Energy firm E.ON has appeared to blame money saving expert Martin Lewis after suppliers’ websites crashed ahead of Friday’s price hikes.

       E.ON, British Gas and EDF were among the sites struggling to deal with demand this morning.

       The tweet, potentially tongue in cheek, was posted as customers raised questions about meter readings.

       The E.ON profile said: “Unfortunately the website and phone lines of every supplier are being hammered today.

       “Martin has once again created unprecedented demand bringing down Britain. If you respond to our private message providing the details requested then we can assist you.”

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       Mr Lewis has since shared a Twitter user’s reaction to the E.ON message, which said: ‘The cheek of them blaming it on you!’

       The website issues – which appeared to be an industry-wide problem – came as experts urged householders to submit meter readings for gas and electricity to their supplier on Thursday to show exactly how much energy they have used ahead of Ofgem’s price cap increasing from 1 April.

       One social media user said E.ON’s tweet was “pretty outragerous” when Lewis’ advice aimed to benefit consumers facing another steep rise in household bills.

       The energy company replied: “Looks like our sense of humour missed the mark.”

       Lewis had urged Britons to take meter readings on Thursday to avoid firms assigning current usage to April when rates are set to jump by around 54 per cent.

       Energy websites faced issues as customers rushed to do just that ahead of the price increase.

       A message on the British Gas website told customers it was facing “some technical issues we’re trying to resolve as quickly as possible” and said it could take “a little time” to update accounts with submitted readings.

       The main page of EDF Energy was working, but when customers clicked through to the MyAccount page they were unable to log in.

       E.ON also seemed to be facing issues with letting customers log in to their accounts, while customers of So Energy reported that they were unable to either log in or get through on customer helplines.

       A spokesman for Energy UK, the trade association for the industry, said: “We’re aware that some suppliers are experiencing issues with their websites due to the volume of customers submitting meter readings.

       “Suppliers do offer alternative ways of doing this such as through automated phone lines and apps so we’d recommend customers try those. Customers with smart meters do not need to worry as their readings are automatically sent to their supplier.”

       As of Friday, energy firms will be allowed to charge average customers ￡693 more per year under the new price cap. For those on prepayment meters, this is an even greater increase of ￡708.

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       It is set to deepen the cost-of-living crisis even further, which has come with warnings Britain is heading for its biggest fall in living standards since the 1950s.

       Additional reporting by Press Association