Smart Meters in Wales

Wales is part of the same Great Britain smart meter programme as England and Scotland: suppliers aim to provide every home and business in England, Scotland and Wales with a smart meter, at no direct charge¹. The programme was sized from the outset at over 50 million meters across 30 million premises², and by June 2020, 21.5 million smart and advanced meters had already been installed in homes and small businesses across Great Britain³. The official quarterly statistics cover the whole of Great Britain, so there is no separate Welsh rollout figure; Wales is counted within the England, Scotland and Wales total⁴.

The most pressing metering issue in Wales is not the general rollout but the Radio Teleswitch Service, a legacy radio signal used by many all-electric and storage-heated homes, common in rural and off-gas-grid parts of Wales. Support for RTS meters has now ended, and any still in place may no longer work as expected⁵. This page sets out where the rollout stands, what a smart meter does and does not oblige a household to accept, and where Welsh households can get help, including advice in Welsh.

Where the Welsh rollout stands

Smart metering is a Great Britain programme, run under UK government policy, and Wales sits inside it rather than running a separate scheme. The government publishes quarterly statistics on the rollout of smart meters in Great Britain, covering meters operating and meters installed⁸. The programme's original scale was set out in Parliament in 2013, with over 50 million smart meters to be installed over the following seven years⁹, and the same figure of over 50 million meters in 30 million premises was repeated in the second annual progress report on the rollout². By June 2020 the government reported 21.5 million smart and advanced meters already in homes and small businesses across Great Britain³.

The quarterly statistical release of September 2023 states that it applies to England, Scotland and Wales⁴, which means Welsh installations are counted in the GB totals rather than reported separately. Energy suppliers aim to provide every home and business in England, Scotland, and Wales with free smart meters¹. There is no Welsh-specific installation target or Welsh-specific deadline in the official statistics; the obligations sit with the energy suppliers operating across Great Britain. For the wider picture of progress and targets across the three nations, see the UK smart meter rollout page, and for the other devolved nations, smart meters in Scotland and smart meters in Northern Ireland, which runs its own separate arrangement.

For a household, the practical position is simple: the rollout in Wales is led by the energy supplier, not by the Welsh government or the local authority, and a meter is requested through the supplier in the same way as anywhere else in Britain.

What a smart meter does for your home's independence

A smart meter differs from a traditional meter by offering two-way communication: it can wirelessly send and receive information¹⁰. That turns the meter from a passive counting device into a live record of what the home actually uses. The data provided by a smart meter puts the household in control of its energy usage, meaning energy-saving steps can be taken to reduce CO2 emissions¹¹, and the same visibility helps consumers, energy suppliers and other organisations better understand how energy is being used¹¹. Smart meters are replacing analogue gas and electricity meters as part of the national infrastructure upgrade to improve and modernise Great Britain's energy system¹².

For a household working towards energy independence, the meter is the measuring instrument that everything else depends on. Without accurate, frequent data there is no way of seeing whether solar generation, a battery, a heat pump or simple behaviour changes are actually reducing what the home draws from the grid. With it, consumption patterns are visible hour by hour and can be acted on. The environmental case runs the same way: energy-saving steps can be taken to reduce CO2 emissions and play a part in Britain's journey to Net Zero¹³.

Getting a smart meter installed is free for UK energy customers⁶, so the meter itself adds no cost to that measurement capability. What the meter does not do is generate, store or control anything: it observes and reports. The independence work, generation and efficiency, remains with the home; the meter is what proves it. How the readings actually travel, and what happens in homes where the signal is weak, is covered in the communications section below, and in more detail on how smart meters communicate.

Do you have to get a smart meter fitted?

No. Smart meters are not a legal requirement, and it is the householder's right to refuse the installation of a smart meter¹⁰. The official position is that energy suppliers aim to offer smart meters to every home, but the offer is exactly that, an offer, and the installation itself is free⁶.

There are two practical limits on refusing, both established in the official rules. First, if a traditional meter needs to be replaced because it is faulty or unsafe, replacement options may be limited, since suppliers are no longer fitting new traditional meters as standard¹⁰. Second, going the other way is harder still: only under exceptional circumstances would a supplier be expected to change a smart meter to a traditional meter, and the supplier may charge the costs if it agrees¹⁰.

There is also a middle case that catches people out. If the household switches energy supplier, the meter may not work in smart mode when the move to the new supplier happens, and manual meter readings may need to be taken and submitted to the new supplier instead¹⁴. That is a temporary loss of the smart functions, not a fault, and it is one reason some households end up back on estimated bills; see why am I still getting estimated bills with a smart meter. The fuller rules are on are smart meters compulsory in the UK.

Radio Teleswitch meters: the legacy system being switched off

The Radio Teleswitch Service is a system introduced in the 1980s in the UK to manage electricity meters⁷. It uses a long-wave radio signal to tell older meters when to switch between peak and off-peak rates, which is how storage heaters and hot water systems in all-electric homes have been timed for decades. It is provided by the electricity supplier⁷. Because so much of rural and off-gas-grid Wales is electrically heated, RTS meters are concentrated there in a way they are not in gas-rich urban England.

The service has now been switched off. Support for RTS meters has ended, and any still in place may no longer work as expected⁵. The switch-off date was 30 June 2025, as the service was reaching the end of its operational life and the equipment that produces the radio signal could no longer be adequately maintained⁷. The signal began being switched off from June 2025¹⁵. Without the RTS signal, systems may become unpredictable, potentially not working or turning on or off at incorrect times⁷. For a storage-heated home in winter, that is not a cosmetic problem: it can mean heating coming on at the wrong time or not at all.

The indicators of a likely RTS meter can be checked without any tools:

• a separate switch box near the meter, often labelled Radio Teleswitch
• a property heated using electricity or storage heaters
• no gas supply to the area, including rural areas and high-rise flats
• a tariff such as Economy 7, Economy 10 or Total Heat Total Control¹⁵

If a property matches any of these criteria, it may have a Radio Teleswitch meter¹⁵. The full national picture is on the RTS switch-off page.

Which meters are being swapped out, and for which replacements

Smart meters are the only replacement for RTS meters, and residents must contact their energy supplier to arrange an upgrade¹⁶. There is no alternative meter type being offered, and no Welsh-specific replacement scheme: the route is the same in Wales as in England and Scotland. Ofgem's guidance is equally direct:

Suppliers are required to proactively contact customers who currently use RTS meters to inform them about the upcoming switch-off date and the need to upgrade to a smart meter to avoid disruptions⁷. Where a letter has been received and not acted on, or where no letter has arrived and an RTS meter is suspected, the initiative still rests with the householder to call the supplier. Renters should note that Rent Smart Wales has publicised the switch-off precisely because it affects heating and hot water in rented all-electric homes¹⁶; the meter belongs to the supplier, so a tenant can arrange the upgrade, and the landlord can be informed, though the meter is not the landlord's to control.

One point of confusion is worth settling. Some older Economy 7 meters use the RTS service and will be affected, but not all Economy 7 meters do¹⁵. Being on Economy 7 alone does not mean a meter is about to fail; the physical switch box and the other indicators show whether a meter is affected, and a supplier can confirm. A replacement smart meter can still support off-peak rates through a time-of-use tariff, so upgrading does not mean losing cheap overnight charging.

How your meter communicates, and the 2G and 3G shutdown

Smart meters send their readings over a dedicated national network, not over home broadband and not over the householder's own mobile contract. The meters offer two-way communication, wirelessly sending and receiving information¹⁰. In central and southern regions of Great Britain, smart meter data is transmitted using 2G/3G cellular and wireless mesh technology provided by Virgin Media O2¹⁷. Wales falls within the areas served by this cellular and mesh arrangement, which is why a weak mobile signal on a phone is not, by itself, evidence that a meter cannot communicate.

The mobile networks themselves are changing, and this matters for meters as much as for phones. A smart meter will continue to operate as normal following the 3G switch-off, as smart meters will switch seamlessly to the 2G network¹⁷. But 2G will not last either: under rules announced in March 2026, suppliers must replace all smart meters that are still connected to 2G and 3G before the services are switched off by 2033¹⁸. Second-generation smart meters that rely on 2G/3G will require a replacement Communications Hub in order to communicate with 4G networks¹⁷. The official costs and benefits analysis keeps the original rollout and the technological upgrade from 2G/3G networks to 4G as distinct workstreams, with benefits for 2034 reduced to reflect the 2G/3G switch-off¹⁹.

For a rural Welsh household, the practical reading is that the network is managed centrally and is being actively upgraded, but very early smart meters on old communications equipment will need replacement hardware in the coming years. If a meter cannot yet be connected, it may work in a temporary non-smart mode; see why you might not be able to get a smart meter. Data sent over the network is protected under the smart metering security regime²⁰, and the detail of how readings travel is on how smart meters send readings.

Smart Energy GB: what the campaign does and does not do

Smart Energy GB is the not-for-profit campaign helping everyone in Britain understand the importance of smart meters and their benefits to people and the environment²¹. It is the public face of the rollout: the advertising, the leaflets and the general awareness material all come from it. It is a campaign body, and that defines its limits. It does not install meters, it is not a regulator, and it cannot take up a complaint about a supplier.

That last point matters, because households sometimes contact the campaign body expecting it to act. The official route for a problem is different: if an issue with a smart meter is suspected, or the energy supplier identifies an issue, the supplier should promptly investigate, resolve it themselves or with third parties, and keep the customer informed¹². Complaints go to the supplier first, then to the Citizens Advice consumer service, and then, if unresolved, to the Energy Ombudsman¹⁰.

The campaign's task has not been straightforward. Ofgem's consumer survey of 2021 found that 50% of respondents said they would definitely not install a smart meter²², a level of refusal that explains why the campaign exists and why suppliers rather than advertisers carry the installation obligation. The campaign's role and remit are covered in full on the Smart Energy GB page.

Support for Welsh households from Citizens Advice

Citizens Advice runs the free consumer service for people in England or Wales who have problems with energy bills or supply²³. The service offers information and support on a range of topics: struggling to pay bills, problems with an energy supplier or supply, saving energy at home and getting a better energy deal²⁴.

Beyond the consumer service, the Welsh government provides help with home energy bills for households living in Wales²⁴. Two Welsh schemes sit alongside the metering picture rather than inside it. Green Homes Wales, delivered through the Development Bank of Wales, will not be means tested²⁸, and it works in conjunction with collective purchasing schemes being organised by a number of local authorities in Wales²⁹. A smart meter is not required to apply, but the data one provides is what lets a household judge whether insulation, a heat pump or solar is actually cutting consumption.

If a complaint cannot be settled with the supplier, the Energy Ombudsman handles smart meter disputes¹⁰, and if a supplier goes out of business, the meter may not work in smart mode when the account moves to the new supplier, so readings may need to be taken manually until the new supplier confirms otherwise¹⁴. Consumer protection rights across England and Wales are set out on the official consumer rights pages²⁶.

The gas meter rollout by Wales & West Utilities

Gas in most of Wales is distributed by Wales & West Utilities, the gas network operator for the region, but the network operator is not who fits a gas smart meter. Smart meters are replacing analogue gas and electricity meters as part of the national infrastructure upgrade to improve and modernise Great Britain's energy system¹², and the installation obligation sits with energy suppliers, who aim to provide every home and business in England, Scotland, and Wales with free smart meters¹. A gas smart meter is fitted by the supplier, in the same appointment as an electricity meter where both are being changed.

The division of roles is worth being clear about, because households with a gas fault or a smell of gas need the network operator's emergency line, not their supplier, while metering questions, including booking a smart gas meter, go to the supplier. The supplier must take all reasonable steps to ensure that smart meters automatically send gas and electricity readings³⁰, which is what ends manual meter reads and estimated gas bills.

For energy independence, the gas meter is the less interesting of the two: it measures a fuel most homes are trying to use less of, and it cannot support export or generation measurement. Its value is accurate billing and, on time-of-use gas arrangements where offered, better-timed consumption. Homes planning to move off gas entirely, to a heat pump for example, will find the electricity meter carries all the useful data, which is one reason the all-electric RTS story above matters so much in Wales.

What smart meters enable: tariffs, export and a smarter grid

The data shared through a smart meter has three official uses: to bill the household for the energy used; to offer new products and services, for example new tariffs, where permission has been given; and to help make the energy system more efficient by recording demand more accurately⁵. Time-of-use tariffs, which charge different rates at different times of day, are only possible with a meter that records when energy is used, not just how much; see smart meters and time-of-use tariffs.

For a home with solar panels or a battery, the meter's half-hourly record is also what underpins accurate export payments and honest self-consumption measurement, covered on export metering. At system level, smart meters help provide visibility of energy use, enabling consumers, energy suppliers and other organisations to better understand how energy is being used¹¹, and that visibility is what allows the grid to match demand to generation with less spare capacity kept running.

Wales is generating more of its own electricity: 109 MW of new renewable electricity capacity was installed in 2023, along with 67 MW of new heat technologies³⁰. Every megawatt of that makes the timing of household demand matter more, not less, because renewable generation varies while demand does not. A smart meter does not make a home independent on its own; it makes independence measurable, and it is the entry ticket to every tariff, flexibility scheme and export arrangement that pays a household for timing its energy well. What a home does with that visibility, generation, storage, load shifting, is where the independence is actually built.