Households all across the UK are being urged to submit a meter reading before the month ends as prices go up in October.
Frazer Scott, chief executive of Energy Action Scotland, said: “This week, every household across the UK must make sure it submits a meter reading to their energy firm to avoid paying a penny more than they absolutely have to when prices go up on October 1."
However, this may not apply to all households as some people will have smart meters installed. If you have a smart meter in your house then your energy supplier will be able to read your meter automatically and bill you appropriately.
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Despite this, there are some circumstances where you may have to submit a reading to your supplier. For example, if you're a new customer to your supplier then they may ask you to submit your first reading manually, following this, they can connect to your smart meter remotely to take automatic readings.
In some circumstances, your supplier may also be unable to connect to your meter automatically - for example, if it's an older generation - which will mean you have to submit your readings manually. Another situation where your smart meter may not work automatically is if you've only recently installed the meter.
Usually, it takes around 14 days for a supplier to get all the details of your meter into their system, as well as a few more days to fully connect to the meter and start taking readings. In this case, your supplier should contact you to ask for a manual meter reading.
The average household energy bill will rise from £1,971 to a frozen £2,500 under the energy price guarantee announced by Prime Minister Liz Truss earlier this month. This is an increase of 27% from the previous price cap, which limited the rate providers can charge customers on a standard variable tariff.
The Government’s plan only caps the cost per unit that households pay, with actual bills still determined by how much energy is consumed.
All households will receive a non-repayable £400 payment from the government as part of the cost-of-living support package, paid directly to energy accounts over six months in instalments of £66 and £67.
Overall, household bills will still be 96% higher than last year.
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