Martin Lewis says customers have as much as every week to submit meter readings as power websites crash forward of hike

Households have been given further time to submit meter readings after suppliers’ web sites crashed on Thursday.

The MoneySavingExpert founder Martin Lewis suggested prospects to take a photograph of their meters to make sure the readings had been accepted after the UK’s main suppliers suffered technical outages.

He tweeted: “Cannot submit your meter studying? simply take a photograph of it, you’ve got often as much as every week to get it to them.”

It comes as households face rising power payments, alongside facet different hovering prices, from at present.

Prospects reported points logging in to provider web sites together with British Gasoline, EDF, E.On, SSE, So Vitality and Octopus Vitality from early on Thursday as they rushed to submit meter readings forward of Friday’s value leap.

Submitting the most recent readings means households can profit from the decrease, pre-1 April prices for a bigger chunk of their power use, avoiding suppliers having to estimate how a lot gasoline and electrical energy was used previous to the hike.

Vitality UK, the commerce affiliation for the UK power business, stated “most [suppliers] are providing various choices corresponding to submitting at a later date or giving the studying by way of textual content”.

British Gasoline stated its web site was “having bother coping with the variety of meter readings being submitted”, including: “Should you’re struggling to do yours, don’t fret it is nice to do it later or within the subsequent couple of days – we’ll nonetheless settle for them.”

Eon suggested prospects they are going to be given till 9 April to submit their readings.

“We’re seeing unprecedented site visitors to our web site & app that we’re resolving. Meter readings taken at present will be added to your account on-line within the coming days. We apologise for any inconvenience,” the corporate stated.

“Sensible meter prospects needn’t ship readings as they will be despatched robotically.”

EDF stated it was additionally “experiencing technical points with our web site & app” and urged prospects to submit their meter studying by way of a web-based kind out there from their web site.

“We might encourage prospects who often submit meter readings to both take a photograph, or make an observation of their meter studying. Prospects who’ve a wise meter, or are on a hard and fast tariff, don’t must do something in the mean time,” the corporate stated.

“We urge prospects to not fear and wish to reassure them, that they don’t need to submit meter readings to us at present and may share these with us within the coming days.”

Scottish Energy was urging prospects on Twitter to message them straight with their meter readings, which the corporate stated could be up to date within the coming days, however didn’t give a deadline for submission.

Octopus Vitality stated: “It is value noting that Octopus Vitality’s value change will really not come into impact till 00:00 Saturday April 2. If prospects are eager to provide us a meter studying to coincide with the change, the most effective day to gather it’s on April 2.

“If prospects make an observation of, or take {a photograph} of, their readings on Saturday April 2 they’ve every week to submit it to us by way of our on-line account or e-mail, so needn’t fear if they cannot get it to us that day.”

Households noticed the largest rise in the price of power in residing reminiscence from Friday when payments elevated by 54 per cent, or nearly £700, to simply beneath £2,000 a 12 months.

The power value cap for these on default tariffs who pay by direct debit is rising by £693 from £1,277 to £1,971 from 1 April.

Prepayment prospects will see a much bigger leap, with their value cap going up by £708, from £1,309 to £2,017.

The regulator was pressured to hike the power value cap to a document £1,971 for a typical family as gasoline costs soared to unprecedented highs.