spark energy

lincolnimp36

hi folks,first post so go easy.
this is in its early stages but i fear it will become very problematic so here goes.
i signed up to spark energy about 15 months ago after EON decided to double my DD and at the time there tarriffs seemed very reasonable.Yesterday i recieved a call from an EON rep and after all the talk i told him to call back on Saturday after i'd checked with Spark exactly the state of my account.
Ok this is where its starts going wrong
I rang Spark today and after an age i got through to an adviser explaining that i had never recieved a bill in the 15 months with them and was just interested to know that i was still paying the right amount or should i up the DD(which is what i expected)
to my horror i was told there was a rather large outstanding balance of £1363.47 on my account which even the adviser admitted was exceptionally high.As far as i'm concerned this is impossible.
I gave them a meter reading when i initially switched and have done so each month since so how can they be so far out.
I accept that my DD may have been a bit low but i only switched from EON because they doubled my DD 3 months after i moved in.(incidentially rebating me £300 when i left).Also not once have Spark made an effort to up the DD
I now want out from Spark as soon as possible but i fear this could be messy.Something is very wrong and i'm at a loss where to start.
Any advise would be gratefully recieved

markharding557

you need to look at the units used to see how much energy you have actually used and costed,then you can work out how accurate their figures are.
when you have done that you can be advised on what to do next

lincolnimp36

ok i have just recieved an amount of bills from Spark but only from when i switched to them in June 08 untill Sep 09,At present they cant supply upto date bills as apparently they are changing billing systems.From communication i have had i believe i have been on the wrong tariff since day one although they wont confirm this either way.I'm not sure whether its best to post the bills in detail on here for advice and i'm not sure how to work bills out.Is there any way to put attachments of the bills on here rather than typing them out?Please advice as i am getting very concerned now as until i can get to the bottom of this the debt is going to keep rising.Thankyou

gemstars

Do you know the price per Kwh of the tariff that you think you should be on? Your bills should state the price per Kwh they've charged you so this will tell you if you're on the right tariff.

spiro

lincolnimp36 wrote: »

ok i have just recieved an amount of bills from Spark but only from when i switched to them in June 08 untill Sep 09,At present they cant supply upto date bills as apparently they are changing billing systems.From communication i have had i believe i have been on the wrong tariff since day one although they wont confirm this either way.I'm not sure whether its best to post the bills in detail on here for advice and i'm not sure how to work bills out.Is there any way to put attachments of the bills on here rather than typing them out?Please advice as i am getting very concerned now as until i can get to the bottom of this the debt is going to keep rising.Thankyou

The key thing with the bills you have are, are they based on actual rather than estimated readings? If they are based on actual you owe what the bill says you owe.
What you haven't said is how much have you been paying per month by direct debit or if this is for 1 or 2 fuels.

lincolnimp36

spiro wrote: »

The key thing with the bills you have are, are they based on actual rather than estimated readings? If they are based on actual you owe what the bill says you owe.
What you haven't said is how much have you been paying per month by direct debit or if this is for 1 or 2 fuels.

Thanks for your reply
This is the problem.
i have been posting readings to them since i switched and they are saying these are customer readings yet most of the bills are showing estimates with the odd customer reading showing,I am currently paying approx £90 per month for gas and electric.Yes i accept this is probably a little low but if i just give you a summary of how the alleged debt has risen i would have expected them to contact me with a view to upping the DD.
11june/30 june 08 debt £45.76
1 july/30 sept 08 £111.28
1 oct/31 dec 08 £611.51
1 jan/31 march 09 £1023.21
1 april/30 june 09 £1182.13
1 july /30 sept 09 £1316.67
Bearing in mind that over the period i have paid in the region of £1400 and then add the supposed debt.£2700 odd pounds seems extreme in the least seeing as there are 2 adults at work all day and a child in full time education.Sorry i'm waffling but this has got me really baffled.

lincolnimp36

gemstars wrote: »

Do you know the price per Kwh of the tariff that you think you should be on? Your bills should state the price per Kwh they've charged you so this will tell you if you're on the right tariff.

thanks for the reply
to be honest i havent a clue.
in june 08 untill 30sept 08
charges are as follows
gas first 4.063p
next 2.525p

electric
day first 19.601p
next 11.270p
night 4.339p

from oct 08 to 30 june 09
gas first 5.079p
next 3.535p
electric first 21.561p
next 14.650p
night 5.640p

from july 09 to sept 09
gas first 7.618p
next 2.934p

electric 21.561p
next 13.185p
night 5.076p
i assume these are per kwh.
I believe i am on there standard tarriff but what i dont quite get is my night readings on electric have not moved since day one.yet i think they have me on an economy 7 tarriff because when i contacted them they mentioned storage heaters not being charged at night but my heating system is gas central heating
there reply to this was(quote) if you say all the heating is supplied by gas heating and there are no storage heaters it looks like when the gas system was put in the electricity supply was not correctly changed to general domestic metering.you may want to speak to your landlord regarding this situation.
I'm not sure what that means
.i dont have a landlord i own the property and
the property has been built since the early seventies and as far as i am aware the only change has been to put a digital electric box in
Sorry i'm not making a lot of sense but i'm confused and i'm beginning to wish i'd stayed with EON.

gemstars

lincolnimp36 wrote: »

thanks for the reply
to be honest i havent a clue.
in june 08 untill 30sept 08
charges are as follows
gas first 4.063p
next 2.525p

electric
day first 19.601p
next 11.270p
night 4.339p

from oct 08 to 30 june 09
gas first 5.079p
next 3.535p
electric first 21.561p
next 14.650p
night 5.640p

from july 09 to sept 09
gas first 7.618p
next 2.934p

electric 21.561p
next 13.185p
night 5.076p
i assume these are per kwh.
I believe i am on there standard tarriff but what i dont quite get is my night readings on electric have not moved since day one.yet i think they have me on an economy 7 tarriff because when i contacted them they mentioned storage heaters not being charged at night but my heating system is gas central heating
there reply to this was(quote) if you say all the heating is supplied by gas heating and there are no storage heaters it looks like when the gas system was put in the electricity supply was not correctly changed to general domestic metering.you may want to speak to your landlord regarding this situation.
I'm not sure what that means
.i dont have a landlord i own the property and
the property has been built since the early seventies and as far as i am aware the only change has been to put a digital electric box in
Sorry i'm not making a lot of sense but i'm confused and i'm beginning to wish i'd stayed with EON.

Hi,

It does look like your electric is on economy 7. With regards to this-
Call Spark and ask which tariff you are on for gas and electricity.
As far as I understand it when you move from economy 7 to a standard rate some suppliers will just add your day (first and next) and night readings together and just bill you this total usage times the unit rate.

Do you have a record of when you called them and had this conversation?

if you say all the heating is supplied by gas heating and there are no storage heaters it looks like when the gas system was put in the electricity supply was not correctly changed to general domestic metering.you may want to speak to your landlord regarding this situation.

Ask them if they can convert your electric bill and charge you on a standard tariff. Someone else may be able to advise but I would have thought they should do this if you a) can prove you asked to be on a standard tariff, b) you have been paying them for your gas heating so morally they should change this on a goodwill basis.

I'm having PC problems at the moment but you can access Sparks tariffs via their website. This will tell you what their current rates are.

lincolnimp36

Do you have a record of when you called them and had this conversation?

Thankyou for your time.yes all contact is via email so i'm saving them.

gemstars

lincolnimp36 wrote: »

Do you have a record of when you called them and had this conversation?

Thankyou for your time.yes all contact is via email so i'm saving them.

Ok, try this first, see what they say and let us know.

Premier_2

lincolnimp36 wrote: »

....From communication i have had i believe i have been on the wrong tariff since day one although they wont confirm this either way....

lincolnimp36 wrote: »

thanks for the reply
to be honest i havent a clue...

What makes you think you are on the wrong tariff, if you don't know what rates you should be on???

Regarding meter readings, all that is really important is an actual start meter reading (this should be the same as the final reading with your previous supplier) and the last/current meter reading.

Then we need to know exact tariff details you think you should be on. This includes unit charge rates, plus any other surcharges/discounts such as standing charges and DD discounts.
If these have changed over the time you have been with the supplier, we need to know when they were effective from/til.

Then tell us what in total you have already paid.