Martin Lewis is urging British Gas, EDF, EON, Octopus Energy and all other major suppliers’ gas and electricity customers to take a photo of their energy meter as soon as possible before Thursday.
That’s because the Ofgem energy cap has officially been cut, bringing in a reduction in bills of 7 percent for the average typical use household, a drop of £122.
But you won’t feel all of the benefit of the cut and you could be overcharged if you don’t take a meter reading as soon as possible.
Martin 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 used a lot of energy on Monday but not very much on Sunday, the energy firm might average out your usage across the two days and charge you Sunday prices for some of Monday’s electricity – which would be overcharging you because you should have paid the lower rate.
You can record a meter reading from midnight on Monday, July 1 but upload it within a few days to your energy supplier and backdate it to July 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 latest podcast why you need to act.
Martin Lewis said on his latest podcast: “When I first did this I suggested meter reading day and I crashed virtually every energy site.
“The real advice is, some point between now and next Wednesday- Thursday because you can backdate, go and get a meter reading. For belt and braces, you can take a picture of the meter. »
He had explained already: “On Monday, July 1, the energy price cap which dictates the price that 85% of homes in England, Scotland and Wales pay for their energy is dropping, it’s getting cheaper, by 7 percent.
“It’s the unit rates that are dropping, the standing charges are staying the same.
“The unit rate has dropped and that means higher users will see slightly more than 7 percent cut, lower users slightly less but for everyone it’s going down.
“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.
“That is based usually on estimates of what you will use. Because the price is going to be dropping 7 percent, if you allow your energy firm to estimate your usage, it could estimate more at the higher rate before July 1 than it does afterwards because if it’s looking across a couple of months it might choose to allocate some of those units that you use to the higher rate period.
“To counter that, you either have a working smart meter, or you take a meter reading.”
