Customers of every major energy supplier including British Gas EDF, EON, Octopus Energy are being urged to take a photo of their energy meter as soon as possible before Thursday.
That’s because the Ofgem energy price cap has been increased again, for the second time in a row, pushing up the cost of bills for all households not currently on a fix.
That means if you used gas and electricity on Tuesday – New Year’s Eve – but don’t take a meter reading today, your energy supplier could mistakenly think you’ve used that electricity and gas today, New Year’s Day, when prices are higher, and overcharge you.
Previously, money expert Martin Lewis even urged customers to take a photo of their energy meter with their phone in order to make sure you have proof of the reading you take to be sure you can’t be overcharged.
That’s because – unless you have a very accurate working smart meter that’s updated instantly – the energy firms use estimates of bills.
And if you use a lot of energy on Tuesday but not very much on Wednesday, the energy firm might average out your usage across the two days and charge you the prices for some of Wednesday’s electricity – which would be overcharging you because you should have paid the lower rate.
You can record a meter reading from midnight on Wednesday, January 1 but upload it within a few days to your energy supplier and backdate it to January 1.
It used to be that you had to upload the reading on the spot, but energy firms now give you a few days to upload it because customers used to crash websites uploading them all at once.
Martin Lewis explained on his BBC Sounds and Spotify podcast why you need to act.
Martin said: “When I first did this I suggested meter reading day and I crashed virtually every energy site.
“The real advice is, some point between…Wednesday- Thursday because you can backdate, go and get a meter reading. For belt and braces, you can take a picture of the meter.”
“Most people pay by monthly direct debit, where your average use is taken over the year and it’s smoothed out so you don’t have big cashflow issues in the winter.”
