Overpaying a final fixed rate bill

Sunseeker2022

Apologies if this has been asked before but is it possible to overpay on your final fixed rate bill? I pay by quarterly cash and wondered if I provided a higher reading, would I get the overpaid electricity / gas at the fixed rate even if it was used after I was switched to a variable rate? Many Thanks

Jyana

One of the rules of commenting on MSE is not to promote or encourage illegal, grey areas, or fraudulent activities, so I don't think you will get many replies to this. 

Gerry1

You wouldn't get the new units at the old rate, they'd just do the sums in exactly the same way.  There were suggestions that this might work with some pre-payment meters and this was discussed on MSE.

The way to save money would be to switch from paying quarterly cash (probably the most expensive way) to direct debit (probably the cheapest).

[Deleted User]

wondered if I provided a higher reading,

All customer readings are industry-validated before they are used for billing. The data collectors hold the historical usage for your property. The reading validation process is similar to that used when you switch suppliers:

https://octopus.energy/blog/secret-life-opening-meter-reading/

Why is this process necessary? Many people misread their meters and it is not unknown for some people to lie.

Neil_Jones

Sunseeker2022 said:

Apologies if this has been asked before but is it possible to overpay on your final fixed rate bill? I pay by quarterly cash and wondered if I provided a higher reading, would I get the overpaid electricity / gas at the fixed rate even if it was used after I was switched to a variable rate? Many Thanks

Except that's not "overpaying" is it? You're claiming you've used more energy than you have done to maximise the life of the cheap rates of the fix (I presume that's what's happening here, you've come off a what was a dirt cheap fix onto the variable rate)

If your meter reads 9250 at the end of your fix and you submit, for example, 9750, and then you submit a series of "correct" readings that take another six months to get to 9750, all that'll do is flag a concern at the supplier end.  A one off they may disregard if the rest of the readings are in line with expectations, but otherwise... TLDR - don't do it.

Anyway if you don't give a meter reading on the day of your fix ending it'll just get estimated anyway for that day.