Furious energy customers forced to queue to submit meter readings as websites struggle with demand
FURIOUS customers have been queuing to get into energy suppliers’ websites to log their meter readings.
British Gas, Scottish Power and Shell Energy bill payers have taken to social media to complain of websites struggling to cope with demand.
It’s not the first time customers have complained of big waiting times to submit readings.
E.on, British Gas, EDF, SSE and Ovo’s websites crashed on meter reading day earlier in March.
It’s important to note that you can take a picture of your meter reading now and submit it to your supplier AFTER today, and make sure it has today’s date on it.
Households are being urged to take a meter reading so they don’t get overcharged for their energy usage ahead of the bill hike.
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Scottish Power has posted a message on its homepage redirecting customers to fill out a meter reading form to avoid the delays.
The message says: “We’re experiencing a high volume of visitors on our website.
“Please click the following link to submit your readings without having to wait in the queue.”
Customers have tweeted about sitting in a queue to get onto the supplier’s site.
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“There’s a queue just to log onto Scottish Power website. 1 hour 18 minutes,” one bill payer said.
Another tweeted: “Heavy traffic on website, waiting time 1hr 34 minutes.”
British Gas customers have also taken to Twitter to complain of similar delays.
One said: “A greater than half an hour queue at @BritishGas just to log into your account!”
Another posted: “Can’t log into my account all of a sudden to submit readings and 99 people in the queue.”
Shell Energy customers have also been complaining of website queues.
One said: “The Shell Energy website has an 11 minute waiting time to just login. All I wanted to do was check my payment history.”
Another said: “Shell Energy – Meter reading web page not working. Typical.”
A Shell Energy spokesperson said: “Our website is accessible, and customers are making full use of the different ways they can submit their reads, including online, via the app, and over the phone.”
The Sun contacted British Gas and Scottish Power for comment.
What happens if I can’t submit my meter reading?
It’s important to take a picture of your meter reading today.
But don’t panic if you’re having trouble submitting it – you can send it into your supplier at a later point.
The Sun has asked energy suppliers to share the latest date you can submit yours:
- Scottish Power: October 5
- Octopus Energy: submit within a week of October 1
- Ovo Energy: call the supplier if you want to submit reading after September 30
- SSE Energy: same as Ovo Energy (SSE Energy is part of Ovo Energy)
- Bulb: October 3
- EDF: October 7, and October 1 via its online form
- E.on: five days after October 1
- Shell Energy: 30 days from October 1
- Utility Warehouse: five days after taking your meter reading
If you’re on a smart or pre-payment meter you don’t need to do this.
Why do I need to take a meter reading?
It’s important to do a meter reading before the bill hike or risk paying more for your energy bill.
That’s because taking a meter reading before the new price cap comes into force will help you to be billed accurately.
Taking a reading at this point means you – and your energy firm – know exactly how much energy you have used under the lower price.
If you don’t send in meter readings, your provider will send an estimated bill, which could be much higher than what you’re using in reality.
How do you take a meter reading?
In most cases you’ll be able to call your supplier to give them the readings, and in others you might be able to submit them online or on an app.
Electricity meters
If you have a digital electricity or gas meter, you see a row of six numbers on the display dashboard – five in black and one in red.
You will need to note down the five numbers in black and ignore the red number.
If you are on an Economy 7 or 10 tariff, which means you get cheaper electricity throughout the night, you may see two rows of numbers.
You should take both down.
If you have a traditional dial meter, you will have to read the first five dials from left to right and ignore any red ones.
If the pointer is between two numbers, you will need to write down the lower number. If it’s between nine and zero, write down nine.
If the pointer is directly over a number, write down that number and underline it.
Citizens Advice says that if you’ve underlined a number, check the next dial to the right. If the pointer on that dial is between 9 and 0, reduce the number you’ve underlined by 1. For example, if you originally wrote down 5, change it to 4.
Gas meters
If you have a digital metric meter showing five numbers then a decimal place, you only need to write down the first five number from left to right.
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If you have a digital imperial meter your meter will read four black numbers and two red numbers – note down the four black numbers only.
If you have a dial gas meter follow the same steps for those with a dial electricity meter but ignore underlining any figures.