Adding new meter reading

Annar

Hi,

I want to ask a quick question and try to not make it confusing.  I recenty was able to add my meter reading before the big price increase and was able to stop it from rising.  I think the day was the 31st of March I'm going to try and add my meter readings today.  Will that increase my energy bills because the meter reading is after 31 March (national meter reading day)?

Mstty

Hi there, unless you are on a fixed tariff then any energy consumed after April 1st will be at the higher rate. So yes your bills will increase.

pochase

By giving your meter reads on the 31st of March you did not stop anything from rising. you ensured that the KWh you used were billed at the old rate valid up the this day.

If you give a new reading today, the KWh will be charged at the new rates valid now. This rates are higher now and therefore you will pay more for the same amount of KWh.

Your energy bills depend on the current rate and how much energy you use.

QrizB

Annar said:

I want to ask a quick question and try to not make it confusing.  I recenty was able to add my meter reading before the big price increase and was able to stop it from rising.  I think the day was the 31st of March I'm going to try and add my meter readings today.  Will that increase my energy bills because the meter reading is after 31 March (national meter reading day)?

NO it will not increase your energy bill.

The energy used before the 1st will be billed at the old rates and after at the new rates. Because they don't have a reading from the 31st / 1st, your supplier will have to estimate how much energy you used before the 1st of April, and how much after. This estimate is unlikely to be 100% accurate. It could be in your favour or in your supplier's faavour, and if you don't have a meter reading from that time you'll never know.

Annar

QrizB said:

Annar said:

I want to ask a quick question and try to not make it confusing.  I recenty was able to add my meter reading before the big price increase and was able to stop it from rising.  I think the day was the 31st of March I'm going to try and add my meter readings today.  Will that increase my energy bills because the meter reading is after 31 March (national meter reading day)?

NO it will not increase your energy bill.

The energy used before the 1st will be billed at the old rates and after at the new rates. Because they don't have a reading from the 31st / 1st, your supplier will have to estimate how much energy you used before the 1st of April, and how much after. This estimate is unlikely to be 100% accurate. It could be in your favour or in your supplier's faavour, and if you don't have a meter reading from that time you'll never know.

Ok looks like you're the expert on this thing.  That's great news but how do I know you're right?

By the way I'm not trying to be rude or sarcastic, I just want to be sure you're right.

QrizB

Annar said:

Ok looks like you're the expert on this thing.  That's great news but how do I know you're right?

By the way I'm not trying to be rude or sarcastic, I just want to be sure you're right.

That's a perfectly reasonable question!

Energy companies can only charge you for energy at the rates that were applicable at the time that you used it. Anything else would be a breach of contract.

Ideally you'd be submitting meter readings regularly, say evety month, and so the estimation would only be for months where the rate changed between readings - but the same applies when the period is longer, like in your case.

Someone posted an excerpt of their gas bill earlier today that showed how this works in practice, but I can't find the thread now

Annar

Ok thank you for the info.