Do I Need to Read My Meter? Here's why you need to submit gas and electricity meter readings now - or risk overpaying

Some 10 million households don't have a smart meter and so will need to register the reading to take advantage of falling energy bills.

Here's everything you need to know.

Why should I submit a meter reading this weekend?

The average household energy bill is to fall to its lowest point in two years from next month after Ofgem lowered its price cap in response to wholesale prices.

The regulator is dropping its price cap by 12.3 per cent from the current £1,928 for a typical dual fuel household in England, Scotland and Wales to £1,690, a drop of £238 over the course of a year or around £20 a month.

The average household on a standard variable tariff (SVT) is expected to spend £127 on energy in April, compared with £205 in March, due to a combination of cheaper rates and lower usage as the weather warms up.

Those on SVTs who do not have a smart meter and do not submit meter readings on or around April 1 risk having some of their usage after that date charged at the previous, more expensive rates.

The difference between a week’s worth of energy at the old rates compared with a week in April was £4.65 for the average household.

To make those savings you need to submit a meter reading.

I have a smart meter - do I still need to do anything?

If you have a smart meter you don't need to submit a meter reading, but you should always keep an eye on it in case it's not working properly, with increasing reports of faulty smart meters generating incorrect bills.

What happens if I don't submit a meter reading?

Suppliers who have not received meter readings base their bills on estimated usage, meaning households could be overpaying, while others may not be paying enough - meaning they could be in for a nasty surprise later in the year.

Why don't people submit meter readings?

It may seem like a simple thing, but many people simply ignore the situation.

A quarter of those who have not submitted their readings in the last three months (24 per cent) said they forgot to, while 17 per cent said it was “too much hassle”, according to research by Uswitch.

They found that some 14 per cent of those who had not submitted readings did not know how to read their meter, and 12 per cent said they did not even know where their meter was.

Meanwhile, 22 per cent of households said they had made a mistake when submitting their meter readings, with mixing up gas and electricity meters and writing digits in the wrong order the most common errors.

Additional reporting: PA