Exact date you need to submit your meter reading before the October energy price rise

Brits are being urged to make sure they take a final meter reading before the energy price cap is raised on 1 October. 

Energy prices are set to rise even further in October, with analysts from Cornwall Insight predicting they could push the average household energy bill to £3,500 a year. 

The new rise comes after the cap was raised from £1,277 to £1,971 in April - shortly before the increase was announced money saving expert Martin Lewis told bill payers to send a final meter reading so everything used up to the point of the rise was billed at the lower rate. 

Speaking earlier this year ahead of the energy cap rise in April, Lewis said: "That way you draw a line in the sand that says to your energy firm, I've only used this amount at the cheaper rate.

"Don't start charging me more on the higher rate and estimating I use some of it afterwards."

Lewis recommended sending the meter reading the day before the price cap was lifted - so for October’s rise, you’d be looking to submit it on 30 September, ahead of the increase on 1 October. 

Back in March, energy supplier E.ONs website crashed after people rushed to submit last minute readings ahead of the price hike, 

In a tweet last month, Lewis warned that things were set to get ‘worse’ in October, saying the situation is ‘desperate’. 

“NEWS: It gets worse! I've just got updated price cap predictions from @CornwallInsight,” he wrote. 

“The latest spike in year-ahead wholesale price means the OCT cap prediction is now UP 78 percent (so £3,500/yr on typical bills) & likely up again in Jan.

“It will be desperate. Intervention needed.”

Brits responded to the news with outrage, with one responding to Lewis’s post to comment: "I'm sick to my stomach."

"We just won't pay Martin. Then they can slap me with a fine that I just can't pay either," another contested.

A third wrote: "How many people can survive this?"

Someone else said: "Brits have - quite rightly - taken to the post in absolute outrage, because if the Money Saving Expert himself says its bad and that 'intervention is needed' then that's a clear sign the country has nearly hit rock bottom."

One user said: "I'm sick to my stomach."

Another wrote: "Why are they allowed to continually increase prices. Wholesale prices aren't sky rocketing so why do they think they need to rip us off? Didn't most energy companies make massive profits?”