If you were unable to submit a meter reading yesterday (Thursday, March 31) before the Ofgem price cap rose on Friday, don't panic. Martin Lewis, the money saving expert, has said it is still worth doing it today.
Many people found web pages and apps crashed for energy providers as people rushed to submit a meter reading so they were only paying the 'lower' price right up until the increase. Martin had urged people to make a note of their gas and electricity meters before prices shoot up from today (Friday, April 1).
Customers reported issues logging in to supplier websites including British Gas, EDF, E.On, SSE, So Energy and Octopus Energy from early on Thursday. But Martin has reassured people that it shouldn’t matter too much if they didn’t send over a meter reading yesterday, the Mirror reports.
In a new video published to his Twitter page, he said: “If you were to do it tomorrow (April 1) or the day after, or the day after that, just doing it around now reduces the wriggle room for a problem with estimates.
“A day or two out isn’t the biggest panic in the world.” Martin said most energy companies will give you around a week to submit a new meter reading, said Martin, which means you should be able to contact your energy firm in the next few days.
In a separate tweet, he said: “Just take a photo of it, you've usually up to a week to get it to them."
Today saw the biggest jump in domestic energy bills in living memory come into effect as charities warn that 2.5 million more households are set to fall into “fuel stress” and supplier websites remained unresponsive to customers.
As a 54 per cent increase to Ofgem’s price cap hit bills, the Resolution Foundation think tank said the number of English households in fuel stress – those spending at least 10 per cent of their total budgets on energy bills – was set to double overnight from 2.5 to five million.
Energy UK, the trade body for the industry, also urged people not to worry if they were unable to submit a meter reading ahead of Friday. It said: “Most suppliers are offering alternative options such as submitting at a later date, and different methods to send meter readings such as text, social media and email.
“This demonstrates the scale of the problem and how worried people are about high prices, which is why we have been asking Government to intervene to provide further support to consumers.”
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has previously pledged to “take the sting out” of the price rises, promising all 28 million households in Britain would get a £200 upfront rebate on their energy bills from October.
The Government will provide the cash for this, but it wants the money back so will hike bills by £40 per year over the next five years from 2023 to recoup it.
