Spark Energy - am I paying over the odds?

Toddy_141

I moved into my 2 bedroom flat in November 2019, there is two of us living here. Spark Energy were the previous suppliers so we decided to stay with them (stupidly). We called them up and provided a meter reading as soon as we got the keys. We were quoted around £72.50 direct debit a month which we were happy with as our property is electricity only and I knew that is generally more expensive. Our direct debit slowly increased month by month, in March we ended up paying £206 to try and clear/compensate what electric we were using. After a lovely phone call with the call center staff, they then agreed to set the DD back to £98.00 per month. No one explained to us that we had actually been in arrears since the December (-£217.64) to be exact which resulted in our DD payments not being enough to cover the apparent usage. I then received an email informing us that our DD was being increased from £98 to £281.00 .... WOW! I then started looking at our invoices and meter readings and they started our meter reading off as 0, which i'm not sure is correct. They then estimated our next 3 readings before our smart meter was installed.
I'm new to all of this as this is the first home I've lived in after moving out of my parents house. 
I contacted Spark Energy and queried everything, they said I'm now -£480.26 in arrears STILL and that I should be paying £191 per month. I feel like I don't know what to do and I think this is VERY expensive.
Before lockdown, I work full time but now i'm working from home and my flatmate works shifts so it's not like we are in the house all day using everything all of the time.
I'd appreciate any advice & if others have experienced anything similar.

TIA.

Robin9

Could you give us the meter readings please from November and also all the ones you have been giving to Spark - what is today's reading?   What is the tariff - p/ Kwh and s/c ? What form does your electric heating take - storage rads, panel heaters, underfloor ? I assume electric showers  - they could be costing you £1 a day EACH

Toddy_141

November reading - 05803
22/05/2020 - 6110.459
Tariff = Fixed Saver Oct 2020 
Unit rate = 17.14p
standing charge = 23.48p
Annual usage (taken off May invoice) = 9,436 kWh
Radiators are electric (i'm not too sure what kind they are) - these are switched on and off by the wall when used. We have a pulsacoil storage heater for water. 

Gerry1

Spark is great - as long as you are a letting or estate agent getting revenue from your tenants or buyers !  Not so much fun if you're the source of all that lovely revenue...

Meanwhile you're discovering the hard way that your DD is merely a kitty which may or may not be sufficient to pay the bills, which are going to be expensive because you're all electric, and even more expensive because you're with Spark.

Pay the outstanding amount so that you can escape to a competitive supplier; have a look at Neon Reef, Avro, Yorkshire etc. Forget the DD amounts and all projections and promises of savings, just do the sums yourself based on your actual metered usage.

If you're renting, start looking for a place with gas central heating.

Gerry1

Toddy_141 said:

Unit rate = 17.14p

standing charge = 23.48p

That says it all.  I'm paying 12.11343p per kWh, Standing Charge 13.2825p per day. They saw you coming and now you're being well and truly ripped off.  Would you go to a petrol station charging £2.00 per litre?

It seems you're also making another massive mistake by running a storage heater for water on a single rate tariff rather than Economy 7.  If your room heaters are storage radiators you certainly need to be on E7.  You really must understand the basics of your systems.

Robin9

Something not right with the meter readings 6110  - 5803 is 307 that's only 50 Kwh a month, 2 Kwh a day - you won't run your fridge on that. Have you not got the monthly readings you've been giving. 

Are you sure its your meter ?

Wherever Spark has got the annual 9436 Kwh from I don't know but it sounds realistic. That would give a bill of nearly £1800 - no wonder the original £72.50 had to be continually adjusted.

Re those meter readings  - have you one of those meters with a key pad  where you have to press button 9 to get a reading.

Gerry1

Robin9 said:

Something not right with the meter readings 6110  - 5803 is 307 that's only 50 Kwh a month, 2 Kwh a day - you won't run your fridge on that. Have you not got the monthly readings you've been giving.

Seems that one reading relates to a conventional meter, the other to a smart meter, so you can't just take the difference.

Robin9

Gerry1 said:

Robin9 said:

Something not right with the meter readings 6110  - 5803 is 307 that's only 50 Kwh a month, 2 Kwh a day - you won't run your fridge on that. Have you not got the monthly readings you've been giving.

Seems that one reading relates to a conventional meter, the other to a smart meter, so you can't just take the difference.

Good point - when the meter was changed the fitter should have left a card or there is a sticker on the meter giving the old meter reading and the new one (which on a Smart will probably be 0000.0   (when was the meter changed ?)

Toddy_141

Robin9 said:

Gerry1 said:

Robin9 said:

Something not right with the meter readings 6110  - 5803 is 307 that's only 50 Kwh a month, 2 Kwh a day - you won't run your fridge on that. Have you not got the monthly readings you've been giving.

Seems that one reading relates to a conventional meter, the other to a smart meter, so you can't just take the difference.

Good point - when the meter was changed the fitter should have left a card or there is a sticker on the meter giving the old meter reading and the new one (which on a Smart will probably be 0000.0   (when was the meter changed ?)

I have just been to take a reading and it is currently 06117. There is no sticker with the old meter reading just a signature and date when it was installed (20.11.19).

Robin9

Have you any bills from Spark which show the meter change on 20th Nov ?  my money says the new meter had a reading of 0000.0 . Between then and now you will have had several bills each of which would show the meter readings - what are they ?

Anyway between 20 Nov with a reading of 0000.0 and now of 06117 is 1000 units a month ie 1000 x 17.14p  that's £171.40 plus standing charges plus VAT.  The good news is that summer is here and your bills will drop (perhaps to £40 or £50 a month). Even better news if you were to get up to date with Sparks bills and change supplier.

Toddy_141

Robin9 said:

Have you any bills from Spark which show the meter change on 20th Nov ?  my money says the new meter had a reading of 0000.0 . Between then and now you will have had several bills each of which would show the meter readings - what are they ?

Anyway between 20 Nov with a reading of 0000.0 and now of 06117 is 1000 units a month ie 1000 x 17.14p  that's £171.40 plus standing charges plus VAT.  The good news is that summer is here and your bills will drop (perhaps to £40 or £50 a month). Even better news if you were to get up to date with Sparks bills and change supplier.

Meter reading history:
20/11/19 - 0
1/12/19 - 458 (estimated)
1/1/20 - 1711 (estimates)
1/2/20 - 2980 (estimated)
10/2/20 -3324
1/3/20 -3984
13/3/20-4323

then it was smart meter readings.
Thank you all for your help!!