Millions of households are being advised to send in energy meter readings this weekend to avoid overpaying when prices fall on April 1.
Energy regulator Ofgem has lowered its price cap which means bills should fall to their lowest rate in two years.
The regulator is cutting the cap by 12.3 per cent from the current £1,928 for a typical dual fuel household in England, Scotland and Wales to £1,690.
That represents drop of £238 over a year or around £20 a month. The cut by Ofgem has been made possible by a drop in wholesale prices. The average household on a standard variable tariff (SVT) is expected to spend £127 on energy in April, compared with £205 in March.
Those on SVTs who do not have a smart meter and do not submit meter readings on or around April 1 risk having some of their usage after that date charged at the previous higher rate.
Around 14 per cent of those who had not submitted readings did not know how to read their meter, and 12 per cent said they did not even know where their meter was, according to energy comparison site Uswitch.
Meanwhile, just over a fifth of households said they had made a mistake when submitting meter readings, with mixing up gas and electricity meters and writing digits in the wrong order the most common mistakes.
Ben Gallizzi, energy spokesman at Uswitch.com, said: 'We urge any households without a smart meter to submit their meter readings this bank holiday weekend, so their supplier has an updated and accurate view of your account on or around April 1.
“This is when the next energy price cap comes into effect, which will see the rates that households on standard variable tariffs pay for their energy fall for April, May and June.
“If you delay submitting your readings, some of your energy usage could end up being charged under the higher rates we're currently facing.
“All households without a smart meter should ideally submit a meter reading every month to improve the accuracy of their bills.”
