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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
World
Katie Williams

Shell and Octopus Energy issue urgent advice to anyone who could not submit meter readings

Energy suppliers Octopus and Shell have given an urgent message to customers who were unable to submit their meter readings on March 31.

Energy websites crashed yesterday morning after hundreds of people logged on to give them their meter readings ahead of April 1 when the new energy price cap comes into force. The day has been branded 'Bleak Friday' as thousands are expected to fall into fuel poverty by October.

Experts including Citizen's Advice and Martin Lewis have been urging people to submit their meter readings on March 31 to "draw a line in the sand" before the price hike.

READ MORE - British Gas, Scottish Power, SSE and more issue warning amid electricity meter credit scam

The rush forced websites such as Octopus, SSE, EDF, British Gas and Shell to go down due to the amount of traffic.

But Shell Energy and Octopus Energy have issued advice for customers who couldn't access their accounts or log their meter readings.

Octopus Energy are reassuring customers no to panic if they couldn't provide readings yesterday as their new rate comes into force on Saturday.

Octopus Energy are replying to comments saying: "You should be able to submit your readings on your online account (and don't worry if you couldn't do it yesterday, it's actually better for Octopus customers to submit them tomorrow as that's when our variable prices change)".

Yesterday when customers tried to log their meter readings, many were shown a message that said: "We're super busy today so you might have a long wait if you call. The best day to give us a meter reading is Saturday (our standard variable prices don't change until 00:00 Saturday April 2).

"Make a note of your readings or take a photo of them on Saturday. When we receive this reading we will apply it to your account from midnight on the Saturday. You will have a week to submit them to us, so please don't worry if you can't get it to us that day. Smart meter customers do not need to send us a reading."

Shell Energy have added an emergency 'log a ticket with your energy readings' to provide a way for people to avoid their crashing website.

People are reporting that it works using your browser and if it doesn't appear on the first try, "to keep trying" to log into your account or log your meter readings and it will show up.

What has your experience with logging meter readings been like? Let us know in the comments.

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