The withdrawal of Radio Teleswitching Services in 2025. A challenge and an opportunity.

The withdrawal of Radio Teleswitching Services in June 2025 is a challenge for Housing Association and Local Authority landlords and their tenants. It is also an opportunity for more effective and lower cost heating and hot water. Here’s how.

A version of this article first appeared in the newsletter of the Scottish Federation of Housing Association’s (SFHA) newsletter in March 2024.

It is estimated there are around 900,000 households in the United Kingdom impacted by the withdrawal of Radio Teleswitching Services (RTS). Many of the affected households are in Multi Dwelling Units (MDU) managed by housing associations and local authorities where tenants are reliant on electric storage heating (ESH) and hot water.

The advice from Energy UK to households with a Radio Teleswitch is that they need to contact their electricity supplier and arrange to replace it with a smart meter:

‘Your electricity supplier…will ensure that your heating/hot water continues to operate as it does now.’

The downside of installing a smart meter is that, as stated above, the heating/hot water will continue to operate as it does now; the system will remain ‘dumb’ and unable to charge dynamically. The tenant’s ESH will continue to deliver excessive heat in the morning after its overnight charge, and, by mid-afternoon on colder days, require the tenant to switch on expensive supplementary heating, such as fan heaters.

Landlords committed to tenant comfort and welfare could consider combining the installation of a smart meter with Connected Response’s HeatSage technology. The smart meter provides tenants with the opportunity to switch to a more flexible tariff, such as Economy 10 or similar, and HeatSage ensures the tenant is able to make optimal use of the charging window flexibility offered by the tariff to deliver their heating and hot water needs at the lowest cost.

The HeatSage load switch sits alongside the tenant’s smart meter

To achieve this, three variables are analysed for each tenant:

  • The tenant’s heating and hot water preferences
  • The tenant’s living room temperature
  • Tomorrow’s local average temperature

If tomorrow’s temperature is higher than usual for the time of year, HeatSage will dynamically (automatically) reduce the night-time ESH charge to maintain heating and hot water in line with the tenant’s preferences. Alternatively, if the outlook is for cold weather, HeatSage can ‘top up’ the ESH during the afternoon or evening off-peak charging windows allowed for under the Economy 10 (or similar) tariff.

HeatSage’s discrete temperature and humidity sensor is installed in the tenant’s lounge

The net effect of using a smart meter and HeatSage to optimise ESH and hot water charging is a better heating and hot water experience for the tenant and a typical reduction in their electricity bill of 30-40%. Over a two-year period, tenant savings on electricity bills often exceed the landlord’s initial capital investment.

To support housing associations wishing to switch to a combination of smart meters and HeatSage, the Connected Response team has developed extensive experience of tenant engagement, honed during the installation of HeatSage on a roll-out to 8,000 flats across Glasgow. Two further major HeatSage projects to replace Radio Teleswitches for Scottish landlords are commencing in April 2024 and will benefit another 1,200 households.

As the excellent SFHA RTS summary document* explains, doing nothing is not a viable option for housing association and local authority tenants with a Radio Teleswitch. It is time to act.

Author – Martin Rinvolucri

Martin Rinvolucri is Business Development Manager for Connected Response**.

If you have questions about the withdrawal of RTS, smart meters or HeatSage, Martin and his colleagues are happy to help; one of Martin’s colleagues, Alan Jones, was a member of the original GEC team that developed RTS in the mid-1980s.

You can contact Martin on 07767 549914 or martinrinvolucri@connectedresponse.co.uk.

*https://www.sfha.co.uk/news/news-category//news-article/follow-up-on-rts-restricted-meters

** In 2021, Connected Response became part of Warmworks. Warmworks is the Managing Agent of a number of energy efficiency schemes and projects that are being delivered across the UK, all of which are aimed at making homes warmer and cheaper to heat.