Energy suppliers are sending a blunt message to UK households: take a photo of your meter by the end of June or risk paying more for energy you have already used. The price cap rises by £63 on 1 July, the third increase in a year, and without a current reading, your bill will default to an estimate that almost certainly overcharges you.
As reported by Wales Online, the advice from consumer champion Martin Lewis and energy experts is identical: submit a photo of your meter reading before the deadline. This is not about switching tariffs or installing solar panels, it is about the single easiest action a homeowner can take this month.
Who qualifies, and who doesn’t
Every household with a standard electricity or gas meter qualifies. Smart meter users are exempt because readings are automatic, but anyone with an older analogue meter or a smart meter that has stopped transmitting data must act. The deadline is 30 June, when suppliers switch to the new cap rate.
Ofgem sets the cap at a level that limits standing charges and unit rates, but it does not prevent suppliers from estimating usage. If your supplier guesses your consumption, they will apply the higher July rate to the entire period since your last bill, including weeks before the cap rose. The photo acts as a timestamped record of exactly what you used before the increase.
What it costs a typical 3-bed semi
The £63 increase applies to a household using 12,000 kWh of gas and 2,900 kWh of electricity per year, the typical consumption for a three-bedroom semi-detached house, according to Ofgem’s methodology. If your supplier overestimates your pre-July usage by just 10%, you could pay an extra £6.30 on top of the cap rise. That is a dinner out, or a month’s worth of kettle boils.
But the real risk is for households that are already behind on bills. An estimated reading can push a borderline account into debt. The Energy Saving Trust notes that the simplest way to avoid this is to submit a reading every month, but the June deadline is the most critical of the year because the cap change is the largest.
The catch, and how to beat it
The catch is that many suppliers make the process harder than it needs to be. Some require you to log into an online portal, others accept photos only through a dedicated app. A few still demand a phone call. The advice from Martin Lewis is pragmatic: take a clear photo showing the meter serial number and the reading, keep a copy on your phone, and submit it through whatever channel your supplier offers. If the portal fails, email the photo with your account number as the subject line.
What this misses is the bigger picture. The price cap is a political sticking plaster, not a solution to high energy costs. The £63 rise is driven by wholesale gas prices and network charges, neither of which the cap controls. But for now, a single photo is the most effective tool a household has to prevent an overcharge. It costs nothing, takes two minutes, and works for every supplier.
Households on standard variable tariffs should submit a meter photo by 30 June. Those on fixed deals may still benefit if their fix ends mid-cycle. The deadline is non-negotiable. Miss it and you pay for energy you did not use at a rate you should not have been charged.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, smart meters send readings automatically. But if your smart meter has stopped transmitting data (common with older SMETS1 models), you should submit a manual reading as if it were an analogue meter.
Your supplier will estimate your usage and apply the higher July rate to the entire billing period. You can still submit a reading after the deadline, but you risk being charged at the higher rate for energy used before the cap rise.
