Martin Lewis is warning people with one type of meter to spend £1 now to cut bills.
The money saving expert is urging people – whether they are British Gas, EON, EDF, Octopus Energy or Ovo customers – to top up their electricity meters with £1 today if they are on a pre-payment meter.
Pre-payment meters are a type of electricity or gas meter which needs to be topped up with energy ahead of using it, rather than billing you after use like most customers.
This can sometimes be pushed on households with poor credit history or arrears, but some customers inherit them by moving into a property with pre-payment meters already in operation.
Today, energy ombudsman Ofgem has put in place a £122 cut to bills on typical usage, or a 7 percent drop for every household in the UK not currently on a fixed price deal – which Martin Lewis says is about 85 percent of customers out there.
But Martin is urging those with a non-smart pre-payment electricity meter to spend £1 now, today. That’s because the act of topping up the meter is what forces it to adjust its price per unit in real time and start charging you the correct amount.
Those who don’t do it risk being overcharged.
Martin explained: “We’re only talking people who do not have smart electricity pre-payment meters. So non-smart electricity pre-payment meters.
“In that specific case with most – not all of them – with most of them, what tells the meter your rate has changed is you topping up.
“So what you would want to do is you wouldn’t want to top up [last] week or you would want to run your energy down, or if you’re topping up, don’t top up too much.
“And then on Monday which is July 1 when the rates change, go and top up. Even if you don’t need to top up, go and top up with £1 because it is that act of topping up on most non-smart electricity pre-payment meters that tells your meter to charge you the lower rate, and if you don’t top up you’ll be paying a higher rate until you do top up.”
