Meeting of the Parliament 20 May 2025
I am grateful to Beatrice Wishart for securing a debate on what is becoming an increasingly serious issue, for many of the reasons that have been mentioned.
Some time ago, I realised that the 30 June deadline would be too soon for many residents across the Highlands and Islands region and, indeed, in other parts of rural Scotland. As Beatrice Wishart rightly identifies in her motion, there is “a lack of engineers” on the ground, which is preventing the rapid switch-over from RTS to smart meters.
I am sure that every MSP who represents island communities will know that, whether we are talking about installing broadband, fitting new insulation or making the switch to a smart meter, every supplier will send contractors to an island only if there are several jobs to complete and only if there is overnight accommodation available for them. That is increasingly difficult to find in the summer months, as accommodation is booked out in advance—indeed, I know that problem all too well from other active constituency casework.
The number of households in the Highlands and Islands that have yet to make the switch from an RTS meter to a smart meter is staggering. Data supplied to me by Ofgem in February showed that more than 36,000 RTS meters are still in operation across the region. Just for context, that amounts to around 4 per cent of all active RTS meters remaining in operation across Great Britain, despite the fact that the Highlands and Islands accounts for fewer than 1 per cent of dwellings in Great Britain.
I realise that Ofgem has taken the task seriously, and I welcome its commitment to rapidly increasing the pace and number of RTS upgrades by targeting regions where RTS meters are most prevalent. However, according to Citizens Advice Scotland, many people in rural and island communities face an acute challenge in trying to secure a smart meter installation. That includes one elderly couple in their 80s from a rural community, who repeatedly contacted their energy supplier after receiving a letter about the switch-off but who have yet to secure a meter engineer visit.
In addition, according to the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, its members have stated that energy suppliers do not have the capacity to switch all RTS consumers for whom a smart meter will be appropriate by the 2025 deadline. Given that the UK Government has already delayed its digital switch-over for landline phones from December 2025 to January 2027, there is surely a case for a similar delay to the RTS switch-off, to ensure that every household is able to upgrade.
However, even for those lucky enough to have secured a smart meter, issues with unreliable broadband and mobile connectivity have resulted in smart meter connectivity issues, and Citizens Advice Scotland has reported the loss of heating in some instances as a result. That probably cannot have been helped by the Scottish National Party Government’s failure to deliver the roll-out of its reaching 100 per cent—R100—broadband programme almost a decade on from when the promise was first made.
When I last asked for R100 data earlier this year, the SNP Government confirmed that not a single property in the Western Isles had been upgraded to superfast broadband under the scheme.