12 March 2007
The bright sparks at Spark Energy have come up with a way to give tenants and buy-to-let landlords an easier ride by taking responsibility for all the administrative work surrounding getting energy supplied to rental properties.
While most providers target homeowners, utility company Spark hopes to capture the growing numbers of people living in rented accommodation, by resolving the difficulties facing providers to tenant properties.
In partnership with a network of property management companies, Spark manages tenant utilities, addressing problems such as void periods when letting apartments are vacant, communicating with existing or future suppliers, and handling the administrative complexities of moving into or out of a new rental home.
Spark staff act as other energy suppliers’ interface with tenants, and also offer their own energy products, giving “complete control over pricing, commissions and customer service delivery … as an independent energy company,” sales director Chris Gauld says.
Spark currently works with 40 partners in charge of 20,000 properties across the UK.