Spark Energy Gas and Electricity

I had UI for years and they changed the peak and off-peak rates to some fixed plan, and I wasn't happy with that and so I thought of exploring other options. I went to Spark Energy and their representatives were really helpful. They walked through the best option for me based on my past usage and they offered me a rate. They notified UI and I really didn't have to do anything. They sent me a letter confirming everything had been switched over and taken care of. Their service has been really seamless. I like having the one fixed amount per kilowatt-hour, and it's saving me some money. Overall, it's been a positive experience. I hope the rate stays what it is and doesn't go up after the year.

I was told by the Spark agent who came to my door that I would be able to cancel with Spark Energy before 30 days and that my account would be cancelled with no additional charges or penalties. I canceled my account January 2017 exactly 1 week after signing up. I received a confirmation number for canceling my account and I believed that that was the end of that. Here it is mid June 2017 and I have been being charged by Spark Energy despite my cancelation. I called in and the Spark Energy representative that I first spoke with told me that he can see that I canceled back in January but that it was still showing pending.

After he spoke with his supervisor he advised me to wait 1 to 2 weeks and call back to check the status of my account. When I called back another Spark Energy representative said that my account is still pending and they don't know how long it will be for the account to officially be closed. I explained to her that this has been a real inconvenience not to mention since signing with Spark my energy bill has doubled despite them ensuring me that my bill would decrease. My energy bill has doubled by 50% since signing with Spark Energy. I am very upset and frustrated. What is so hard about closing an account?

Spark Energy came to my door and I had a seriously negative experience with them years before. I told them, "No thanks," and shut the door. The next thing I know I'm signed up with spark energy as my supplier without my agreement or signature. They somehow magically managed to provide a document with my signature that I never signed. Since then my electric bill has been a nightmare. For 3 months in a row (for a residence with one person) my bill was over $600 dollars a month!!! I had to put a $650 deposit down in August of 2016 and go on a payment plan for a year for the remaining $659.

It is now of 2017 and I still owe $459. Plus the contract was cancelled 5 months ago and I am still with spark energy!!! There is no way you can convince me it takes months to change the provider when they were able to add me as a customer in a week. They are a ripoff and should be put out of business for fraud. I am livid at how much money they have and are still costing me, especially since I am disabled and on a fixed income. How dare they take advantage of people the way they do. Changing rates in the midst of a contract, forging names and leaving out the fact that you will have to pay a huge delivery charge from ComEd or your local supplier!!! If I could use profanity I would have some more choice words for this shame company.

Sometime last year a polite salesman asked me about my PG&E bill. I listened to his spiel and he explained that my bill would be lower based on the terms cost that Spark offered. Great! I'm all for lowering a bill since I'm in a one income home. He explained there would be a $5 monthly charge, which I didn't see as a problem since I would be saving so much money. We even joked about my area and how hot it gets here and he stated that this would save me money during peak A/C usage. WHAT A JOKE!! I never had any problems with my gas provider and had I known this contract had NOTHING to do with the lowering the electricity part of my bill, I WOULD NEVER HAVE SIGNED UP!!

Are you kidding me?? My bill is now more expensive for a service that originally cost me very little. NEVER was I told that PG&E would still be charging me a delivery fee. What is the point of Spark then?? Clearly you are lacking in the training of these sales reps or the misleading techniques are intentional. I would never recommend this company. I should've known something wasn't right with the "signing my life away" phone call I had to make with some lady on the phone. Why would I possibly need this added expense?? Terrible business ethics.

I am a full time student in a very tough professional program. I recently got behind on my electricity bill. My electricity was disconnected for a little over 1 week. I was finally able to get my money together and pay my balance. I called Spark Energy to confirm what I needed to pay in order to reconnect my services. After paying $130 I was told that my services would be restored in 1-2 hours BUT I first had to be transferred over to NEW ACCOUNTS because I was NO LONGER a Spark Energy customer.

Needless to say I was shocked, hurt, and I smelled b.s. coming. I explained to the "new accounts" department what happened. His response was "Unfortunately you may be required to pay a DEPOSIT." I was FLOORED! I went through hell just to make sure that I was caught up on my bills AND AFTER paying $130 I WAS BASICALLY TOLD THAT IT WAS ALL FOR NOTHING. THEY TOOK MY MONEY BUT DID NOT RESTORE MY SERVICES!

Thankfully I had enough leftover to seek a prepaid company. Well Spark Energy if you think that you will take my money and run off you are SADLY mistaken. I am definitely disputing this transaction. I feel victimized, and I feel as if I was taken. I feel ROBBED. It was a smooth way to make me pay my past due balance and get more money out of me my paying a DEPOSIT of $150. AWFUL!

Everything was fine until apparently my contract expired? With no contact from the company. I get my gas bill from my local company and all of a sudden not only am I paying my gas company an average of about $70 for gas, but there's some fee from Spark energy to the tune of $250-$400 (it's ranged over the past few months). This is all I get on my bill. This example is from my March 2017 bill. Summary of Supplier Charges - Energy Charge I $276.95; Energy Charge V $4.95. This is the extent of the information I receive on my bill. Have tried contacting the company multiple times and nothing has changed. Why have I been charged almost a thousand dollars since January?

I contacted Spark today to cancel my service as I have been dissatisfied. I spoke to a customer service representative named Chris. I explained to him that I had spoken to my electric company, ComEd and they had a lower rate per kWh and I would like to cancel my service with Spark (who I am yet to receive proof I ever contracted with). Chris explained to me that my contract had recently expired in December and that is why I see an increased rate and a $4.95 “adjustment” fee on my current bill. He said that your company is currently running a renewal promotion that would lock me into a rate of 6.6 cents per kWh for 12 months.

I asked Chris what my rate was prior to my expiration and he told me it was .07590 per kWh, that was the rate I was previously locked in for 12 months ending December 14, 2016. I happened to have access to my July ComEd bill and noticed that the rate was NOT .07590 and included a $4.95 “adjustment fee”. I asked Chris why the rate and fee are there when a July 2016 statement would’ve been within the 12 month period that I was contracted and locked into that .07590 rate. And then he asked me to hold as he researched it further and came back stating that he misspoke and my contract actually expired December 2015 and from that time forward I was on a month-to-month plan that included the “adjustment fee” and higher rate.

I felt very much like I was being misled and stated that I did not want to consider renewing. I wanted to cancel my service immediately with you all as I believe that I have been a victim of unscrupulous business practices. He told me he canceled immediately and gave me the reference number of ** as confirmation of my cancellation.

As you can imagine, this encounter left a bad taste in my mouth and left me on alert that there may be some shady business practices and I may have been taken advantage of and been overcharged and misled. I decided to research for myself and take a hard look at my past billing statements. I was able to look at two years of history on my ComEd site, I decided to contact spark energy again to ask for some additional clarification. This time, I spoke to a customer service rep named Giselle and asked her when the exact date when my contract expired and my rate changed. She said December 14, 2016 and stated that my previous rate was again, .7590.

She informed me that my rate since then had increased but you were running a current renewal promo offering the same 6.6 cent rate locked in for 12 months that Chris initially offered me. I asked again, the date of expiration was December 2016? From December 2015 to December 2016 I would have been receiving the same rate of .7590 every month during that time? She again confirmed. I didn’t mention anything about the contradictory conversation I had had with Chris and let her know I would have to research some things and call back.

I was able to pull two years of statements from my ComEd bill and what I found has really left me disappointed and angry. From April 2015 to my current bill there have changing rates, on a whim it seems. There is no consistent 12 month period that I was charged a consistent rate and NOT charged an additional fee. I have created a document detailing my usage, the rate, the erroneous fees every month since April 2015 that I have included and can also provide copies of the bills.

Another thing that really gives me pause is that at some point the service provider name changed to Constellation Energy which I have NEVER heard of let alone entered into a contract or given permission to be my energy supplier. Was my business sold? Was this a company name change? There are many questions that need to be answered. From my perspective I feel I have been a victim of unsavory if not illegal business practices and have been defrauded out of my hard earned money by being overcharged for over two years. To think this would’ve continued it seems into infinity as there were NEVER any renewal notices or attempt to reach me.

I am prepared to report to the proper authorities my experience and these extremely unscrupulous business practices to really any and all that will listen. Unlike some of your customers that I have now read online have had terrible experiences with your company, through business dealings, I have connections to local media through consumer public relations and am really considering bringing my experience to light. I hope that you take this serious matter for what it is and come to a satisfactory resolution in a timely manner. I will await a response.

I live in California where our natural gas is provided by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E). When the Spark Energy (SE) reps made their sales pitch they compared the cost of gas from PG&E to the cost from SE. For example, prior to signing up with SE, my October gas bill from PG&E showed a Tier 1 usage cost of $1.355 per therm. SE sales reps stated that our cost for gas from SE would be at a fixed rate of $0.675 per therm. SE reps were comparing their rate of $0.675 to the PG&E combined rate of $1.355, saying that we would realize an average savings of $0.680 per therm. In essence saying our gas bill would be cut in half.

What I have since found out from PG&E and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), see **, is that the price charged by PG&E is broken down by the procurement cost of the gas and the transportation/delivery charge. As in the example above, the PG&E October Tier 1 cost of $1.355 per therm is made up of the charge for the gas, at $0.387 per therm, and the charge for delivery, at $0.968 per therm. At no time did the SE reps inform us of the PG&E price breakdown or the CPUC rate structure. So it appears that the cost of the gas itself from PG&E was actually $0.387 per therm, which is substantially lower than the SE cost of $0.675 per therm. Now my gas bill is higher because I am now paying an additional $0.288 per therm.

About 3 years ago the salespeople from Spark Energy knocked on my door and promised a good deal with saving money on gas. I decided to give it a try. They explained to me that there is a one year contract, and there is a penalty if I decide to leave early. What they didn't explain is what is going to happen if I stay after the contract is over. I will explain it for them just in case if anyone is considering to become Spark Energy's customer.

After a year of comparatively OK prices, your rate will skyrocket. You will be paying 3 times more than you would pay to your local gas company (Spark was charging me $1.20/BTU, and People's Gas had rate of $0.39/BTU at the same time). They claim they sent you a letter, but they send it USPS first class, and that is not always delivered, especially if you move. I realized that when examining a hefty $600+ bill. The bill you receive will be from your local gas company, so you won't realize you are paying arm and leg to Spark immediately; you have to read the the bill thoroughly. And then do the math and poll the internet for competitive rates.

Then you call them, and they will be literally laughing at you saying that they sent you a letter, and that yes, the rate is for people who didn't call after the contract expired. But they have a special rate for you, month-to-month. It is still about 25% more expensive than the one from your local company, but definitely cheaper that you are currently paying.

You want to leave Spark? Sorry to hear that. It takes 45 days to transfer your account back to your local company. I don't really understand why in our electronic way is it taking that long, except for one word - greed. They want you to keep paying their price for as long as they possibly can keep you. What? Are you going to sue them? You will spend more on attorney than you lost with Spark - they laugh at you. Well, someone is already is doing that, and I hope, more is coming. So my advice for potential Spark Energy customers is STAY AWAY! I have lost about $1,000 (yes: one thousand Dollars) with Spark Energy comparing to my local company's rates, and hope you won't make the mistake I have made.

My gas and electric bill have never ever being high until Spark Energy came into my house. Knocking on my door offering a better rate and promising to lower my (at that month 75.00) bill. First two months January and February 150.89 and 152.01... This is not savings at any way. It is called doubling your bill. I want out NOW!!! And I will not pay your 100.00 penalty. I want an answer or I will go to NBC consumers complaint.

I went with Spark Energy because they had a lower price for us at the time being. Everything has been satisfactory, so far.

Eversource is planning to put towers in our town and we had a town-wide thing to divest from them as much as we could. We went online to the rate site where we could look at all the different providers and suppliers and chose Spark Energy with a fixed rate energy product. The transition has been seamless.

Had a man come to my house about 3 months ago offering Spark as my gas supplier saying he could give me a price of 0.39 cents per ccf. I open my bill to see they are charging me 1.39 this month for a whopping $220 gas bill that is usually around 70-90 before I took the offer. Will most definitely be canceling them for sure and will make sure everyone I know knows about my experience with them so they can't scam any of them like they did to me.

I want to cancel the service of Spark because I'm paying two bills, my Nicor gas bill and Spark. That's too much. I didn't think I'm supposed to be paying them. I was told that they would just be our carrier and we wouldn't have fee or anything. The only difference being with Spark that I noticed in my service is that my bill went up because we're paying them. That's something that we can't afford to do. I'm very dissatisfied.

It was good working with Spark Energy. It lowered my monthly bills. Also, their customer service was knowledgeable.

Spark Energy let me sign up with them sixty days before my previous company expired. It was very easy, and their team was good and flexible. I haven't had to call them since and noticed having lower monthly bills.

I checked on the internet, saw three providers, and Spark was on top. Lower price was important to me. I used the local gas provider before and Spark Energy's price is better.

I recently fell for the sales pitch that Spark Gas would save me money on gas because I would just pay PG&E for delivery and Spark a per therm "lower" rate. I still paid PG&E but got a rebate for a portion of the per therm gas. The rate I paid to Spark was more than double the rebate plus the additional "service charge." When I went to cancel, they charge a $100 cancellation fee. I am very UNHAPPY.

I've been with Spark Energy for two years. I liked their price. The green energy product was the best one that fit me at the time because I'll know how much electricity I'll be using. The team members at Spark were very respectful, well-spoken, and explained everything down to the finest detail. Different people come to check in. They usually just come to the neighborhood and ring the bells.

Spark Energy's rates were good and we haven't had problems with them.

I was taken advantage of by this company. BE WARNED! Spark Electricity and your Local Distribution Utility will rip you off and you will have no recourse. Spark has found a legal way of screwing you out of your hard-earned cash! The representative knocked on our door in July of 2016. They spoke to my wife, promising her a lower bill on her natural gas utility; got her to sign a one year contract with a $100 early termination fee; never mentioned that our current provider would be charging us a delivery fee.

First two bills looked good, but the next bill was outrageous; the delivery fee alone cost more than the total on our old bill. Spark Energy will just tell you that PG&E (or your local distribution utility) is the one that is responsible for the delivery fee. This is great! Your local energy distribution utility gets to charge you insane gas delivery fees because you are not their customer and Spark gets to collect your $100 early termination fee when you realize you are better off paying the fee to get out of the pseudo-fraudulent contract.

With our bill now double what it used to be, we are canceling Spark and paying the $100 early termination fee. Now Spark & PG&E are telling us that even though we cancelled, we will still possibly have Spark and PG&E ripping us off for the next couple of months. PG&E confirmed on the phone that they are working together! The Spark contract states: "Spark Energy has been approved by your Local Distribution Utility to offer and supply natural gas to you." DO NOT SIGN UP. You will have no recourse except to post a negative comment on BBB or Yelp like the hundreds of others that were scammed. The contract includes a class action waiver, protecting them from any class action lawsuit.

I was using a website where I could look up different rates, and went with Spark for the price combined with whether or not it was fixed. We got electric heat and the bills have been reasonable.

I was looking at retail electricity providers on a website which was affiliated with Eversource and learned about Spark Energy. I liked their price and being able to lock in the price for a fixed term without any penalty, which was good. The service is transparent because I get a bill from Eversource that has their transmission charge and the generation charge from Spark. I had another company before Spark where I had a very low introductory rate for a year, but the next year, it was going up to a rate that wasn't competitive.

Somebody got in contact with me about Spark and I decided to try it. The bill went lower than what it was and is better than what I was in.

I like the rate of Spark Energy and my experience with them has been fine. I used another provider in the past and since using Spark, I don't notice a difference, which is how I want it. I selected their fixed rate energy product as price stability is important to me.

The village of Bradley, Illinois, where I live, decided that they were gonna take all the homeowners and put it in to some locked in energy thing. It seemed in the last five years that I've opted to be with them, my rates were just off through the roof. When I bought my house, the water, the sewer, and the garbage was all put into one bill at the village for $25 a month. Now, the water is $45 a month, the trash is $18 a month, and the sewer is $15 a month, so that’s all up to $100. I opted out of that and when Spark called, I chose them.

I'm a totally disabled woman so I needed to keep the price down with my utility bills. We need to have it where it's manageable for me. When I saw the electric bill this time with Spark, it was not that bad. It's better than getting a $250 electric bill from ComEd. And as long as the rates stay down, it's feasible for me to live in my own home. I don’t have to think about going to an assisted living place and being told what I could and couldn’t do at the place. I would recommend anybody to Spark.

Spark Energy cannot resolve billing issues. I have used online bill pay through my bank for a couple of years now with this company. I was informed that no payment had been received for the month of December 2016. My bank reported the payment as received. When I finally had my bank supply records of this payment, still no correction was made. I receive at least 3 call from their collection department weekly (robo-calls). I have spent hours on the phone with Spark customer service on many occasions to no avail. My bills are still showing an amount owed. This company cannot solve issues for its customers. I'm wondering if they are doing this to other customers as well to generate more income. I will not pay the amount again, and I will use every review site to let consumers know not to use this company.

My contract was coming up for renewal at the end of last year for an energy supplier. After I did a price comparison, I switched to Spark Energy and I was able to do it easily. Their service is very good and I'm pleased with it.

I've used Spark in the past. I've noticed that when I was going off of contract, I got a notification from them. I didn’t have that with the previous supplier and I really appreciated that because then I could reassess what I was doing. Also, there was somebody that I could speak to when I called the phone numbers for the company. These people seemed knowledgeable and I was favorably disposed to them. Other energy providers don’t give access to individuals at all.