Millions should read their electricity meters this weekend to avoid overpaying as price caps drop again

Millions of people are being urged to send meter readings to their energy suppliers this weekend to ensure they are not overpaying.

The regulator’s price cap fell by 12.3% on Monday, April 1, from a typical £1,928 per year for a dual-fuel household to £1,690, an average monthly saving of around £20.

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People who don’t have a smart meter and are on standard variable tariffs (SVT) should send in readings so their company has an up-to-date record when prices change.

Ben Gallizzi, energy spokesman for comparison website Uswitch, said: “If you delay submitting your readings, some of your energy use may end up being charged at the higher rates we currently face.”

This can happen because companies estimate usage if they don’t have recent readings.

However, if you have a smart meter, you don’t have to worry as it is set up to automatically ensure you are billed correctly.

Uswitch said that at current rates, a week’s energy bill for the average household would be £4.65 more expensive than current rates.

Around 10 million customers are believed to have SVTs without smart meters.

A combination of cheaper electricity bills and warmer weather means households are expected to spend an average of £127 on gas and electricity in April, compared with £205 in March.

A Uswitch survey of 2,000 people showed that nearly a fifth of people without a smart meter had not submitted a reading in the past three months, and 4% had not submitted a reading in a year.

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12% of customers said they did not know where the meter was, while 14% did not know how to read it.

People without smart meters are advised to read their meters once a month to improve the accuracy of their bills.

The price cap, set by energy regulator Ofgem, has been reduced again from extreme highs in recent years, when it reached more than £4,000, as wholesale prices fell.

The Office of Natural Gas and Electricity Markets also Negotiations begin on energy price cap This week, floating options such as caps based on vulnerability and energy usage time.

The cap, which affects England, Scotland and Wales, was introduced in January 2019 and is designed to prevent people on variable tariffs being cheated.

Initially, it changed several times a year, but since 2022, it has been updated every three months.