Martin Lewis, the Money Saving Expert, has issued a strong recommendation for people using non-smart electricity prepayment meters to stock up on credit before Monday arrives. With the new price cap taking effect across UK households on Tuesday, October 1, energy bills are set to soar to £1717 for many consumers.
During his appearance on the BBC Sounds podcast this week, Mr Lewis explained: “And just another tip, if you will have a non-smart electricity prepayment meter, I would top up now as much as you can afford. That’s because in that very specific case of non-smart electricity prepayment meters, it’s the act of topping up that tells the meter what you should be paying.”
In conversation with co-host Adrian Chiles, he highlighted a significant saving strategy: “So if you top up before the 1st of October, your meter will be told about the current rates, and it will not update to the new higher rate until you top up again. So the longer you can run not topping up on or after the 1st of October, the longer you will usually stay on the lower rate.”
Despite this, Lewis cautioned listeners, citing notable exceptions and potential countermeasures by power providers: “Now I say usually because first of all, Scottish Power don’t allow this. And secondly, the other energy firms do have a right to claw back the difference and claw back the extra, but they generally don’t do it.”
The founder of MSE, a regular on ITV, went on to advise listeners ahead of the new price cap from Ofgem: “So it is not a guaranteed gain from doing it. But in most cases, apart from with Scottish power, you are likely to gain on a non smart electricity prepayment meter by topping up now and lasting as long as you can until you top up again.”
Mr Lewis further added, addressing Adrian and this week’s listeners: “I hope that makes sense.”