With days to go, why RTS energy meter switch-off is turning into a national scandal

PA

A few months ago I wrote in the Scotsman about the looming scandal that is the radio teleswitch service (RTS) shutdown facing energy customers – a scandal created entirely by the fecklessness of energy companies and the energy regulator Ofgem.

I would like to be able to say here that matters have improved in recent months, that the regulator has taken matters seriously and that energy companies have strained every sinew to replace every RTS meter before the planned deadline. I would like to be able to say that – but I cannot. Despite repeated promises and warm words, the effort that has been forthcoming from those responsible for this mess has barely registered. Thousands of families up and down the country are still awaiting energy meter replacements that should have been made not weeks or months, but years ago.

What I find baffling (stronger adjectives might be appropriate) is that even now the same stories and the same dog-ate-my-homework excuses are coming from the energy companies. Customers are still being given incorrect information by suppliers about their meters, being told that they cannot book replacements, or being told that they are to be forced onto an inferior tariff with no recourse.

All of which brings us back to the energy regulator. Ofgem has been missing in action throughout this slow-rolling fiasco, only belatedly brought to the table by government pressure and utterly ineffectual (as far as can be seen) at lighting a fire under the energy suppliers.

The great “ace in the hole” that Ofgem was supposed to bring was a new set of regulations on energy companies which would require them to offer meter replacements to all customers and to give tariffs that were just as good as the old RTS rates. Consultation on these regulations started at the beginning of the year, but owing to the wonders of regulatory efficiency Ofgem will not report back on the rules – let alone bring them into force – until after the supposed RTS deadline. Perhaps you can detect the problem here.

The confusion and frustration amongst customers is palpable and for good reason. For weeks there were rumours of a “phased switch-off” being the new plan in place of a hard deadline, but it is only today, as I write, that this has publicly been confirmed by Ofgem. The impression being given is that, having wasted years avoiding replacing meters in good order, the energy companies are grasping for “just one more” bailout.

If the fragile and outdated RTS system fails in the meantime, however, it will be customers – often some of the most vulnerable households – paying the price for the failures of the energy companies and Ofgem. That cannot be allowed to stand – which is why I fear that in the end a public inquiry may be necessary to hold those responsible to account.

I have said before that I do not blame the current government for the situation that they inherited. Whether or not it is their fault, however, it is the government’s responsibility to deal with the situation before them. “I wouldn’t start from here” only takes you so far – the government must take a grip before this scandal gets any worse.

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