Electric Ireland customers have been warned to take this vital step before their electricity and gas bills rise in May.
From 1 May, the electricity provider will hike their residential electricity prices by 23.4% and gas prices by 24.8%.
To save some cash during the cost of living crisis, customers are advised to take a picture of their meter the night before the price hikes take hold.
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The picture can be submitted to Electric Ireland to ensure they have the most up to date reading before the new rates come in.
Otherwise customers may be charged the increased rate before it was due to come into effect.
The reading can be submitted here.
This hike will equate to €24.80 a month on the average residential electricity bill and €18.35 a month on the average residential gas bill.
Commenting on this recent announcement, Marguerite Sayers, Executive Director, Electric Ireland said: 'We are acutely aware that the rising cost of living is causing difficulty for households across the country.
“Unfortunately, the unprecedented and sustained volatility of wholesale gas prices over the last 12 months means that we now need to increase our prices.
“We delayed the increase as long as we could in the hope that wholesale prices would drop back to early 2021 levels, but regrettably this has not happened.”
She added: “Electric Ireland had the lowest cumulative price rises in the past 12 months. We continue to deliver the best value we can and will maintain one of the lowest standard rates in the market, even after this increase.
“We know that this is unwelcome news, but international gas prices are beyond our control and have a huge impact on our costs.
“We appreciate this is a challenging time and are committed to helping any of our customers who experience financial difficulty.
“As always, we encourage any Electric Ireland customer who has difficulty in paying their energy bill to engage with us and we will work with them to put in place a manageable payment plan.”
Read more: Energy crisis: Government plan to slash VAT on fuel to cut bills
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