Martin Lewis is urging people to take a photo of their meter (Image: ITVX)
Martin Lewis has urged British Gas, EDF, EON, Octopus Energy and all other major suppliers’ gas and electricity customers to take a photo of their energy meter as the Ofgem price cap changes.
That’s because the Ofgem energy cap has been increased, adding £149 to the average energy bill, from £1,568 a year to £1,717 from Tuesday, October 1.
But during previous price cap changes, Martin 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.
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And if you used a lot of energy on Monday but not very much on Tuesday, the energy firm might average out your usage across the two days and charge you Tuesday 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 Tuesday, October 1 but upload it within a few days to your energy supplier and backdate it to October 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 one of his podcasts why you need to act.
Martin Lewis said on his 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 Wednesday- Thursday because you can backdate, go and get a meter reading. For belt and braces, you can take a picture of the meter.”
And Martin is urging people to ditch the price cap and switch to a fix, which are now cheaper.
On his new podcast released on October 1, Martin added: “Nobody listening should be on the price cap. Get off the price cap is my message today.
“I cannot tell you which is your cheapest, I can tell you which is the cheapest on average across the UK, but it depends where you live and how much you use.
“Go on a whole-of-market price comparison website and when you’re comparing you want to make sure you see all the tariffs out there, not just the ones they are paid to show.
“I can’t tell you which ones because of compliance rules.”
Martin Lewis’ own website, Money Saving Expert’s Cheap Energy Club, is a whole of market price comparison site, of course.