Why vulnerable Highlanders risk being left without heating this winter

There is nothing quite like a brisk north wind to focus your mind on heating – or the lack thereof. Regular readers of this column will be well aware of the endlessly overrunning saga that is the shutdown of the radio teleswitch service (RTS), affecting the energy meters of households across the UK, but particularly in the Highlands and Islands.

This is an issue that really ought to have been put to bed for good years ago – and yet thousands of Scots have been let down by energy companies, and energy regulator Ofgem, this winter, and are still waiting on working replacements for their RTS meters.

The attitude from both the regulator Ofgem – and the companies it supposedly regulates – has been utterly complacent. All RTS meters were supposed to be replaced by the middle of this past summer.

READ MORE: Why the government must turn up the heat on energy companies over RTS scandal

The arrival of snowy weather raises concerns for people with radio teleswitch service electric meters, as the ageing system is on life support (Picture: John Devlin) | The Scotsman

The right choice

Instead, 56,000 meters remain in Scotland alone at the last count, leaving the government with the choice of forcing a switch-off in the height of winter or letting this struggling system limp on for another year.

In the end, the government made the right choice to pause the RTS switch-off until the end of winter, even as meter replacements continue. People have had not-unreasonable concerns about the potential consequences of the service being ended during the coldest months.

No one truly knows what the impact of a hard stop would have been, especially for vulnerable and elderly households.

READ MORE: Radio teleswitch service switch-off postponed over fears thousands of Scots would be left without heating

‘Fingers crossed’ doesn’t cut it

Now for the less-than-good news. The RTS system is on life support. It is all very well saying that the deadline for final switch-off will be delayed until next summer but there is no certainty that the signal itself will last that long.

‘Fingers crossed’ does not really cut it when we are talking about heating homes in the middle of winter. We need a proper plan – and I have seen nothing from the energy companies that gives me confidence that they are on top of this.

What is needed is proper enforcement to protect families and businesses. Ofgem will finally report back at the end of this month on its new RTS regulations, and in particular the “no detriment” rule on tariffs for customers, which is supposed to ensure that people who switch are not hit with a worse tariff than they had before. The sooner we see these regulations finalised and in force, the better – because up to this point, Ofgem has been utterly toothless in protecting customers.

A fair deal

Government ministers have, in fairness, done their best to improve matters. Whether or not it is their fault, however, the buck will stop with them if RTS fails or customers are left worse off after they switch.

The most fundamental promise throughout the RTS switch-off saga has been that the new meters will work and that people will get a fair deal on their new tariffs. That is the measure by which we shall judge Ofgem, the energy companies and the government.

One way or another the saga is going to come to an end in the coming months. It remains to be seen whether it ends happily, or as a cautionary tale – but those brisk north winds should be a warning to act now.

Alistair Carmichael is the Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland