[SnoopZ]

Originally Posted by Chris

Yeah, there’s a database with historical readings from your meter in it, which is what all the suppliers use to estimate your usage if you don’t send readings in. If you veer too far from what’s expected they will investigate. And deliberately giving false readings is illegal.

The only way you could conceivably make use of the freedom you get from self-reading a dumb meter is if, say, your central heating broke down for an extended period and you ran a lot of electric heaters in your house for a few weeks while waiting for it to be fixed. To avoid your supplier arguing that your recent usage requires an increased direct debit or a payment to clear a debit account balance you might under-read by a modest amount for a period of time to smooth out the excess. Which would still be completely illegal, just less likely to be picked up …

I'll be doing this for nearly 2 months by the time my heating gets fixed on 21st Dec.