The Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS) helps electricity suppliers 

switch between peak and off-peak times and controls when your heating and hot water switches on and off.

Do I have RTS equipment in my home or business?

If you use electricity for heating and hot water (using electric storage/panel heaters and/or immersion heaters), and you have tariffs that offer cheaper rates during off-peak periods, you may have RTS equipment in your home or business. Usually there will be a large black box next to your meter. This is the RTS equipment. 

If we believe you have an RTS meter, we’ll contact you to book a meter exchange. You can also 

register your interest in a smart meter installation

In this picture, the black box to the right of the meter is the radio teleswitch, which controls the off peak hours.

How does the RTS equipment in my home/business receive updates?

Your RTS equipment receives updates through Longwave radio broadcast. It uses the same radio frequency as the BBC uses for delivering radio programming.

While Longwave radio transmission has been reliable over the years, the BBC has announced plans to migrate unique Longwave content to other broadcasting platforms. That means Longwave radio broadcasting and RTS is due to end in March 2024.

What happens when Longwave radio transmission ends?

When Longwave radio transmission ends, RTS will also end. If you have RTS equipment please 

 as soon as possible to avoid disruptions to your heating and hot water. 

What will happen to my off-peak hours when I have a smart meter installed?

About 80% of our customers’ hours will only differ by 15 minutes or less. 

, if your off peak hours are 00:15 - 07:15, your off peak hours will probably change to 00:30 - 07:30. Off peak hours may differ slightly depending on the area you live in.

What is the Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS) and what’s it used for?

Your electricity meter, gas meter, and In-Home Display all communicate with each other via something called the 

Some properties where the distance between meters are far apart or there are thick walls between your meters might require additional equipment to extend the range of the HAN in order to connect all of the smart metering devices.

To boost the signal, we’re installing technology known as ‘

If you are interested in getting Alt HAN installed, you can 

These boosters speak to the HAN and extend its range to help your smart meters and In-Home Display talk to each other. Similar to a WiFi booster, a smart meter booster uses the wiring in your property to widen the reach of the HAN. This allows the reach to extend through thick walls or other physical barriers.

Once your smart metering devices are connected, we can take automatic readings, and you can see up to date and correct data on your In-Home Display.

It’s important that these devices remain plugged in, otherwise your devices may stop communicating, and you’ll need to provide manual readings again.

Do I need to keep the devices plugged in?

Yes, for the devices to function properly, we need them to remain plugged in. 

Do I need to take my smart meter booster to my new property?

Nope. The smart meter booster will only work at the property that it was installed at, so please keep this at the property if you move out.

Can I move the smart meter booster to another plug socket?

The booster can be moved, but we’d recommend keeping it plugged in at the location where it was originally installed. Moving the booster may affect the signal and disrupt the connection to the In Home Display and/or gas meter. 

What should I do if the smart meter booster becomes faulty?

If a permanent red light is present on the booster, email us at hello@octopus.energy and we can arrange for the booster to be replaced, if required.

What is a smart meter booster?

It can take up to 14 days for us to connect to your new smart meters and In-Home Display after your installation. You don’t need to get in touch with us about this – we’re already on it. During this time, we won't be able to take automatic readings from your meter, and your In-Home Display may not work.

While we're waiting for your meter to connect, you might receive an email asking for a meter reading. You don't need to do anything, because the engineer will have taken the final meter reading from your old meter during the installation. 

Once your meters are fully connected, you’ll see your smart meter data on your In-Home Display and in your app and online account under ‘your meters’. If they aren’t there yet, it means we’re still busy connecting. If it’s been longer than 14 days, 

more information about the installation process

How long will it take my smart meters to connect after installation?

If the noise seems to be a short recurring beep, make sure it's not a smoke alarm or carbon monoxide detector nearby that's running low on battery.

If the meter appears to be humming, check if there's anything leaning on the meter or nearby surfaces which might be causing a vibrating noise.

If none of the above seems to be the case, please do the following:

My meter is buzzing / making a noise right now

My meter is buzzing / making a noise

Your meter might be sleeping! Press one of the buttons on the meter to see if it wakes up.

If you have a prepayment meter and the screen shows the word "OFF", then you will need to reconnect that meter before you can use electricity or gas.

Why is my meter screen blank?

 is one of our cutting edge beta smart tariffs. Built with fairness in mind, it features energy prices that change daily based on the wholesale cost of energy (i.e what we pay for it).

Whether you’re brand new to Octopus, or you’re already a customer of ours, head to our Octopus Tracker page below to sign up and get all the information you'll need. You'll need to have a smart meter to sign up.

What is Octopus Tracker, and how do I join?

Smart Export Guarantee is one of our export tariffs, reserved for customers who do not want their electricity supplied by Octopus Energy or who also want to benefit from any of our smart EV tariffs at the same time as being paid for their export electricity. 

If you want to sign up to Octopus SEG with no Octopus import tariff, you can sign up 

 for more information or browse all of our available export tariffs 

If you’re looking to export anything other than energy generated by solar PV, you should get in touch with 

 as you will likely not have an MCS certificate - which contains the details we would usually use to sign you up.

What is the Smart Export Guarantee Tariff, and how do I join?

 enables customers to get paid for any energy that they produce at home and export to the grid. Our successor to the feed-in tariff (FIT), Outgoing Octopus is perfect for homes with solar panels, battery storage, or any other way of sharing energy back to the grid. The tariff comes in two forms: Fixed or Agile. Outgoing Fixed guarantees 15p per kWh for every unit you export. Outgoing Agile matches your half-hourly prices with day-ahead wholesale rates.

Whether you’re brand new to Octopus, or you’re already a customer of ours, head to our Outgoing Octopus page below to sign up and get all the information you'll need.

You’ll first need a smart meter we can get half-hourly readings from (either a second generation ‘SMETS2’ meter or a first generation ‘SMETS1’ meter made by Secure). 

Here’s how to work out what type of meter you have.

If you don’t have a suitable smart meter yet, you can still sign up for Agile and we’ll get in contact with you to arrange a smart meter installation as soon as possible.

Please note, there may be times when we can’t install your smart meter right away. This is generally due to local Covid restrictions, WAN coverage in your area, and engineer availability. If you're interested in finding out more, we've written a blog explaining 

why we can’t always give an exact timeframe for your smart meter installation

Right now, you can’t be on Octopus Go together with Outgoing Fixed or Agile (the price is so good it’d be like a double discount!) Instead, we’ve created a great export option just for Octopus Go customers. On

What is Outgoing Octopus, and how do I join?

 is one of our beta smart tariffs, specifically designed to help electric vehicle drivers charge up on greener, cheaper power overnight.

Octopus Go customers get super cheap electricity between 00:30 - 04:30 every night, so they can charge up their EV for a tenth of the price of a traditional car, and keep charging costs as low as 3p per mile.

Octopus Go offers a fixed price for the rest of the day (hours between 04.31 and 00.29) [Check your Octopus Go daytime unit price and standing charge 

Whether you’re brand new to Octopus, or you’re already a customer of ours, head to our Octopus Go page below to sign up and get all the information you'll need:

Here’s how to work out what type of meter you have

Please note, there may be times when we can’t install your smart meter right away. This is generally due to local Covid restrictions, WAN coverage in your area, and engineer availability. To find out more, we've written a blog explaining 

What is Octopus Go, and how do I join?

An ‘Economy 7’ setup (also known as eco 7, two rate, or peak / offpeak tariff) has two different energy prices per day – a day rate, and a 7 hour long cheaper rate overnight. This means you pay less for any energy you use at night (usually between 12:00am and 7:00am) and more for energy used during the day (usually between 7:00am and 12:00am).

Originally designed to benefit homes with storage heaters that would heat up overnight, the tariff can also be useful for anyone who uses lots of power during the night.

Unsure how to read your meter? Try reading 

our comprehensive guide to taking readings

 from various types of electricity and gas meters here.

I’ve got an Economy 7 meter - how do I know which reading is which?

It’s important to get this right as mixing up day and night readings can lead to inaccurate bills. Older electricity meters usually have labels for each register. If your meter doesn’t then don’t worry: there’s a simple test to find out which reading is peak and off-peak.

Take a reading after 8.30am but before 11pm, then another reading 1 hour later. If you’re able, try to make sure you’re using electricity during this period; turn on some lights or boil the kettle a few times. When you look at the second reading, whichever register has recorded usage will be your peak reading.

If your readings have got mixed up at any point, don’t worry! As long as we can confirm which reading is which, we’ll be able to get everything fixed.

My meter only has one reading, why are you asking me for two?

 and you’re sure there’s no second reading, please do get in touch. We might have received incorrect info from the industry database used by energy companies and need to correct it.

The best thing to do is take a clear photo of your meter and 

. We’ll check what’s going on and get everything fixed.

What is an Economy 7 meter and tariff?

 is one of our beta smart tariffs, offering customers electricity prices that change every half an hour, based on the wholesale price of energy.

Why? Outside of daily energy ‘rush hours’ (usually between 4pm and 7pm, when everyone’s generally using a lot of power, i.e. dinner time) 

wholesale energy tends to be a lot cheaper

 (and greener – a much higher % coming from renewable sources).

On Agile, if you can shift when you use power outside of these busy times, you can access cheap ‘off-peak’ prices and potentially save some cash, while using the greenest electrons available and reducing strain on the energy grid.

Agile is perfect for people with electric cars, heat pumps, home batteries and any other big energy-intensive appliances.

We wrote this report when we first released Agile Octopus, so the cap, rates and standing charges mentioned have now been updated to reflect market changes.

Whether you’re brand new to Octopus, or you’re already a customer of ours, head to our Agile Octopus page below to sign up and get all the information you need:

You’ll first need a smart meter we can get half-hourly meter readings from (either a second generation ‘SMETS2’ meter or a first generation ‘SMETS1’ meter made by Secure). 

 What is Agile Octopus, and how do I join?

We can connect to any SMETS2 smart meter and some SMETS1 smart meters (such as those made by the brand Secure™). We will automatically try to connect after you've switched but may still ask you to send your first set of meter readings manually.

If we are unable to connect to your SMETS1 meter, it will become "dumb" and work like a normal meter so you'll need to give us manual meter readings. Across the industry, SMETS1 meters are in the process of being upgraded to stay smart when you switch supplier. We will be in contact to let you know when we're making your meter smart again.

What happens if I have a smart meter?

Yes! We currently support both smart and traditional prepayment meters for electricity and gas.

Do you support prepayment meters?

We'll send someone to collect a reading from your meters if you're unable to take your own meter readings, or you haven't given us one in several months.

Even if you give regular reads - or have a smart meter - we may still send someone round occasionally to check everything's good.

The people who'll come round to collect your readings are from two independent meter engineers called 

. These meter readers will be wearing branded uniforms featuring one of these logos:

If you joined us from Bulb, meter readers will be from 

, and should be wearing uniforms with this logo: 

We only send meter readers around because it's really important to keep your energy account in good health - ensuring you're not overpaying for your energy, or underpaying and building up a surprise debt. The best way you can make sure you're paying the right monthly amount to cover your energy bill is to take regular meter readings.

We remind you each month about readings, but if you haven't given us any for a while - and we mean, a while - we might send a meter reader around to take them. We need at the very least one valid meter reading every year.

Do you send meter readers around?

We like to make sure your bills are as accurate as possible – so you're only ever getting billed for the energy you're really using. That's why we send email reminders to take meter readings every month, unless you have a smart meter we're able to read automatically.

If you have a smart meter, there are a few reasons we might've still asked for a meter reading:

No matter what type of meter you've got, we do need you to submit your very first reading manually. After that, we can connect to your smart meter remotely to take automatic readings if it's a second generation (SMETS2), or a first generation (SMETS1) Secure meter (i.e. says "Secure" on the front). Here's a 

video guide for reading your Secure smart meter

, and a written step-by-step guides for reading your Secure 

2. Your smart meter isn't one we can connect to

If your smart meter is a first generation (SMETS1) that wasn't made by Secure, then we won't be able to link up to it automatically after you switch. The meter will be absolutely fine, but it'll lose it's ‘smart' benefits. It'll behave like a traditional meter, so your in-home display monitor might not work, and you'll need to give us meter readings manually for the time being. Here's 

how to take readings from your non-Secure smart meter

 and the national smart meter roll out here.

3. We installed your meter and we're still connecting to it.

It can take a little while to get your new meter linked up to us after it's been installed. Generally, it takes about 14 days to get all your meter details into our systems, and another few days after that to fully connect so that we're able to take readings automatically.

While we're waiting for your meter to connect, you may receive an email asking for a meter reading. You don't need to do anything if you get this email, as your final meter reading from your old meter will have been taken already by our engineer.

If you receive this email, it just means we're still trying to connect to your new smart meter. If you receive it more 14 days after we installed your meter, 

I have a smart meter - why are you asking for meter readings?

If you've got a traditional meter, or a smart meter that's in 'dumb' mode, we recommend sending in a reading every month – or if not, as often as you can.

If you have a smart meter that we're connected to, you don't need to worry about sending us readings as we can take these automatically.

When you give us meter readings, we can see how much energy you've really used, and base your bills on that instead of estimating how much you've used. As well as making your bills more accurate, regular meter readings give us a clear picture of your energy use over time, which makes our forecasts of your payments and energy costs much more accurate as well.

It's also a good idea - if you don't have a connected smart meter - to send us a meter reading when your tariff is changing. This ensures any usage you're billed for is completely accurate.

If you're a Flexible Octopus customer, you'll be notified ahead of time when your prices will change. If you want a completely accurate bill, you're best to submit a reading on - or close to - the date your prices change. For example, if your tariff is changing on April 2nd, submit a reading sometime on the 2nd.

However, if you aren't able to provide a reading: don't panic! No one will be massively disadvantaged if they can't send us one. Octopus will still need a reading for that date, but we'll estimate one from your last meter reading instead. This will probably only be a few units off what the actual reading is, if you were able to provide it.

send us a meter reading at any time here.

When should I send a meter reading?

if you're having issues with your In-Home Display

We'd love to be able to show you your smart tariff pricing (whether for Agile, Go, or any other) on your IHD, but the sheer number of requests that would be needed to display the dynamic, complex pricing on the screen makes it incredibly challenging. This is one of the reasons our smart tariffs are in beta, and we're working to smooth out challenges like this all the time.

We will always give you an In-Home Display when we install a smart meter, but there are 

better ways to track your energy use if you’re on one of our smart tariffs.

 You can now access all the same information directly on your smartphone (which saves you from getting up to tinker with a physical screen near your meter!)

There’s a few different options you can try:

 shows you upcoming daily Agile Octopus prices, and records your half hourly meter readings, consumption info and more in a handy dashboard – head to ‘

Our site is also optimised to work well on all mobiles, so logging in via your browser is the quickest and easiest way to check on things. You can download your online account in an iOS app, or 

even pin a shortcut to your homescreen for an app-like experience

We’re lucky to have an active smart energy community, full of brilliant people who’ve created their own ways for other customers to use to monitor their energy – websites and apps like 

OR, if you want to get your geek on, you could have a go at analysing your data yourself with our open API by heading to our 

If your IHD isn’t working at all, and you’re very keen to have it on, there’re a few troubleshooting tips you can try here, and if those don’t help, just 

I’m on a smart tariff and my meter’s In-Home Display (IHD) screen isn’t working properly

Smart meters are the next generation of metering technology. We're only installing the 

, also known as SMETS2 smart meters. Not only do they save the hassle of giving monthly meter reads, they could save you money! No more estimated bills, and access to all of our most 

We release thousands of new appointments every week.

, we'll send you an email when we have appointments available in your area (and don't worry, we won't inundate you with emails).

 to get booked in - you'll just need to choose a date and time that works for you and we'll sort the rest.

Why wouldn't I be able to get a smart meter installed?

Although smart meters will work in most properties, there are a few factors that may mean we can't install one for you just yet:

If you're wondering whether this applies to your home, please 

 and we'll be able to confirm either way. If you're not a customer of ours yet, just ask your current supplier.

What is a smart meter and can I have one?

At Octopus Energy, we can automatically read second generation (SMETS2) and Secure™  first generation (SMETS1) smart meters. But there are lots of different types of smart meters installed around the UK.

Here's our ultimate guide to taking manual readings from a smart meter, whatever type you might have...

If you have a first generation Secure™ smart meter that was installed by Octopus, 

find out how to take readings from it here

Your electricity reading will be a number followed by “KWH”. We don't need the numbers after the decimal place.

If your meter has more than one unit rate (for example, if you're on an Economy 7 tariff), you'll have to take a reading for each rate. 

The two readings will appear one after the other — generally followed by “R1” and “R2” (Rate 1 and Rate 2). There is no set rule as to which one is your peak rate reading and which is your offpeak. Your meter might have a sticky label indicating which is which, though.

After R1 and R2, a third reading might appear onscreen — “T”. This is the total of your peak and offpeak readings combined. You don't need to give us this one.

If your meter has a green A and a white B button:

If your meter has three unmarked buttons:

If your meter has an orange button and a blue button:

*If your meter has two buttons marked Reconnect and Display Select:

Your gas reading will be a number followed by “m3”. We don't need the numbers after the decimal place.

If your meter has three square red buttons (they might be labelled A, B, and C):

If your meter has a left arrow, a circle and a right arrow:

If your meter has orange and blue arrow buttons:

How do I read my non-Octopus smart meter?

, where you can see common troubleshooting advice, use our IHD helper service, and request help from our team.

Why isn’t my smart meter’s In Home Display (IHD) screen working?

Why isn’t my Smart Meter’s In Home Display (IHD) screen working?

We're big supporters of the Government's target to get a smart meter in every home by 2025.

This will help people manage how and when they use energy - saving money, carbon and the planet. We've been powering ahead with smart meter roll out. We installed 581,000 smart meters in 2022, and are all set for a further ramp up in 2023.

Our targets for 2023 (set by Government) are:

The Government has a calculated formula for each energy retailers' annual smart meter target, based on the number of customers they have.

According to this, our target was to install 307,987 electricity smart meters and 294,892 gas smart meters in 2022 - a summary of our results is provided below.

In 2022 we installed 581,558 smart meters, however 87,039 were replacements so did not qualify towards our target.

Our target shot up in 2022 as it included Avro customers who we gained after their former supplier exited the market in late 2021.

If you'd like to know our specific targets:

What are your smart meter targets?

If you've accidentally submitted an incorrect reading, don't worry. Our verification system should catch it, but if not, 

 with the correct reading and we'll update it for you. 

I accidentally sent an incorrect reading, what should I do?

Send us a reading at any time by clicking here

There are a few different kinds of meters out there, so we’ve put together guides for taking manual readings from all of them. It’s super easy to do.

how to work out what type of meter you have

If you know which type yours is already, jump straight to right guide below

Usually your smart meter is pretty ace at sending us meter readings automatically, so you don’t have to. But there are some cases where you’ll need to 

 – for example, your first ever meter reading after you switch.

Without meter readings, your bills are based on guesswork. We have to estimate how much power we think you’re using, and if we guess wrong, you can end up either paying too much every month, or not enough – which 

could leave you with a big surprise bill to pay down the line.

So regular meter readings are really important.

We know it’s a bit of a boring job, but we’ve made it really simple and quick:

Every time you submit a reading, you get to spin a wheel of fortune for a chance to win up to £512 in credit.

How do I read my meter?

Your smart meter will have a fixed off-peak 7 hour period from 00:30 to 07:30. This time period takes place according to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), so during British Summer Time (BST) the 7 hour period will take place between 01:30 and 08:30. This may differ from your existing off-peak period on your current non-smart meter.

What happens to my Economy Seven (E7) tariff when I have a smart meter installed?

This likely means our system thinks you have an Economy 7 meter.

Meters

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