Finances expert Martin Lewis has told UK residents not to panic if they struggle to submit a meter reading today.
The Government's new Energy Price Guarantee comes into effect tomorrow (October 1), freezing energy bills for households at typical use at £2,500 each year for the next two years.
It's worth noting that this isn't an absolute cap on your bill, as you can still in fact pay more should you consume extra gas and electricity. However, the price guarantee is a limit on the unit rates that you can be charged by suppliers.
Read more: Martin Lewis warns 'there is no £2,500 cap on energy bills' as cost crisis continues
The Mirror reports that people are rushing to submit meter readings ahead of the curve tomorrow, to lower their charges before the new plan comes into play. The idea behind submitting a meter reading today lowers the risk of your supplier charging you the more expensive unit rates on energy consumed before October 1.
When Ofgem's energy price cap rose in April to £1,971, energy websites crashed the day before - as households desperately attempted to submit their figures of use before bills escalated. But MoneySavingExpert's Martin Lewis has revealed during a one-off Money Show broadcast to ITV, that most energy firms will allow you to backdate your reading.
He said: “You don’t actually need to submit a meter reading on the day. Most firms will let you submit it afterwards and backdate it.”
Similarly, if you took a meter reading earlier this week, Martin said it will make “very little tangible difference” to your bill.
“Let’s not call it meter reading day anymore - let’s switch to meter reading week,” he added.
The MSE founder also provided some examples of the dates energy firms have provided for when you can backdate your meter reading. For example, British Gas customers will have until October 14 to submit their reading. Bulb is giving customers three days, while E.ON is giving five days and Octopus is seven days.
EDF users can backdate up until October 7, while Shell households get 30 days. Ovo and SSE will let you provide a meter reading at a later date, but only over the phone.
Earlier this week energy suppliers were warned they are not doing enough to support customers struggling to pay their bills. Energy regulator Ofgem found that all but one of the UK's energy suppliers need to make improvements and meet their obligations when it comes to helping customers with financial difficulties.
Energy giants were found to have "severe weaknesses" when it comes to how they support customers struggling to pay their bills. British Gas was the only company found to have no significant issues in the Ofgem report this week.
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