Tennants right to choose supplier / Advice

oneyearlater

Hello. I'm new to the forums but often have a peak through-I realise there have been posts previously concerning 'Spark' but none that match by circumstances, and was hoping for advice on what to do.

I moved into a property on the 15th April, and today got an email from Spark containing the following:

Dear xxx
Welcome to your new property.
Depending on when you are reading this, we either supply or are in the process of taking over the supply of electricity and / or gas to your property.

We understand that you have recently moved into this property and as we don’t yet have all your details we are writing to let you know that we will be calling shortly to establish:

Your move in meter reading

Payment details (90% of customers pay by Direct Debit and save on average £200 per year*)

To save time and in case we don’t have contact details for you, we’d appreciate it if you would call us on 0845 034 7474 and speak to our customer service team. They’d be happy to call you straight back if you like.

Alternatively, to ensure you benefit from our best tariffs please complete and return the enclosed Direct Debit mandate or visit
Be sure to add your account number, which is 7100xxxxx.

We look forward to hearing from you.
Account Set Up Team
Spark Energy Ltd
t. 0845 034 7474


Reviewing the short-hold tenancy agreement I see....

3.28 "The tenant agrees that data about the Tenant and the Premises may be supplied by the Landlord or the letting agent to the Utilities or telephone supplier. The tenant understands that at the date the let commences, gas and electricity supplies will be supplied by Spark Energy Limited or be in the course of being supplied by Spark Energy"Limited.

The day I moved in (15th April). I saw a letter addressed to the occupier from Scottish Power. It says that they currently supply the electric and to give them my details if I want to continue. I went to uswitch instead and started a transfer of the gas/ electric supply to British Gas as they were cheapest.

My questions are:
1. How can I stop Spark from taking over the supply? i.e. should I contact Scottish Power and ask them to block any transfers all together, or will requesting gas / electric from British Gas be enough (i'm not sure how far through the takeover process Spark will be at this stage?)

2. How can I scare Spark off - can anyone provide me with links to information about unfair contract terms etc, or any general advice on how to approach them and make it clear that I do not want anything to do with them?

Sorry if the post is over-length. Thought it best for clarity to include everything.

Premier_2

You need to establish who the current supplier is. This seems to be Scottish Power.
You need to register with them.
Then you need to discover if you are still within the cooling off period. If so, you can ask SP to stop the transfer. If not, you'll have to allow the transfer to go ahead, but you could always start a new transfer to whatever company you wanted ... even going back to SP if that's what you want, or BG if that is who you really want.

At present, unless you are registered with the current supplier you cannot switch supplier. You cannot switch supplier if you don't actually have a supplier.

So contact the existing supplier and register that you are using their supplies.

oneyearlater

Thanks for the swift reply Premier. I will register with Scottish Power first thing tomorrow. Will the fact that I have already initiated a transfer to British Gas have any effect on this? What is the typical cooling off period?

Premier_2

The cooling off period is a minimum of 7 days.

Your attempt to switch to BG when you are not the account holder will probably see the request rejected. Whilst the request is still in process, raising another may well complicate matters further, so let things settle first.

spiro

Premier wrote: »

The cooling off period is a minimum of 7 days.

Your attempt to switch to BG when you are not the account holder will probably see the request rejected. Whilst the request is still in process, raising another may well complicate matters further, so let things settle first.

What happens will depend on timing. SPOW are the incumbent and both Spark and BG are trying to register as the suppler. Assuming the supply start date they use is after your move in date, the 1st one to send the registration request will 'win' the race to become you supplier.

Obviously you can then change supplier again.

oneyearlater

Thanks for the response.
@Spiro / Premier. Would Scottish Power not be able to block the transfer?

I've read that once spark get hold of you, they don't let go easily-my main concern was being tied to them and them refusing to let others take over (this seems to be the pattern they use?).

spiro

oneyearlater wrote: »

@Spiro / Premier. Would Scottish Power not be able to block the transfer?

No, because the registration request will state it is a Change of Tenant Change of Supplier SPOW will not have any grounds to object. Even if you had been with SPOW for a period of time the only reason they can object is due to the debt.

spiro

Premier wrote: »

Your attempt to switch to BG when you are not the account holder will probably see the request rejected.

The Change of Supplier process does not check who the old suppliers customer is. The process is transferring an MPAN (meter point admin number) from one supplier to another and the customers name is not mentioned or checked as part of that process.

oneyearlater

So, quick update:

Phoned Scottish Power this morning, registered the account with them. They have said they will object to any transfer by British Gas or Spark as I have informed them that this is my wish.

I've emailed Spark and asked them stop the transfer under the 'cooling off period' and speaking to British Gas it seems that the uSwitch request never made it to them.

@Sprio: Should this now mean that SP can reject the requests, now I have asked them too, and attempted to cancel the other two?

PS: Thanks for all the advice so far!

spiro

Yes because you have told the exist supplier that you want to stay with them they can object. However this will only apply to the current transfers. If Spark persist and try again in a month or two it will probably go through.

oneyearlater

Thanks.
Contacted Spark. They just emailed saying...

"I can confirm that as your account was sitting at registration received, that we will not be taking over the account, and you will not be billed by us"

Lets hope that's an end to it all!

Lesson learnt: be more careful when reviewing tenancy agreements!

PS: It's strange to think that it's that easy for Spark to take over! Sureley if they tried again a few months later, that would be illegal, as it has been succesfully cancelled this time?

Thanks for all the advice, I was really lost as to what to do about this last night, to think it all seems to be sorted so quickly thanks to your help!