This tough economic climate has made monthly energy bills a growing worry for many more families across the UK. Unfortunately, it’s also made more people prime targets for energy scams.
Exploiting the cost-of-living crisis, scammers are targeting vulnerable people and households by offering fraudulent solutions to lower energy bills. They often do this by illegally tampering with or removing people’s gas and/or electricity meters.
Energy scams in the UK are no longer limited to doorstep callers. Scams are increasingly digital. They appear as phone calls, emails, social media adverts, and even fake energy-saving products.
These energy supplier scams don’t just cost you money. They put lives in danger. From dangerous meter tampering to financial fraud, the consequences can be severe.
The risk of being scammed is higher than ever. In 2022 alone, over 40 million people were targeted by scammers, with 12% of these scams related to energy (Citizens Advice).
Energy scammers often pose as legitimate energy suppliers to gain your trust. They offer rebates, grants or cheaper tariffs in exchange for personal information or bank details. Others promote “quick fixes” to cut your bills that are unsafe or simply don’t work.
Understanding how scammers operate, how to spot an energy supplier scam, and what steps to take are key to protecting yourself and your household.
Understanding Energy Scams
Some energy supplier scams offer to remove, tamper with, or exchange your meter to lower your energy bills. These criminals claim it’s safe and legal. This is a dangerous lie.
Removing or tampering with your meter to cut down on bills is energy theft. It doesn’t matter whether it’s done by you, a friend of a friend, or a stranger on your behalf. Only a qualified and accredited meter installer can legally carry out any work on your meter. This work always needs to be approved by your energy supplier before it is carried out.
Saving money on your bills might seem appealing, but that’s only because many people are unaware of the severe consequences associated with energy supplier scams. Once you are aware, it’s not so tempting.
Meter tampering, which includes the illegal removal or exchange of a meter without authorisation, can lead to:
- electrical shocks and severe burns
- gas leaks and explosions
- serious injury or loss of life
Learn more about the risks of energy theft here.
If you are aware that meter tampering has taken place, or even just suspect it, always report it to Stay Energy Safe by calling 0800 023 2777, or by filling out the online form. You will stay 100% anonymous, always.
Learn what to do in an emergency and which numbers to call here.
Penalties for committing energy theft can include substantial fines and up to 5 years in prison. You will also need to pay back the cost of any stolen energy, the cost of the investigation, and the cost of making the metering equipment safe again.
If I install my own electric or gas meter, who do I pay?
The same regulations apply. Your energy supplier must authorise it, and an accredited meter installer must perform the installation.
You must still pay your energy supplier for the gas and electricity you use. You must either provide them with accurate meter readings, or allow them to read the meter, to ensure accurate billing.
Common Energy Scams in the UK
UK energy scams can take many forms, but most fall into a few common categories:
- Fake energy supplier calls: Scammers pretend to be energy companies offering cheaper tariffs or urgent account updates. They often try to collect personal or banking details.
- Energy rebate scams: Messages claiming you are owed money or a government rebate. These are designed to get you to click links or share sensitive information.
- Smart meter scams: Fraudsters claim your meter needs replacing urgently or offer installation for a fee. Legitimate smart meters are installed free through your supplier.
Read our guide to smart meters here.
- Energy efficiency grant scams: Fraudulent installers offering fake insulation or grant schemes, often asking for personal details or banking details.
Criminals are always hard at work thinking of new ways to steal money, personal data or access to your home. What they have in common is that they are usually presented to you as energy services or tempting savings on your bills.
Energy scammers often create fake emails or websites that appear to be from legitimate companies. They may call, or show up at your door, looking and sounding the part. They might claim that someone tried to reset your password, that you are owed money, or that they haven't received your payments. They might offer you great savings, an energy grant, or to install a new smart meter, or maintain your solar panels.
For victims, it’s a lose-lose situation. If criminals go ahead with promises to reduce bills, they may do so through dangerous and illegal meter tampering. If they don’t, victims can lose large sums of money while the energy scammer disappears with it.
It’s easy to get reeled in. Lots of people do. This is why it’s essential to stay alert. Remember, if it seems too good to be true, it usually is.
Some recent UK energy scams use tactics that should immediately make you suspicious:
Impersonation of OVO Energy Scam
The OVO Energy scam involves scammers impersonating OVO Energy representatives, by faking official phone numbers to make it look like they’re calling from OVO, or through fraudulent emails. They might link you to a fake OVO website or app, offer fake discounts or overpayment refunds – but it is always about pressuring people to share personal information.
Impersonation of EDF Energy Scams
EDF scams often feature phishing emails or texts from criminals pretending to be an EDF Energy employee. These energy scammers might claim there is an urgent issue with your account that requires payment or personal details right away to resolve it. One British couple lost thousands of pounds through this scam.
Impersonation of Octopus Energy Scam
Scammers posing as Octopus Energy agents contact consumers over the phone or by email. These Octopus energy scams aim to trick consumers into providing personal information such as usernames, passwords or bank details. They may offer some type of payment or compensation for providing these personal details.
Energy Efficiency Grant and Home Improvement Scams
While genuine schemes like the Boiler Upgrade Scheme do exist, some scammers try to exploit people who are looking for ways to make their home more energy efficient or reduce their energy bills.
They may claim your home is unsafe, say that urgent work is needed, or tell you that you have spray foam insulation that needs to be removed. They may also offer fake grants or energy-saving improvements such as insulation or heat pumps.
The Energy Grant Text scam involved the sending of fake texts containing links where people could supposedly apply for the government’s £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme. These texts appeared genuine and asked potential victims to provide personal or financial information. The Energy Bills Support Scheme ended in 2023, so any texts about it now would be extremely suspicious.
September 2025 also saw a 153% rise in Winter Fuel Payment scam texts. Legitimate payments are made automatically, and the government will never ask for bank details by text.
Scammers may target people with solar panels too, by pushing unnecessary maintenance contracts or repairs, especially if the original installer is no longer trading.
Energy Rebate Scams
Energy rebate scams are designed to make people believe they are owed money or government rebates. Scammers may target pensioners, disabled people or other households likely to be looking for support. They refer to past or current schemes to make their messages sound genuine.
Messages often create urgency, telling you to act quickly to avoid missing out. Their aim is usually to get you to click a link, hand over personal information or share banking details.
There has been an increase in scams targeting people about the Warm Home Discount. If you are eligible, the government will send you a letter in the post. You won’t be contacted by text or asked for any bank details.
If you need help with genuine support that may be available, read our Guide to Help with Energy Bills.
Prepayment Top-Up Key Scams
If you are offered a discounted prepayment top-up key, report it immediately. More than 100,000 households have been affected by this crime.
This scam involves criminals offering cloned energy top-up keys to people on pre-payment meters, promising cheaper energy.
In reality, your energy company will detect that payment for the energy hasn’t been made and will charge you for the energy used. That means you can end up paying twice – once to the scammer and once to your supplier.
Scammers may also knock on doors offering these cloned keys. Energy suppliers will never sell electricity top-ups door-to-door. You should only top up through official outlets.
Smart Meter Scams
Criminals pose as energy company representatives to trick people into Smart Meter scams. They offer smart meter installations to reduce your energy bills. Scammers may demand an installation fee or personal details under the guise of setting up the service.
The intention of smart meter scams is always to trick you out of money or sensitive information (identity theft can have long-term impacts on victims). Smart meters should only be installed by a qualified and accredited meter installer, with the agreement of your supplier.
If you would like a smart meter installed, you can contact your energy supplier who can arrange this for you free of charge.
Meter Reading Scams
Meter reading scams involve scammers pretending to be from an energy company, either visiting homes or contacting consumers by phone or email, requesting recent meter readings. The fake energy supplier’s goal is to gain access to your home or trick you into giving up your personal and financial information.
Genuine meter readers will always show you a photographic ID card and won’t mind if you call your energy supplier to verify who they are. For additional peace of mind, you can set up a password with your energy supplier for them to use when they visit your home.
Ofgem Scam
Some criminals fool people by sending fraudulent messages and calls claiming to be from the energy regulator Ofgem. One message asks people to apply for the £400 ‘non-repayable discount’. It includes a fake link to the Ofgem website, asking you to fill in personal details and set up a direct debit in order to receive the money. Ofgem will never sell you energy, ask for personal information or visit your home.
For more information from Ofgem on how to avoid energy scams, click here.
Fake Energy-Saving Device and Plug Scams
A growing number of scams involve:
- fake “electricity-saving devices”
- gadgets claiming to reduce electricity bills by 30-50%
- fake optimisation apps
These are often sold through misleading adverts or on social media. Energy-saving plug scams appear across sites like AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Shein, Temu and TikTok Shop.
Many of these fake energy-saving plug scams claim to “save energy automatically” by “stabilising” electricity voltage. Some products claim to reduce electricity bills simply by plugging a device into a socket or installing an app that optimises energy use.
In reality, these devices cannot meaningfully reduce household electricity use. Instead, they may collect personal or payment data. One customer bought ElectraSavvy’s product for £35 but ended up having £285 taken from their account.
Fake electricity-saving devices are also poorly constructed and often fail to meet basic electrical safety standards. Official government recalls for four similar devices on AliExpress, eBay and Wish cited a 'serious risk of fire and electric shock'.
Be very cautious of any product or app that promises major savings with no clear explanation of how it works.
You may also see searches for apps such as Optiwatt alongside searches for energy-saving plugs. Optiwatt itself is an EV charging optimisation app, but searches for it often overlap with energy-saving plug scams. That is why it is important to verify the legitimacy of any app or device before installing or purchasing.
How to Spot an Energy Scam
If you’re at work, running errands or looking after the kids, it’s easier to miss suspicious behaviour. Energy scammers count on this.
The best way to protect yourself and loved ones from an energy scam is to learn the warning signs.
Here’s how to spot an energy scam:
- It seems too good to be true. Offers of special prize wins, huge savings, competitions, drastically reduced rates or discounts that seem significantly better than those available directly from the energy company. Unfortunately, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is!
- Pressure to act immediately. Urgent requests to pay, click a link or share details. Energy scammers create a sense of urgency and panic, so you act without thinking.
- Unexpected contact. Calls, emails or texts claiming to be from your supplier when you weren’t expecting it.
- Unusual payment methods. Requests for payment via bank transfers, gift cards or cryptocurrency.
- Requests for upfront payment. Being asked to pay before any service has been provided.
- Requests for personal information or banking details. Legitimate energy companies will never ask for information like PINs, passwords or banking details this way.
- Unverifiable identity. The person cannot provide genuine contact information, or their credentials don’t check out.
- Poor quality communication. Spelling or grammatical errors, email addresses that don’t have the company name at the end, suspicious links and graphics that look distorted, blurred or pixelated (although as technology improves the quality of scam emails is also improving – so beware).
If something feels off, trust your instincts and take time to check.
How to Protect Yourself
UK energy scams are becoming more sophisticated, but there are simple steps you can take to stay safe.
- Never share personal or banking details with cold callers or in response to unexpected messages or emails.
- Always verify energy suppliers directly using official contact details from their website or your bill.
- Never click on any pop-ups or links in emails or texts from unknown sources.
- Always be cautious of social media adverts offering energy savings or products.
- Always research unfamiliar energy-saving devices or services before buying.
- Never let unexpected visitors into your home unless you can verify they have been sent by your energy supplier.
Remember, legitimate smart meter installations are arranged through your supplier and do not require upfront payment.
If you’re unsure whether something is genuine, pause and check. Do not let anyone pressure you into making a quick decision.
If you come across a suspicious offer or message, avoid engaging with it and verify it independently before taking any action.
If you suspect a scam, report it.
What to Do If You’re Targeted
If you think you’ve been targeted by an energy scam:
- Contact your energy supplier directly to check if the communication is genuine.
- Report the energy scam to Report Fraud or call the police on 101 if you’re in Scotland.
- Report suspected energy theft and meter tampering to Stay Energy Safe via the online form or by calling 0800 023 2777.
If you’ve already shared personal or banking details, or have made a payment, you should also:
- Contact your bank immediately using the number on the back of your bank card.
- Ask them to stop or recover payments and secure your account.
- Freeze your account or cards if needed. If you use mobile banking, you can do this yourself via your bank’s app or website.
Reporting scams helps to prevent others from being targeted.
If something doesn’t feel right, stop, check and report it.
A real energy company will never pressure you into making rushed decisions.
If you’re worried about your energy bills, help is available from trusted and legitimate sources:
- You may be eligible for financial help from the UK Government.
- The Boiler Upgrade Scheme can help homes in England and Wales switch from an old boiler to a heat pump or biomass boiler.
- In Scotland, you can get free and impartial advice from Home Energy Scotland.
- Home Energy Scotland works closely with Trading Standards Scotland to help householders avoid energy scams.
- In Wales, Nest provides free, impartial advice on energy efficiency, benefit entitlement and more. You may also be eligible for home energy efficiency improvements.
- If you live in North East England, Home Energy Advice North East offers advice on energy-saving home improvements.
- For advice on everything from taking a meter reading to what to do if you are struggling to pay your energy bill, Citizens Advice can help.