MSE News: Consumer Futures calls for Spark Energy probe 21 May 2013 at 3:32PM in Energy 19 replies 3K views

Former_MSE_Helen

"Consumer Futures has referred Spark Energy to Ofgem following large numbers of customer complaints..."

Read the full story:

Consumer Futures calls for Spark Energy probe



Click reply below to discuss. If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply. If you aren’t sure how it all works, read our New to Forum? Intro Guide.

MillicentBystander

Are they still being included on the CEC results? Last time I looked Energyhelpline weren't including them.

chanz4

no but moneysupermarket will push them

Wywth

MillicentBystander wrote: »

Are they still being included on the CEC results? Last time I looked Energyhelpline weren't including them.

They are showing on EnergyHelpLine today

Wywth

One problem we have noticed is customers being told by letting agents they cannot switch away from Spark.

Isn't that something that would be better addressed to those errant letting agents? :huh:

Spark supplies energy to just over 65,000 households and the fear is it simply cannot cope with those numbers.

Ebico now supply about that number too. Will there be an investigation into Ebico too?

...Consumer Futures stresses its call doesn't mean Spark Energy has done anything wrong – this will be for Ofgem to decide if it investigates...
...Ofgem won't confirm if it will launch a probe,...

So a bit on a non-news story. Quiet day in the news office perhaps?

bebewoo

Wywyth still loves Spark Energy.
Ofgem couldn't have cared less when I contacted them about the very same issue. Lots of other individuals have too. Maybe they will listen to Consumer Futures. Maybe not.

nodiscount

They sound like a dodgy company. Look at their ts & cs:

2 BINDING CONTRACT AND DEEMED CONTRACT
2.1 A binding contract between you and us will start from the date: (i) you signed your tenancy agreement; or (ii) you signed the Application in our presence; or (iii) submitted your Application to us over the internet; or (iv) you and we agreed an Application on the telephone; or (v) on the creation of a deemed contract between you and us in accordance with and subject to the terms of clause 2.4 below.
2.2 The contract is between you (the customer) and us. The contract consists of these terms and conditions, your Price Plan, the details contained in your Application and any Promotional Offer (e.g. special discount, free gifts or entry into a reward points scheme) provided to you when you made your Application.
2.3 We will commence the supply of Services to you on the Start Date notified to you by us for each Service we supply to you. Your contract shall automatically renew from year to year unless your Application specifies that you are on a short term contract as your tenancy at the Premises is for less than one year.
2.4 A contract between you and us shall come into existence as soon as you move into the Premises where an energy supply point at the Premises has been registered with us prior to you moving into the Premises; such contract is known as, and referred to in these terms and conditions as a “deemed contract”. The deemed contract shall mean that you are subject to these terms and conditions which are incorporated into the deemed contract, for a minimum period of 28 days from the date you move into the Premises. The prices charged for the supply of energy under a deemed contract are available to you on request. A deemed contract is subject to clause 19 below.

Note the lack of cooling off period!!! :eek:

5.3 If your Premises are unsuitable for the installation of a smart meter, we may need to install a high gain aerial and in such case, we reserve the right to charge you a fee for such installation.

I emailed them about this but as yet no response. Am not expecting a satisfactory reply in any case.

smala01

Letting agent contracts are full of unfair and unenforceable contract terms...

Ignore the clause, switch supplier and then switch back at the end of your tennancy.

It has been the same with insurance clauses for years.

Smala01

MillicentBystander

Wywth wrote: »

Isn't that something that would be better addressed to those errant letting agents? :huh:


Ebico now supply about that number too. Will there be an investigation into Ebico too?


So a bit on a non-news story. Quiet day in the news office perhaps?

I would imagine if they ever got the level of complaints Spark do then yes, hopefully. But I don't think they will. Do you?

Wywth

nodiscount wrote: »

They sound like a dodgy company. Look at their ts & cs:

Note the lack of cooling off period!!! :eek:

Your rights to end your contract, including a cooling off period where required, is explained in Section 10 of their terms

nodiscount wrote: »

I emailed them about this but as yet no response. Am not expecting a satisfactory reply in any case.

Are you specifically lookling for a smart meter? If so, why?

Personally I would suggest you don't bother yet, at least not until they come up with an industrywide common agreement on how they should operate, so that you can then change supplier as you wish without needing to change meter, for which there is usually a charge.

Note also that it was announced a couple of weeks ago that the introduction of smart meters has been delayed until at least late 2015
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22480068

nodiscount

Wywth wrote: »

Your rights to end your contract, including a cooling off period where required, is explained in Section 10 of their terms



Are you specifically lookling for a smart meter? If so, why?

Personally I would suggest you don't bother yet, at least not until they come up with an industrywide common agreement on how they should operate, so that you can then change supplier as you wish without needing to change meter, for which there is usually a charge.

Note also that it was announced a couple of weeks ago that the introduction of smart meters has been delayed until at least late 2015
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22480068

Where? (am I being thick )

10 RIGHTS TO END YOUR CONTRACT
10.1 You can end this contract by giving us notice in any of the following ways:
10.1.1 by telling us in writing within 7 days from the date of this contract if you entered into it as a result of one of our representatives visiting you at home, or telephoning you there, without being invited to do so by you and in this case, the contract shall end as soon as we receive notice from you;
10.1.2 by telling us in writing within 14 days from being told of any proposed price increase or other significant disadvantageous change to this contract and in this case, the contract will end 28 days after you have told us;
10.1.3 by telling us in writing, or by telephone, at least two working days (or, if you are taking only gas under this contract, at least 48 hours) before you want this contract to end, if you are permanently leaving the Premises being supplied;
10.1.4 by telling us in writing during the Initial Period within the period specified in your annual review statement and in this case, the contract will end 28 days after you have told us; or
10.1.5 by telling us in writing, at any other time after the end of the Initial Period, at least 28 days before you want this contract to end.
10.2 If you have a deemed contract with us and want to switch to another supplier, you must notify the other supplier and tell them you wish to be supplied by them. The other supplier will take the required steps to switch you over to them but this process will take a minimum of 28 days and your deemed contract with us will continue until the switch to the other supplier has occurred.
10.3 Written notice by you to us in pursuance of your rights under clause 10.1 above must be made to our address as set out in your Application or to such other address that we have notified to you in writing or that we have published on our website for the purpose of receiving notices[s1] .
10.4 In the event that you wish to end your contract with us because you are permanently leaving the Premises we require you to:
10.4.1 notify us of your new or forwarding address to enable us to send to you your final bill or to reimburse you if you have a credit on your account after all of the amounts owed by you to us have been paid; and
10.4.2 provide to us, within 2 days of you permanently leaving the Premises, an accurate meter reading for the energy as of the date of you permanently leaving the Premises, to enable us to calculate your final bill and any sums due by you to us, or, any sums due to you from us;
failure by you to comply with the foregoing may prevent us from refunding to you any credit balance on your account as of the date of you permanently leaving the Premises and it may result in you being held responsible for energy consumption at the Premises following the date of you permanently leaving the Premises.
10.5 In the event that you wish to end your contract with us for any reason other than because you are permanently leaving the Premises, we require you to provide to us an accurate meter reading for the energy supplied to you to enable us to calculate your final bill and any sums due by you to us or any sums due to you from us. The accurate meter reading should be provided to us within 2 days of the anticipated date of termination of the contract, taking into consideration the notice periods set out in clause 10.1 above.
10.6 If you do not give us any proper notice under clause 10.1 above, this contract will remain in force and you will continue to be liable for all charges arising under it, including energy consumption at the Premises, until the contract does end and if you have permanently left the Premises, the contract will (if you have failed to give us proper notice under clause 10.1 above) usually end when a new owner or occupier becomes responsible for the energy consumption at the Premises, or when the next actual meter reading for energy at the Premises is taken and provided to us (or an alternative energy supplier) whichever happens first.
10.7 When we have had notice from you under clause 10.1 above, we shall prepare a final bill or statement for you. If we do not receive an actual meter reading from you in accordance with clause 10.4 or 10.5, we reserve the right to base the final bill or statement on a reasonable estimate of your utility consumption.
10.8 When this contract has ended, for whatever reason, and we have issued you with your final bill for energy, you are required to pay all sums due as payable to us under such final bill within 7 days of the date on such final bill: if you to pay, in full, such final bill, we may ask you to pay any reasonable additional administration and/ or recovery charges we incur as a result of your failure to pay within such 7 days and/or, if you are remaining in the Premises, we may, under and in accordance with the terms of our OFGEM licence, stop you from switching to another energy supplier. If we try to stop you switching to a new supplier, we will give you notice of this, tell you our reasons for preventing the switch and tell you about what you can do if you disagree with our reasons.
10.9 We can end our arrangements under this contract with you by giving you not less than three months’ notice in writing, except where we are acting under clause 10.10 below or clause 10.11 below.
10.10 We can transfer our arrangements under this contract with you to another licensed energy supplier in pursuance of and in accordance with clause 19.1 below and clause 20.1 below.
10.11 We can terminate this contract immediately if:
10.11.1 you are no longer the owner or occupier of the Premises;
10.11.2 OFGEM directs another supplier to supply the Premises; or
10.11.3 we have stopped supply of all Services in accordance with clause 9 above.
10.12 Both you and we can end this contract immediately if we are no longer licensed to supply Services at the Premises.

10.1.1 doesn't mention cooling off for sign-ups via internet.