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As of last month, about 314,000 households were using the RTS meters, and having them switched off could have meant they lost heating - or had it stuck on constantly.

Energy consumers minister Miatta Fahnbulleh said "thousands of vulnerable consumers" with RTS meters would not now experience any "sudden disruption" at the end of this month.

Regulator Ofgem said it had been "clear that customers must be protected at every stage of the phased area-by-area shutdown, and we are spelling out to suppliers key requirements that must be met before an area loses its RTS signal".

War for Westeros is a real-time strategy game - or RTS - out next year, where players can control the armies of the Great Houses across some of the locations you might know from the show and books it's based on.

Since the 1980s, RTS meters have used a longwave radio frequency to switch between peak and off peak rates.