Meter stopped working!

Warren1989

I moved into a new flat, gave a reading in January, then gave another in February since the monthly direct debit they estimated for me was very high, so I was hoping to lower this.

Fast forward to July and I am moving out after only a 6 month tenancy. The meter has not moved since the July reading.

Alas the energy company did not let me lower the direct debit, so as a result there is £600 that has been paid over the period for a 1 bedroom flat, with large south facing windows, which I was away from for around 7 weeks of the tenancy.

The company is Spark and they are now saying they will keep all the money in the account as I did not inform them of the broken meter. They never asked for monthly readings, it had only been 5 months since my last reading, so doesn't seem unreasonable for me not to notice.

Is there anything I can do here? They have no idea how much electricity I used, nor do I... But £600 sounds insane. I rarely use the heating and was away during March, one of the coldest months.

Do I have any rights here?

wavelets

Warren1989 wrote: »

I moved into a new flat, gave a reading in January, then gave another in February since the monthly direct debit they estimated for me was very high, so I was hoping to lower this.

Fast forward to July and I am moving out after only a 6 month tenancy. The meter has not moved since the July reading.

Alas the energy company did not let me lower the direct debit, so as a result there is £600 that has been paid over the period for a 1 bedroom flat, with large south facing windows, which I was away from for around 7 weeks of the tenancy.

The company is Spark and they are now saying they will keep all the money in the account as I did not inform them of the broken meter. They never asked for monthly readings, it had only been 5 months since my last reading, so doesn't seem unreasonable for me not to notice.

Is there anything I can do here? They have no idea how much electricity I used, nor do I... But £600 sounds insane. I rarely use the heating and was away during March, one of the coldest months.

Do I have any rights here?

You have the right to complain.

In fact, Spark Energy have even published how to do this on their website to assist people like you

https://sparkenergy.co.uk/complaints

The lessons you should learn from this experience is, notwithstanding whether or not the supplier requests it, to take monthy meter readings and submit these to your supplier.

Also to regularly check your ,monthly payments to ensure that you are not builiding up a large credit or debit balance.
If you find you are building a large credit (£600 credit in just 9 months is insane) the MSE has produced a really useful article to assist those like you
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/lower-energy-direct-debits/