Forget artistic pictures of your lunch or dinner today, Thursday, March 31, financial guru Martin Lewis has urged people to take a photo of their gas and electric meters. The consumer champion was discussing the cost of living rises ITV's Good Morning Britain yesterday when he gave the advice.
Friday, April 1, will see the energy price cap rise, and householders can rest assured that the price rises that will follow are no joke.
The MoneySavingExpert was discussing whether or not people should fix their tariffs with the energy providers. During the show, Martin urged everyone on a normal or pre-payment meter to take a photo of their gas and electric meter and email it to themselves ahead of the huge price rise to potentially save themselves some money, reported the Mirror.
READ MORE: British Gas, Octopus, E.ON, EDF - the latest energy tariffs from the big four energy providers
Speaking on the ITV breakfast show, he said: "One big thing I would say to you is take a picture of your pre-payment meter on the 31st March.
"If they do try and back charge you, you can say I know exactly what I was using up until that date and email it to yourself so you've got a timestamp on that so you can prove it was taken on the 31st March."
Explaining why it's so important, Martin said: "Because that draws a line in the sand with the energy company. Every single of unit of energy I have used until this meter reading should be charged at the cheap rate. Don't go estimating it at the higher rate. So get your meter reading in. You don't need to if you're on a smart meter, it does it for you and get that line in the sand drawn."
The energy price cap is set to rise for those on tariffs who pay by direct debit by £693 from £1,277 to £1,971 from April 1. Prepayment customers are set to see a bigger jump, with their price cap going up by £708, from £1,309 to £2,017.
Martin also recently warned that the tip to save cash by topping up prepay meters may not work for everyone, as some energy companies have confirmed that they are going to increase prices for April 1.
"I wanted to write this personally, as unfortunately information we were given by energy firms and the regulator no longer looks watertight," he said recently, confirming that at least Scottish Power and E.on will pay higher rates for energy from April 1 regardless.
