End of Radio Teleswitch Service: Rural Areas

Debate between Miatta Fahnbulleh and Alistair Carmichael

Wednesday 4th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Miatta Fahnbulleh)]

I thank the hon. Member for Angus and Perthshire Glens (Dave Doogan) for bringing this important issue to the attention of the House. As I will set out later, it is important that people who will be affected by the transition are aware of the issue and the steps we need to take to upgrade. I reassure him that we are doing everything we can to ensure that the transition is done with consumers in mind, and that it works for the households we know will be affected.

Since the 1980s, the radio teleswitch service has played an important role in helping many consumers to have lower-cost energy for heating and hot water. However, as has been acknowledged, the technology is coming to the end of its life. The continuation of the BBC’s longwave radio signal is due to end on 1 June 2025. We have already extended the service once, from March this year. When the service ends, as has already been pointed out, there will no longer be the availability to switch between rates. In some instances, consumers may lose control of their heating or hot water. With the deadline fast approaching, I cannot stress enough that this is a big issue for us. It is a priority and we understand that there is a job of work to do to ensure that we can deliver the transition for consumers.

[Mr Carmichael]

The Minister is absolutely right. I raised that with the former Prime Minister at Prime Minister’s questions earlier this year, and he agreed to convene a roundtable where we got everybody in the room, because there had just been too much blame-passing around the various partners. That meeting got overtaken by the election, but it happened without parliamentarians at the table. Will the Minister now look at the possibility of reconvening that meeting with parliamentarians so that there is that element of accountability at the table?

[Miatta Fahnbulleh]

Yes, I am very keen to reconvene that. It is absolutely essential that we work with hon. Members across the House who represent constituencies that we know will be affected. From our perspective, we have a big job to engage consumers to ensure that they are aware and that the transition is working. We are keen to work across the House to do that.

One of the outcomes of the roundtable that was put in place was that the taskforce has been established—with Ofgem, industry and the Government—to manage the transition and to put and inject the urgency that we need to see in the ongoing process. In October, the industry signed up to a call to action, representing a collective agreement to take the steps needed to speed the transition away from RTS. Specific actions that were included in that call for action are: targeting of resources towards regional hotspots where we know there are a high number of RTS customers and we know that we need to do work to reach them; fast-tracking of meter upgrades for RTS customers and, in particular, vulnerable customers who we are very worried about; and collaboration on some of the technical solutions that we know are needed.

We are clear that the delivery of the transition away from RTS requires active engagement with consumers, as they will need to agree to appointments, collaborate with their installers and ensure that they have the right solutions in place.