Lib Dems: UK Govt must ensure households are compensated if worse off after RTS shutdown

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have called on the UK Government to require energy suppliers to compensate households in full if they requested a replacement meter before the RTS shutdown but failed to receive one.

There is almost one month to go until the radio signal that controls old-style RTS electricity meters is switched off. This could leave many households, particularly in rural parts of Wales, without heating and hot water or alternatively with their heating stuck on all the time.

Ofgem has stated that no household will lose electricity supply when the switch-off happens on 30th June. But by the end of April, there were about 423,000 RTS meters still to be replaced in the UK, with many in rural Wales.

The Liberal Democrats are now calling on the UK Government to require energy suppliers to compensate any household that requested a replacement meter before the shutdown but never received one.

Commenting Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe David Chadwick said:

“Despite the shutdown looming in less than two months, there are still far too many households without replacement meters. They must not pay the price for the failures of the energy companies and Ofgem.

“Government efforts to replace meters are coming incredibly late in the day, especially when energy companies and the regulator knew of the shutdown for years but chose to sit on their hands.

“At the moment, the priority is to ensure that as many smart meters as possible are installed and that everyone gets fair energy tariffs on replacement meters. But once the deadline has passed, we may find that there are households which requested a replacement meter and never received one. If that is the case, the government must ensure that energy suppliers compensate those households in full.”

Welsh Liberal Democrat Senedd Member for Mid & West Wales Jane Dodds added:

“This shutdown could be a disaster for households across rural Wales.

“It has the potential to cause massive disruption for isolated rural communities and farms, which face the additional problems of engineer shortages and connectivity issues.

“Energy companies have failed to replace meters at the required pace, which is why they must step up, or be ready to compensate all those households left worse off after the deadline.”

ENDS