Spark Energy Refusing To Pay Credit

jamieb2007

I'm finding this slightly amusing, as when you owe an energy company money. Usually there is a lot great communication from them and often bailiffs involved.

Here is a short bit of the history:
I moved into the property around September 2017, its an incredibly tiny 2 bedroom (2 box rooms which wont even fit a full size double in) terraced house that's unusually well insulated and has a modern boiler. I live alone and until recent world events I was barely in the house. I have been paying £40 for gas and £40 for electric (at the time that seemed like the right amount). I think it was a year later when the company I was with went bust or had a merger and Spark energy suddenly became my energy provider.

I had a smart meter installed last year (pretty sure it was last year) and I've never really paid any attention to the amount i use or anything. A friend of mine commented that I must be massively overpaying and have been for the past 3 years. I login to my account and I am in credit by almost £1000 and I believe my highest bill was around £67 (for both) during that extremely cold march we had (beast from the east?).

I called up and yes indeed I was in credit and was asked would I like a refund. So I asked for a refund. She explained it will go to the refund team and be subject to a 30 day review period.

Next day I received an email telling me that there must be some mistake, please can i send photos of my latest readings.

I called up and asked what is it I'm taking a picture of? I'm on a smart meter surely they have the recent readings.

I was told on the phone that its due to a problem where my meter readings were not taken in March of 2019 and I should supply a picture of the meter readings from March 2019 and apparently if I don't have them, then my landlord/letting agent should be able to supply them.

I advised the individual on the phone that the above does not make any sense, I can't go back in time and get a meter reading from 2019 and my landlord/letting agent would not have them as I have been in the property since 2017.

I also asked why does the reading from March 2019 matter, when they have the readings from when I moved in until now, so surely that shows what I have used, in the period of 3 years.

I was told there was nothing she could do with out the photographs of the readings from March 2019, I asked if I could speak to anyone else, I was advised no. I asked could I make a complaint she advised no.

I called back to make a complaint and the individual was transferring me, after 20 minutes on hold then the line cut out.

I called back to try and make another complaint and was advised there is no way to transfer me to complaints and that someone would call me back. I asked that per there online complaints procedure i should be provided with a complaints case number and he advised me they do not provide these.

I'm wondering what can I do in this situation? there seems to be no way to speak to anyone or make a complaint?! has anyone else had similar experiences?

Gerry1

jamieb2007 said:

I'm finding this slightly amusing...
I'm wondering what can I do in this situation?

Welcome to the forum.

You obviously haven't a clue about the pence/kWh rates and the standing charges you are paying.  With Spark, both are likly to be on the expensive side of extortionate.

You won't find it so amusing when you find out the vast amount of money you've wasted over the last two years.

When will you finally decide to switch to competitive tariffs from two honest suppliers?

jbuchanangb

You are in difficulty. I hope you have the readings with effect from the date you moved into the property to start with. Then you need the meter readings at the time that the smart meters were installed. Both the readings from the old meter being taken out, and the new one being put in. This may show on a bill, or the technician who changed the meters may have left a card with the meter with the readings written on it. Your energy consumption since you moved in will be calculated by subtracting your moving in reading from the outgoing meter change reading, then adding today's reading less the opening reading of the smart meters. Over the 3 year period you will have been charged whatever extortionate rates Spark have been applying.
By completely ignoring your energy consumption, bills and tariffs for three years you have made a problem for yourself. However, armed with the facts as mentioned you can send a written letter headed COMPLAINT to the postal address of the energy company, making clear what you want from them, which I suppose should be a clear summary for the period of your occupancy of all the charges they have made, and the payments they have received from you, with a bottom line of how much they owe you or how much you owe them.

Meanwhile, armed with your accurate readings as mentioned above you can use price comparison sites to find out better tariff(s) from other suppler(s) 

Robin9

You will be able to pin down the date the Smart was used by looking at the sticker thats on the meter - that will give you a date, the old meter reading and the new meter reading (usually 00000.0) - it will also be on the bill. Read your meter ASAP.

The easiest way to force Spark to reimburse you is to switch to another (cheaper) supplier.