Does YOUR energy 供給（する） depend on an old BBC 無線で通信する tower in Droitwich?
Last 脚s: These Droitwich 伝達／伝染 towers are all that's keeping the RTS service going
Two １０年間s-old pieces of glass and metal are all that stands between 900,000 UK energy メーターs working 適切に or 存在 厳しく 混乱に陥れる／中断させるd, and even turned off.
If that sounds unbelievable, welcome to the murky world of 無線で通信する Teleswitch (RTS) メーターs, where such 明らかな oversights are just another day in the office for energy 会社／堅いs.
RTS メーターs are used to run the sort of 'time-of-use' energy 取引，協定s that 許す 頂点（に達する） and off-頂点（に達する） energy use, with the most 井戸／弁護士席-known 存在 Economy 7 and Economy 10 関税s.
These 許す 世帯s to save money for energy they use at 確かな times of day, typically 夜通し.
There are about 900,000 RTS メーターs in the country?running time-of-use 関税s, which also work with smart メーターs and older mechanical メーターs that have an 内部の clock.
But these RTS メーターs 直面する a 重要な problem, leaving This is Money's postbags bulging with 関心d readers recently.
In the last few weeks and months, many energy 会社／堅いs have been 接触するing their Economy 7 and 10 顧客s to tell them that they may need to get a smart メーター fitted or else their RTS メーターs may not work 適切に.
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Some 顧客s have even been told that they will lose 接近 to heating and hot water unless they get a smart メーター fitted.
That is because these RTS メーターs rely on BBC 無線で通信する 4 longwave 無線で通信する to work, and the BBC wants to switch that serv ice off.
That would mean energy 会社／堅いs can no longer easily tell what time the 顧客 is using energy at, which 明白に 現在のs a problem with running 頂点（に達する） and off-頂点（に達する） energy 取引，協定s.
Once the RTS service is turned off, 顧客s have a choice. They can keep their 現在の メーター and lose 関税s like Economy 7 and 10, or they can 昇格 to a smart メーター, which can keep running such 取引，協定s.?
Those homes with mechanical メーターs will be 影響を受けない.
負わせる of ages: The Droitwich transmitting 駅／配置する was opened in the 1930s
The 推論する／理由 for our readers' 関心 was that the 2024 最終期限 to turn this RTS service off was 31 March, and their energy 会社／堅いs only told them this during 2024.
Many were worried that they could not get a smart メーター in time - or that they didn't want one, leaving the 未来 of their off-頂点（に達する） 取引，協定s in 疑問.
While many energy 会社／堅い communications did について言及する the 可能性 of an 拡張, many 顧客s were still left understandably 動揺させるd.?
Fortunately, last-溝へはまらせる／不時着する 会談 be tween energy 会社／堅いs and the BBC have now 回避するd the problem by 許すing an 拡張 to the RTS service, at least until next March - although not before giving a lot of 顧客s sleepless nights.
Why so many 顧客s were sent such worrying emails and letters, at such short notice, beggars belief.
But all the 拡張 has done is kick the can 負かす／撃墜する the road, because the BBC is very keen to stop running RTS.
And with good 推論する／理由, it has to be said.
In England and むちの跡s, RTS メーターs 現在／一般に run off one main transmitter, based in Droitwich.?
In turn, that 古代の transmitter relies on 弁 科学（工学）技術 to work - the same sort of vacuum tubes that once 力／強力にするd old TVs and 無線で通信するs.
The 問題／発行する is that the system 要求するs two 弁s to work. They are both 押し進めるing 20 years old, there are no spares anywhere in the world, and if either 弁 breaks then the RTS system stops working.
Anyone who has experience with 弁s knows that break they very often do, and with a bang - indeed, rockstars used to rely on this to みごたえのある 影響 by throwing TVs out of hotel windows.
Now, the metre-tall 弁s in the Droitwich Transmitting 駅／配置する are 明確に tougher than your 普通の／平均（する） TV or 無線で通信する 弁 - though I reckon still no match for the likes of Keith Moon in his heyday.
But 明確に the RTS system is on the way out, and the BBC has been gunning to 取って代わる it for 10 years.
The 推論する／理由 the Beeb hasn't already done this is a distinctly more modern one - smart メーターs, or more 正確に the 欠如（する） of them.
The only viable 交替／補充 to an RTS メーター is a smart メーター, if 顧客s want to carry on using time-of-use 関税s.
Older mechanical メーターs will also run these 関税s - but these are no longer made, so cannot be 任命する／導入するd to 取って代わる RTS 装置s.
Lights out? Economy 7 and 10 顧客s now have until 2025 until their メーターs stop working
That just leaves smart メーターs, but energy 会社／堅いs have not been able to fit them 急速な／放蕩な enough.
取って代わるing all these old RTS メーターs with smart ones by 31 March this year would have 要求するd energy 会社／堅いs to fit around 21,500 smart メーターs a day and to only 焦点（を合わせる） on RTS 顧客s.
But these 会社／堅いs are only managing just over 9,000 smart メーター 取り付け・設備s a day for all 顧客s, によれば the 最新の 政府 人物／姿／数字s.
Some energy 会社／堅いs have already 取って代わるd 75 per cent of their 顧客s' RTS メーターs, while others have only managed 10 per cent, によれば Ofgem 統計（学）.
Because of the slow smart メーター roll-out, energy 会社／堅いs have agreed several 拡張 取引，協定s to the RTS with the BBC.
It may be that the March 2025 最終期限 is 延長するd too, but 明確に the days are numbered for RTS メーターs. 顧客s with these メーターs either need to get a smart メーター or lose their time-of-use 関税s.
What energy 会社／堅いs need to do - and should have done far sooner - is communicate the 選択s for RTS 顧客s far sooner and far more 明確に.
Not doing so has 原因（となる）d かなりの and 理解できる worry, so energy 会社／堅いs need to sort their 行為／法令／行動する out long before the 2025 最終期限 rolls around.
