Tenants in properties using Spark Energy are to be given access to smart meters as well as warranty services from its new owner.
Spark, the specialist supplier to tenants in the private rented sector, went bust last year before being rescued and acquired by OVO Energy.
As part of the acquisition, Spark said it was now ramping up the installation of its own smart meters.
However, tenants will only be offered the controversial first generation SMETS1 products that stop working if a customer switches to a new provider.
A spokesman said Spark was piloting SMET2 products that let users switch provider, with the aim to roll these out later in 2019.
Tenants will also be able to access home emergency and boiler servicing through OVO’s sister company CORGI HomePlan.
Meanwhile, Spark has also reported that its digital home assistant Tili – set up last year to help tenants setup all types of utilities when moving in such as broadband – has had 50,000 users.
Chris Gauld, chief executive of Spark, said: “We are enthused by the fact that Tili, which is specially tailored to the needs of home movers, has reached its first milestone.
“We’ve been working with the property industry for over 10 years and we understand the challenges our partners are facing from issues like the tenant fees ban and the limitations which GDPR puts on our partners for earning revenue by selling add-on products.
“That’s why we’ve been busy investing in a proptech platform that adds real value to our partners’ business and complements their great customer service.
“Tili already walks users through a really quick journey to select a great energy tariff, and other essentials such as phone and broadband packages and Sky TV – but it was always intended that other services would be added.
“As part of OVO we’re ramping up smart meter installations into rented properties across the country.
“Tili is a great help as it means that tenants can more easily exercise their rights as energy consumers and benefit from the advantages this new technology brings like more control over their energy use and more accurate billing due to automatic meter readings.”
Comments (2)
With fee ban pressure on agents’ income I can’t see how there’s now room for this unnecessary tier in the supply chain between the energy suppliers and the end user.
TFB is putting a sharp focus on both costs and revenue for both agents and service suppliers. The innovators and the early adopters on both sides are thinking outside the box and are simply adapting their businesses. Anyone who restricts themselves to the BIG DATA model of paying agents a commission for introductions or for harvested data will find Agents are more than capable of handling the utility switching process themselves on behalf of the Utility suppliers and taking an income rather than just a commission.
Agents aren’t going to sit back and keep their suppliers in business while they see a contraction in their own income; they will find or will be given a means to take care of their own interests first.
Wasn’t LSL one of Sparks big customers and had it finger wrapped for making tenants use them.