Switching to Spark Energy, bit weird

Pandilex

I just got a letter from Southern Electric informing me of a price increase, they are charging such a ridiculous amount that it is definitely time to switch.

I used energy helpline, and found spark energy are massively cheaper, but you can't sign up through energy helpline you have to ring them direct.

So I phoned them, and said I'd like to transfer, and was told to look at their website. The guy on the phone couldn't figure out how to sign up so he had to put me on hold, seems that Spark primarily deal with letting agencies but there is an option buried in there for tenants to self sign up.

I clicked that and it took me to a pdf ( http://www.sparkenergy.co.uk/pdf/customer_registration_form_2012.pdf ) to sign up but it wants my direct debit information.

I'm on a prepay meter at the moment, and I want to stay on a prepay meter, and I checked their prepay economy 7 meter tarriffs and that's what I want. Do you reckon I need to fill in the direct debit info? Or should I enter them and then just cancel it?

Seems mighty strange to print and post a form in this day and age, I don't even have a printer right now.

Thoughts anyone?


Edit: I ended up e-mailing them because I don't know what else to do. I've never seen a company that is so hard to sign up to! It's like they don't want new customers?!

macman

Oh dear, I suggest you do a forum search on Spark before you switch. More than a touch of the Hotel California's about them...
And I've never seem them anywhere near the top of a comp site search.
Spark's business model is essentially to offer bungs to agents and landlords to sign up gullible tenants, particularly students.

Bark01

macman wrote: »

Oh dear, I suggest you do a forum search on Spark before you switch. More than a touch of the Hotel California's about them...
And I've never seem them anywhere near the top of a comp site search.
Spark's business model is essentially to offer bungs to agents and landlords to sign up gullible tenants, particularly students.

Spark Energy Tenant Direct is / was actually very cheap, cheapest at typical when it first came out. However it was only available for the first 1000 applicants and as you say very bad customer service reports.

Wywth

Bark01 wrote: »

Spark Energy Tenant Direct is / was actually very cheap, cheapest at typical when it first came out. However it was only available for the first 1000 applicants and as you say very bad customer service reports.

**Conditions relating to Tenant Direct: Dual fuel loyalty bonus £26 credited in month 12 after 12 months continuous supply. Only available to existing Spark Energy customers on request and new residential tenants living in rented accommodation. A copy of the signature page of your lease must be submitted with your application form. Application is only available by downloading the ‘Tenant Direct’ form on our website and returning it to us. Direct debit payment only. Valid bank details must be submitted at the time of application. Limited to 1000 customers.

http://www.sparkenergy.co.uk/your-home/products-and-services/our-tariffs/tenant-direct (my highlighting)

OP, what's your annual usage figures in kWh and what supply region are you in?

macman

So it's a bait and switch scam. You submit your app (including, conveniently, your bank details) and surprise surprise, the 1000 places are all gone-but here's another (much more expensive ) tariff instead!
Who with half a brain is going to apply for a tariff where 'the unit cost details will be published online soon'?!
Run a mile from this.

dogshome

As regulars will know I am no fan of Spark, but prompted by Wywth's web link to Spark I took a look and read the comments on the "Find out what our customers think of us" pages.

This facility seems to have been set up about 7 months ago, (Page 28 ), and the older pages are full of praise for Spark in general and the Help Desk staff in particular.

However as time has gone by, customers who are less than satisfied have found the area and I would advise any prospective customer to take a look:
Page 8 - from 2 months ago
Page 4 - from 1 month ago
Page 2 - from 3 weeks ago
Page 1 - from 2 weeks ago

macman

I would suspect that the earlier effusive posts are from the very same helpdesk staff themselves...

pooch

Sorry everyone, I removed my previous posts in this thread that were nonesense having discovered the OP is located in the Bristol area and has an E7 supply.

Spark energy do indeed seem very competitive for PAYG customers in this region (even ignoring the even more competitive Tenant Direct tariff) - even more competitive than the tariff EHL appears to suggest which I can't find on the Spark website:

http://www.sparkenergy.co.uk/your-home/products-and-services/our-tariffs

Prices for PAYG in that supply region appear to be:
Standing charge: 22p per day
Day Rate: 12p per kWh
Low rate: 4.5p per kWh

(all excluding VAT @ 5%)

Seems a bargain to me, and presumably why they don't want anyone to sign up to it.

Pandilex

They haven't got back to me at all...

They are massively cheaper though. Like, massively!

My usage was 6.2 units peak and 11.7 units off peak during winter.

Southern Electric's new prices, this comes out as £2.21/day (21.13p peak, 7.77p off peak, 0p standing charge).

Spark comes out at £1.71/day (13.86p peak, 5.198p offpeak, 25.2p standing charge).

My summer use shows a saving too (I use 5.18 peak, 2.95 off peak per day).

I have storage heating which is why off peak is quite high in the winter.

Since they're failed to get back to me and like you say, they do have quite a reputation, I think I'll just go with EDF.

For annual figures, I calculated it (using winter usage, ie. assuming it's winter all year, so I'm only interested in the price difference rather than the absolute values) at:

EDF £689/year
Spark £627/year
Southern Electric £809 <- this is what I am on at the mo!

The gap for summer is less, only £27 difference between EDF and Spark, so some average between those means there isn't a huge difference.

I guess it is worth paying a little more for peace of mind

Thanks for your help!

Terrylw1

macman wrote: »

So it's a bait and switch scam. You submit your app (including, conveniently, your bank details) and surprise surprise, the 1000 places are all gone-but here's another (much more expensive ) tariff instead!
Who with half a brain is going to apply for a tariff where 'the unit cost details will be published online soon'?!
Run a mile from this.

That's 1000 directors, managers, etc all signing up then...;):D

Former_MSE_Andrea

Hi

The company has asked to give a response. MSE doesn't endorse anything a company says on the Forum.

Tenant Direct is limited to 1000 places however, once these places are taken we can no longer advertise the tariff as being available. There are still places left at the moment. These places are for tenants only and Tenant Direct is not a tariff made available for our staff members.

Thank you for taking time to look at our review site https://www.sparkenergyreviews.co.uk please be assured that all reviews on here are genuine reviews from customers. We encourage our customers to be open and honest so whether the review is good or bad, it will still be published. This helps us to focus our efforts on the important issues that our customers have raised and clearly need resolved. One of the many reasons we created the site was so that we would be able to receive genuine feedback and keep track of this at the same time by asking customers to submit their account number. Trying to help customers on traditional forums where they remain anonymous still proves extremely difficult.

Kind Regards,

Spark Energy