I’ve done a terrible thing… what to do now

[Odetojoy]

Hi,

about 9 months ago I was really struggling financially. My dad had just died and I was in a very bad place.

I knew that I hadn’t been paying enough for my electricity and I was being badgered for a meter reading. Stupidly I submitted a lower reading. I’m ashamed of this and know it’s illegal.

im now in a better position and want to sort this. Do I just enter the actual reading now? I’m also considering just calling them up and being totally honest about what I did.

what should I do? Please don’t judge me - I know how bad this is

This ^. Honestly you are SO SO overthinking

Give them the correct reading. Pay the bill.

Nothing bad will happen

There is a tactic somewhere people use of submitting a higher reading just before a price rise to ultimately pay less. So there's a possibility they might suspect you of that. That's easily refuted though, because of they check the meter it will now align with what you've told them. Far better to submit the right reading now than leave it.

They will probably send you an are you sure message as it will be a big jump, you just say yes, I must have got the numbers muddled before. And pay the bill

This.

What’s the risk of them reporting me to the police?
It's not going to happen, honestly. It's not like you've bypassed your meter, or anything like that.
If they query it, just say you must have input the reading incorrectly, but l wouldn't pay the £1000 immediately, that might raise suspicions.
Pay it off in a few chunks. That gets you up to date, and you can forget about it.

zero. If they did say you made an error and corrected it as soon as you knew, I did this genuinely in error and was FURIOUS when I got a massive bill when I corrected it - I wish they had flagged it but they didn't even notice.

None....it's all computerised, no one is actively watching your account. Also if you plan to pay immediately then you won't be in any arrears or behind on payments so it will be fine.

Yes, just enter the actual reading. I have input the wrong number on a few occasions.

Do it now. Don't wait. Prices are going up again so you pay more if you delay.

There’s worse crimes than this OP. It was always going to catch up with you and they’d never know it was deliberate. It could have just as easily been an accurate reading at the time.

Honestly it’ll be fine. They won’t give a shit as long as you pay it. If they do ask (unlikely) tell them you just gave an estimate

You are worrying far too much. Just put the correct reading in and pay the bill. Definitely don’t tell them anything about before.

It really isn’t that terrible - it’s not like they weren’t eventually going to get an accurate reading.

It was a mildly silly thing to do at worst. Just submit the reading, pay the bill and stop beating yourself up!

I worked for an energy company for years. All that happens is they send out a letter asking to double check the read as it's produced a large bill. You just confirm the reads correct and they release the bill to pay. They don't always like just sending the bill out as it can upset customers if it's wrong. Nothing will happen loads of people enter reads wrong or have loads of estimates and catch up bills. No one will bat an eyelid. (that was my company other companies may just release the bill straight away and you can just pay it and won't even need to speak to anyone)

I'm glad you're in a better place now, OP.

It will all work out well xx

If this makes you feel better I once entered the wrong number (new flat with multiple meters to read and I got them mixed up) nothing was ever flagged up and I only realised my mistake when my next bill was something ridiculous like £2 😳

If they query it, it will because they are wondering if the current one is correct. Just say it definitely is, maybe you misread the last. 🤷‍♀️

Really no big deal. (Shrug is the tone you take, not me being shitty with you.)

This. Pay the correct amount and don’t let us take up any more of your headspace.

Zero.

I did this once, got myself in a tight pickle over council tax, thought I’d go to prison. Friends were laughing at me for my idiocy but I couldn’t see straight.

i was so anxious.

Honestly I know how you feel but in my case the council could not have cared less.

Just enter correct reading, agree when they question it and pay the balance.

All will be absolutely fine.

We all do silly things in times of crisis, please don’t beat yourself up.

I did it once, I read the meter properly but made a mistake entering it online. They tried to give me a 4 figure rebate. It was amazingly difficult to make them accept the actual reading.

Just do the correct reading and make the payment. They might ask you to take a photo of the reading to check if it seems significantly higher / lower than last time, but if you have paid nothing is going to happen.
FWIW my electric meter is in a stupid place and I've accidentally misread it. Just double checked the next time and put it right.

Please don’t panic.

Some homes are empty for long amount of times and do have very low readings and then jumps up when people move in.

Just submit it as normal and see what happens.
You’ll likely just get a bill but they definitely won’t call the police.

Absolutely none.

DH did it the other way round and we got a huge bill - when I spoke to the energy company they asked me if I really wanted to pay the bill for the whole of Surrey! They never flagged it to me though, I only found out when I checked the bill so I very much doubt they will notice OP's increase.

Zero.
Seriously no risk at all as your planning to pay it.
And I worked in an power company ages ago, when people came out to read your meter, even they often got the numbers wrong.
You are fine to just give them the correct reading now.