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

Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland Alistair Carmichael MP has today 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.

It comes as his colleague and MSP for Shetland Beatrice Wishart leads a debate in the Scottish Parliament today, where she will highlight the potentially devastating impact of the shutdown, particularly for homes in island and rural areas.

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 the Highlands and Islands, 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, and nearly 135,000 of these are in the Highlands and Islands.

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.

Alistair Carmichael 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.

“When I led a debate on this issue in the UK Parliament, the minister told me that there would be a ‘spring surge’ of replacement meters. It is critical that the government puts their shoulder to the wheel in making that a reality.

“These efforts, however, 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.”

Beatrice Wishart MSP added:

“This shutdown could be a disaster for households across Scotland.

“It has the potential to cause massive disruption for our island and rural communities, 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.”