Can letting agents switch energy supplies on your behalf?

Ant174

My question is this: is it a legitimate practice for a letting agent to switch the energy supply of a property on behalf of a tenant, when the contract is between the tenant and the supplier?

To put this question in to context: We are not tenants in our property, we own it and have done for over 7 years. There is no letting agent associated with our property. However, as I explained in another thread we had a recent issue whereby our energy supply was switched in error by a letting agent that, for some reason, sent our address to the new energy supplier.

Putting aside the erroneous transfer itself, there is something rather suspect about the nature of this switch and the practice of suppliers switching properties on the instruction of a third party.

It was us that received the welcome letter, contract terms and the proposed methods of payment. Therefore, it seems appropriate to assume that the contract is being set up between us and the supplier. However, if this is the case, how can a third party be instructing this, and how can an energy supplier be legitimately following this instruction?

After quick research the rules are clear:

To quote Ofgem "Your landlord has the right to choose your energy supplier only when they are directly responsible for paying for the gas or electricity." In which case the contract would be between the letting agent and the supplier, and they would receive the contract terms and payment details. In which case no welcome letters would be sent to the tenant, as any correspondance would come from the letting agent, not the supplier.

It seems to me, that the practice of switching a property and setting up a contract between the tenant and the supplier, on the instrution of a letting agent, is not a legitimate practice. A letting agent can only set up a contract between themselves and a supplier and make the switch only when they are paying the bills.

Perhaps someone can shed some light on this for me.

In our case this was all a mistake anyway. However it raises some questions about how this mistake could even happen, when the very attempt to create a contract on our behalf seems to be illegitimate in the first place. Not to mention why a letting agent even had our address in the first place, but that's another issue.

I can find no regulation that states that this is an acceptable practice. If it turns out that this is not indeed a legitimate practice then both the letting agents and energy suppliers that are doing this should be asked to explain themselves.

[Deleted User]

Yes , its been legitimate for years. The model used by Spark Energy was all above board, legal, and good for the tenant if they had the sense to realise it.
It could be detailed in the original lettings agreement which they signed when they took over the property to accept the supplier of choice.
Spark Energy were just about the cheapest prepayment tariffs when I used to work for that supplier reading their meters. Most of the flat dwellers I visited seemed to be on prepays and Spark were quite big in that particular tenant many of who did nt have a clue about running their own household as first time away from home new occupants.
Constant problems with their customers were normal.They did not understand anything about tariffs and standing charges for instance.
Its not usually a contract if a letting agent sets off new occupiers on Spark Energy unless it specifies it in the tenancy agreement . Occupants are free to switch if they want, that is if they knew how to, as many just used the old key and cards which came with the meters along with associated standing charge debts which had built up because the lettings agents never topped up when property was vacant between tenants .

Benight

When you apply to switch supplier, you will be putting the account into your name.

Another person cannot form a contract on your behalf, unless they have the authority to do so (such as with your permission, under a power of attorney, etc)

The account holder normally receives notification from the existing supplier of any attempt top switch supplier ... and an invitation for the account holder to request the existing supplier to block such a switch

Your existing thread on this topic can be found here, where I and others have already responded

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5995223/spark-energy-switched-without-consent