap – which sets a maximum rate per unit and standing charge that can be billed to customers for their energy use – will rise by £111 for an average household per year, or around £9.25 a month, over the three-month period of the price cap.

For an average household paying by Direct Debit for dual fuel this equates to £1,849 per year. This is 9.4% (£159) higher than this time last year (£1,690) but £531 (22%) lower than at the height of the energy crisis at the start of 2023, when the Energy Price Guarantee was in place.

Since Ofgem’s last price cap announcement in November 2024, four million customers have moved to a fixed tariff. Now, 11 million people are on a fixed deal and won’t be affected by the change in the price cap. This is the largest movement of customers coming off the price cap and on to a fixed deal since the energy crisis.

Jonathan Brearley, CEO of Ofgem, says:

“We know that no price rise is ever welcome, and that the cost of energy remains a huge challenge for many households.

“But our reliance on international gas markets leads to volatile wholesale prices, and continues to drive up bills, which is why it’s more important than ever that we’re driving forward investment in a cleaner, homegrown system.

“Energy debts that began during the energy crisis have reached record levels and without intervention will continue to grow. This puts families under huge stress and increases costs for all customers. We’re developing plans that could give households with unmanageable debt the clean slate they need to move forward.

“We welcome the government’s support for these plans, and their plans to expand the Warm Home Discount, which will also offer financial help to nearly three million more households that need it most.

“If anyone is worried about paying their bills, I would urge them to reach out to their supplier to make sure they’re getting all the help they can. Where possible, switching or fixing tariffs now could also help to bring costs down and provide certainty over coming payments.”

From 1 April, Britain’s standing charges will reduce for most households, but some regional variation remains. As a result, some households will see a small increase in standing charges of up to £20 per year for a typical dual fuel consumer. This is due to changes in network costs – the price paid to transport energy around the country and power Britain’s homes.

Ofgem is also today welcoming the government’s support of its plans to tackle the growing impacts of rising debt in the energy system and create lasting change in the way debt is managed and customers in debt are supported.

The plans could see a Debt Relief Scheme established, which suppliers would use to either write off debt that is so significant it will never be paid back or help pay off debt by ‘debt matching’ customer payments. The Debt Relief Scheme would form part of a wider package of measures, supported by the Government’s proposed expansion of the WHD, which aims to reduce debt to levels seen before the energy crisis reducing costs to all consumers by £25-30 per year*.

The regulator has also set out ambitions to improve the standard of service from suppliers when supporting customers that are struggling to pay their bills. The proposals would make it easier for consumers to get help from charities and debt support agencies and ensure a consistent approach is taken across the board, to help to limit the risk of unsustainable levels of debt building up in the future once again.

The plans have also received backing from a number of stakeholders, who recognise how important the scheme could be for helping those in severe payment difficulty to get back on track, while also encouraging more onto repayment plans, driving down debt costs for all.

The regulator continues to encourage customers to look for the best deal to help keep their household bills down and to consider switching to a new supplier or fixing to a tariff with their existing supplier. There are a number of fixed, Direct Debit tariffs tracking below the April price cap level, with savings of around £50 available compared to the upcoming price cap level.

Click on the link above to watch a short message from our CEO, Peter Owen, offering our perspective on the continuing challenges of the climate crisis and chronically high levels fuel poverty.

The theme is “Advice alone is not enough”

Since Energy Projects Plus started over 25 years ago we have always recognised the importance of being able to offer those we advise some direct routes to action, be they

• changing how things are done in the home

• fitting small measures,

• making more effective use of what is currently in place,

• or whole house retrofit.

However, as a country we seem ever distant from meeting climate targets or eradicating fuel poverty.

In the absence of more sustainable solutions, a huge amount of money has rightly been spent by Government in cost of living payments that help struggling families to try to stay warm through very difficult circumstances.

However, great as the need is, this cannot be a permanent solution.

For example, – Private rented homes are generally the least energy efficient yet they often house those least able to meet the high energy costs required to keep adequately warm.

The choice those residents face is simple – switch off or invite fuel debt.

These homes are in effect not fit for purpose.

The financial burden and the immediate and chronic health impacts of unavoidably living in cold homes are plain to see through the surge in demand for financial support to meet daily needs and the increased identification of patients requiring support from health services as a result of their home conditions.

What is urgently needed is a large scale, locally driven future-proofing programme that significantly reduces the energy demand of homes, particularly those occupied by low income families, through a fabric first approach that addresses insulation levels, heat loss through air leakage, and has embedded in-depth education of residents in best practice use of the home.

Current schemes do not achieve this standard.

Our charity, and similar ones across the UK, provide advice and support to thousands of people who desperately need the retrofit works that would future proof their homes, and make them fit for purpose.

We refer into national schemes for action but are encountering a fragmented system that does not appear to be primarily focussed on the needs of the resident.

We are finding examples where both resident and home are a match for schemes and measures but there are no offers from scheme managers. Worse still an initial rejection for support can be replaced by a valid offer after seeking an alternative second (or third) contractor.

It seems a fundamentally flawed system where the ability to receive measures is driven by the commercial interest of an installer and not by the needs of the vulnerable resident.

We consider that locally driven, locally focussed programmes, whether part of a national infrastructure programme or independent, would provide large benefits – economically through developing a local fully skilled installer base that could meet the demand generated by seriously tackling the issues, but also have positive impacts on the financial, physical, and mental wellbeing of residents, with a linked reduction in demand on local health and support services currently driven by poorly performing homes.

In 2025 we will be intensifying our focus on achieving actual improvements to homes and achieving the associated benefits across the health and support sector, inching forward in meeting climate targets and the eradication fuel poverty, built on the firm foundation of local high quality and expert independent advice.

We are declaring 2025 as the year of data sharing.

Building on award-winning fuel poverty pilots delivered throughout 2024 with health sector partners including NHS Cheshire & Merseyside, Health Innovation Northwest Coast, and Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital – we will be delivering a “Gamechanger” initiative.”

Working in partnership with local Primary Care Networks and regional Public Health teams we will be exploring how health sector data can be used (with full recognition of confidentiality requirements) to identify and align patients most at risk from poor home conditions with practical measures that future-proof their health.

We will also continue to explore with partners how we can instigate the removal of barriers within the journey from advice to action.

We see 2025 as an opportunity to develop ambitious programmes, such as a unified health & housing project covering all of Cheshire & Merseyside, aimed at making a significant difference to carbon emissions, fuel poverty and the health and well-being of residents across Merseyside and Cheshire.

We would be pleased to discuss our plans with any like-minded organisations and invite you to contact us to find out more: info@epplus.org

E.ON Next has paid £14.5 million after failing to provide final bills and refund customer credit balances to prepayment meter customers.

An investigation by the energy regulator, Ofgem, found almost 250,000 prepayment meter customer accounts were affected between February 2021 and September 2023 due to an error within its billing system, which E.ON Next self-reported to Ofgem. 100,000 of the accounts were also in credit.

As a result of the issue, prepayment customers who transferred to another supplier or terminated their contract did not receive final bills within six weeks, as required under Ofgem’s rules. E.ON Next also subsequently failed to make compensation payments of £30 or £60 as required under the Supplier Guaranteed Standards of Performance (GSoP).

Because they did not receive a final bill, affected customers were also unaware of the credit remaining on their accounts, worth £51 on average, and were not provided a refund automatically.

As a result of these failures, and in recognition of the impact on its customers, many of which may have faced financial difficulty, E.ON Next has agreed to pay a total of £14.5million in compensation and redress payments, with each customer account receiving on average £144. This includes £4.7million in credit refunds, £6.6million in GSoP compensation payments, and an additional £3.2million in compensation to affected customers.

Where it has not been possible to trace a customer, E.ON Next has agreed to make additional payments to the Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Fund, which funds projects and schemes to support energy consumers, particularly those in vulnerable situations.

In addition to the compensation and redress package, E.ON Next has also agreed to voluntarily write off debt held by almost 150,000 prepayment meter customers who closed their accounts with the supplier between February 2021 and September 2023.

All affected accounts who were able to be identified have been contacted by E.ON Next, and the company has since updated its billing systems and processes to resolve the issue, and ensure final bills are sent to prepayment meter customers.

Beth Martin, director for consumer protection and competition at Ofgem, said:

“Prepayment meter customers are more likely to face financial difficulties, and during a period where households have been facing a significant cost of living crisis, it’s unacceptable that consumers did not receive refunds for credit that was owed to them, or final bills they are entitled to.

“E.ON Next has demonstrated an understanding of the significant impact this issue may have had on its customers, and it’s encouraging that they self-reported the issue and have worked with us to resolve it, and compensate affected customers to put things right. The action to write off debt will also offer affected households’ peace of mind.

“We are committed to driving up standards in the retail market so each and every customer gets the service they deserve from their energy company. If we see companies failing to act in the interest of their customers, we can and will take action.”