Martin Lewis' MSE issues warning as households being charged more for energy

The MSE team issued the warning this week

Martin Lewis' MoneySavingExpert.com (MSE) team has warned Scottish Power customers could be paying more for their energy than what they are being told.

The MSE alert is directed at smart meter energy customers and claims they could be paying 5% more than it shows on their in-home display. These displays connect to your smart meter and should show near real time information about your energy consumption in pounds and pence. The device shows your current tariff rates, standing charges and your past usage.

However, according to research by MSE, Scottish Power does things a little differently, as it does not display VAT on its in-home monitors. The energy supplier is the only one out of nine major providers which does not display VAT on its displays for its credit customers. - only for those who pay by direct debit or on receipt of a bill.

This means you need to wait for a bill to see your exact costs. According to MSE, households will need an extra 5% to their bills on average to account for the missing VAT. This equates to an extra 20p a day for those with typical usage and on direct debits, and 22p a day for those on receipt of bills. Scottish Power's smart prepayment meter customers do have VAT included on their in-home displays.

According to Ofgem, suppliers do not need to include VAT on their smart meter monitors and Scottish Power told MSE that it made the change for credit customers in response to "customer feedback". Scottish Power did not confirm when the change came in or how many households it impacted. The Mirror has contacted Scottish Power for comment.

MSE noted that if you were worried about not being able to see VAT on your in home display, then you have a couple of options. The first is to check your bills carefully to understand exactly how much you are spending and how much VAT is. If your in home display does not match what is on your bill, it is normally due to a recent price or product change. MSE says if this is the case you should wait seven days for it to update.

If you want the VAT included then you do have to option to switch to a supplier who does show it on their in home displays. According to MSE, suppliers which include it are:

• British Gas
• EDF Energy
• E.on Next
• Octopus Energy
• Ovo Energy
• So Energy
• Utilita
• Utility Warehouse