Spark energy have told me my direct debit should now be £300 a month

sugarbabe84

I'm not going to be able to afford to pay £300 a month in electricity. It's just too much.

Looking at my balance on the account it's £1500. I live in a very cold property and they have given me this estimate for winter. I look forward to moving out of the property in April 2018. But, for now, I just wonder if there will allow me to negotiate to stay at the current rate then I will just have to be in arrears, without affecting my credit score?

Are energy companies ever that understanding?

It actually turns out that the property doesn't meet the govt energy efficiency rating requirement that's coming out in April. Unfortunately, my contract doesn't allow me to move until April.

Raxiel

Just to be clear, Is that £1500 in debit or credit?

Make sure they are basing that on actual meter readings and not estimates.

If it is debit, and it is correct, I'd imagine Spark wouldn't want to let it get much larger, hence them wanting to hike the DD so far. They'd likely also object to any switch to another supplier.

You say your contract won't let you leave until April. Just what is the penalty if you do? If it just means forfeiting any deposit then that might actually be a cheaper option.

sugarbabe84

Raxiel wrote: »

Just to be clear, Is that £1500 in debit or credit?

Make sure they are basing that on actual meter readings and not estimates.

If it is debit, and it is correct, I'd imagine Spark wouldn't want to let it get much larger, hence them wanting to hike the DD so far. They'd likely also object to any switch to another supplier.

You say your contract won't let you leave until April. Just what is the penalty if you do? If it just means forfeiting any deposit then that might actually be a cheaper option.

Thank you. I've had a look at the bill online and it's an estimate, suggesting I've used 1070 Khw from 23 August to 30 Sept. It seems so wrong. I took a meter reading in Aug which was 37080. Their estimated meter reading is 38150. It has been cold, but I hate to think I've used all that energy in one month. Will investigate this tomorrow morning. I have to go into the basement of the apartment building. I pray that this estimate has not basis. It seems very odd.

I'd love to move out, I honestly would. However, I am in the process of finally buying a property and looking for another place to rent will be such a huge disruption. I think a credit search would need to be done as well, and I want to avoid that. However, this energy bill thing, if true, will be throwing a huge spanner in the works.

Enceladus

Read the meter. What does it say now? I suggest submitting new accurate readings at least once a month. Even more frequently if you can manage it. The more accurate your readings, the more accurate your forecast usage will be. And that should translate into a more accurate DD.

Tom99

If it turns out you do owe £1,500 I am surprised they only want £300 pm.

brewerdave

If you are dependent of leccy for heating,hot water ,cooking etc (ie no gas) then 1000+kwh for a 5 week period is not particularly high - presumably you have being underpaying for some time to run up a £1500 debt -that's considerably more than most people's annual utility bills!

System

sugarbabe84 wrote: »

Thank you. I've had a look at the bill online and it's an estimate, suggesting I've used 1070 Khw from 23 August to 30 Sept. It seems so wrong. I took a meter reading in Aug which was 37080. Their estimated meter reading is 38150. It has been cold, but I hate to think I've used all that energy in one month. Will investigate this tomorrow morning. I have to go into the basement of the apartment building. I pray that this estimate has not basis. It seems very odd.

I'd love to move out, I honestly would. However, I am in the process of finally buying a property and looking for another place to rent will be such a huge disruption. I think a credit search would need to be done as well, and I want to avoid that. However, this energy bill thing, if true, will be throwing a huge spanner in the works.

A credit/debit balance is meaningless unless it is based on an actual meter reading and, even then, it is only accurate on the day that the meter reading was taken. As others have suggested, you need to grasp the nettle and provide Spark with an actual meter reading. It should then be possible for them to re-assess how much you owe. Alternatively, do it yourself by looking back to an old bill which has an actual or customer reading. Read the meter and do the sums: that is, calculate the charges. add/subtract any credit/debit balance and take away any DD payments made during the charging period. When you see how much you owe you can then have a discussion with Spark about DD amounts going forward.

Robin9

I am sure that Spark have not suddenly decided to send you a bill for £1500.

How long have you been a customer ?

Former Spark Representative

Hi sugarbabe84

Some good advice here already.

I'd like to look over your account, and I was wondering, could you contact me using the details on my profile?

I'd need your full name, your supply address, and if you could email me your up to date readings I could make sure that your billing is based on your usage rather than estimates.

Hope to hear from you soon, happy to help you.

Kind regards

Jenny
Customer Relations Manager

sugarbabe84

Enceladus wrote: »

Read the meter. What does it say now? I suggest submitting new accurate readings at least once a month. Even more frequently if you can manage it. The more accurate your readings, the more accurate your forecast usage will be. And that should translate into a more accurate DD.

It turns out the meter estimate is correct. I just took a reading and it's 38518.

Ringing spark now to find out my options.

Former Spark Representative

Hi sugarbabe84

The phones are quite busy just now, so if you email me using the email address on my profile, I can look into this and pop you back an email this morning?

It's just to save you waiting on the phone to speak to someone.

Kind regards

Jenny
Customer Relations Manager