RTS switch off

[Joeboy]

Ads on the radio saying that RTS will be switched off on 30th June 2025.

Action required for E7 or E10 folk.

[Stinsy]

Ads on the radio saying that RTS will be switched off on 30th June 2025.

Action required for E7 or E10 folk.

Hopefully this will do people a favour!

I’ve told this story a few times, it dates from pre-covid, I don’t know where E7 and E10 tarrifs are these days, maybe they’re not the ripoffs they were:

A guy I worked with had taken over doing his mums admin. She lived in a Victorian terrace heated with storage heaters. Her bills were astonishing. She was paying 25p/kWh for off-peak electric (I don’t know/can’t remember/don’t even want to guess, how much peak was). They had a quote and were planning to spend thousands ripping out the SHs and replacing them with standard resistive heaters.

On my advice they kept the SHs and switched her to Octopus Go which was 5p off-peak and 15p peak at the time. Sure you had to click to say you had an EV but his cat ran over his keyboard at the critical moment of the application process and he’s not sure what was selected but her bills went from stratospheric to very-sensible with no need for capital investment.


As is say hopefully the RTS switch off will push people onto modern cheap ToU tariffs.

[Sim_C]

I am on Octopus E7 tariff with SMETS2 electric and gas meters to allow automatic readings. The SMETS2 electric meter is configured with 3 registers for peak, off-peak and export which are automatically read over the DCC network once a month for billing purposes. I can also physically read the values of these 3 registers and take photos, so can submit manual meter readings for example on the date of a price change.

Much of the time I can also view the consumption values at 30 minute intervals via the Octopus web portal but periodically will have 3 days slots of missing data. It is my understanding that if you are on say the Go tariff and the 30 minute data is not retrieved you will be charged the SVT for the period of missing data. When on the Go tariff does the meter only provide a single register value so when 30 minute data goes missing there is no fallback method to confirm consumption during peak and off-peak periods?

In locations with problematic DCC networks is it not better to have a reliable E7 tariff with a manual fallback method than be forced on to the SVT?

With my solar and battery storage system I only have around 1 kWh/month on the peak rate register other than when there are Octopus free sessions during the day, and all the remainder at off-peak prices (currently 12.5p on a 1 year fixed from Oct 2024).

[Stinsy]

It is my understanding that if you are on say the Go tariff and the 30 minute data is not retrieved you will be charged the SVT for the period of missing data.

They have that in the t&Cs but they've never done it! They once went 18 months without being able to retrieve 30-min data from my smartmeter. They for the data eventually and billed me correctly.

Loads of people online have had trouble with their smartmeters but none has been charged SVT.

What is the off-peak price of your E7 tariff?

[Fintray]

It is my understanding that if you are on say the Go tariff and the 30 minute data is not retrieved you will be charged the SVT for the period of missing data.

They have that in the t&Cs but they've never done it! They once went 18 months without being able to retrieve 30-min data from my smartmeter. They for the data eventually and billed me correctly.

Loads of people online have had trouble with their smartmeters but none has been charged SVT.

What is the off-peak price of your E7 tariff?

I find that hard to believe as I had a bill dated 27th January that shows them charging me the Flexible Octopus rate for a period back in Oct-Nov 2022.
Last bill 14th February had eight periods where I have been charged at the Flexible Octopus rate.

[Stinsy]

Interesting.

I've known plently of people have trouble with their smartmeter. You're the first person I've known be billed SVT.

How did the data get corrupted? Surely it is in your smartmeter even if Octopus cannot read it.

[Fintray]

Interesting.

I've known plently of people have trouble with their smartmeter. You're the first person I've known be billed SVT.

How did the data get corrupted? Surely it is in your smartmeter even if Octopus cannot read it.

I'm not sure if the data got corrupted or has just been lost somehow, the meter is inside the house and the walls are quite thick granite and we are in the countryside so probably a combination of factors.

[Sim_C]

With my solar and battery storage system I only have around 1 kWh/month on the peak rate register other than when there are Octopus free sessions during the day, and all the remainder at off-peak prices (currently 12.5p on a 1 year fixed from Oct 2024).

My experience with Octopus and missing 30 minute data is that in theory they can re-request the historical data from a SMETS2 meter via the DCC network but they are reluctant to do it especially if it has no material effect on your billing.

From what @Fintray is reporting there is just a single import register used when on the Go tariff.
With fixed off-peak timings I would have thought the E7 methodology would have been possible in the meter itself in order to have an off-peak register as
well and be able to fallback to manual readings if required for billing purposes. Though this could not apply to Intelligent Go with variable off-peak timings.

[nowty]

With my solar and battery storage system I only have around 1 kWh/month on the peak rate register other than when there are Octopus free sessions during the day, and all the remainder at off-peak prices (currently 12.5p on a 1 year fixed from Oct 2024).

My experience with Octopus and missing 30 minute data is that in theory they can re-request the historical data from a SMETS2 meter via the DCC network but they are reluctant to do it especially if it has no material effect on your billing.

From what @Fintray is reporting there is just a single import register used when on the Go tariff.
With fixed off-peak timings I would have thought the E7 methodology would have been possible in the meter itself in order to have an off-peak register as
well and be able to fallback to manual readings if required for billing purposes. Though this could not apply to Intelligent Go with variable off-peak timings.

Several years ago Octopus initially used the two import registers on my Smart Meter for Octopus Go billing when I first moved onto the tariff from E7. They re-programmed the timing for each import register to match the Go cheapslot hours. They moved me to billing via half hour readings approx 6 moths later.

So it can be done on the fixed registers, at least in the distant past.