Five thousand council tenants signed up to a problem-plagued solar energy scheme are being moved to a new electricity supplier
Under-fire Solarplicity is transferring most of its customers to Toto Energy, following a partnership agreement between the two companies.
The move affects all of the Stoke-on-Trent City Council tenants signed up to the Community Energy Scheme (CES) and who have their grid energy supplied by Solarplicity.
Solarplicity, which has been subject to hundreds of customer service complaints from Potteries residents, claims the deal with Toto means it can focus ‘exclusively’ on developing the CES – signing up more social housing tenants in Stoke-on-Trent and elsewhere.
But it says the agreement with Toto will not change customers’ terms for grid energy supply, including price. Nor will it have any impact on the arrangements for the supply of energy from rooftop photovoltaic systems, which have been installed on council homes across the city.
According to the company, the only change that customers will notice will be that they will receive bills from Toto rather than Solarplicity.
A Solarplicity spokesman said: “While we’re sad to say goodbye to our retail customers, we know that Toto is an excellent fit.
“With the completion of this partnership, we can now restructure our business to focus on our core operations. First and foremost, we are a renewable technology business striving to fight fuel poverty and make renewable energy available to everyone. We look forward to offering a more focused and dedicated level of service across our renewable business.”
Solarplicity woes
The CES is a partnership between Solarplicity and Stoke-on-Trent City Council, which was intended to save tenants £300 a year on their electricity bills while reducing the city’s carbon footprint.
But more than 300 customers in Stoke-on-Trent complained about their service, with some claiming they had been signed up without their consent. Earlier this year the company agreed to stop signing up new customers to the CES until it had resolved these issues.
The city council is reviewing the arrangement with Solarplicity, and has been told that the deal with Toto should increase capacity around customer service.
Brighton-based Toto was only founded around three years ago, but the company insists it has been a ‘quick learner’. It says its Brighton call centre is ‘packed with talented agents’ and that over the last three months its average time for answering calls has been under three minutes.
A Toto spokesman said: “We’re delighted to be welcoming Solarplicity’s customers to Toto. We want to assure the customers who are moving to Toto that their energy supply is secure and we are protecting their credit balances. Their current tariff and terms and conditions will not change as a result of the move. We will be contacting all the customers who are transferring to TOTO to explain and answer any questions.”
Toto says it will contact Solarplicity customers who are being transferred. CES customers should still use the same customer service line on 01782 980040.
Top stories on StokeonTrentLive
Follow StokeonTrentLive
Download our app - You can download our free app for iPhone and iPad from Apple's App Store, or get the Android version from Google Play.
Follow StokeonTrentLive on Facebook - Like our Facebook page to get the latest news in your feed and join in the lively discussions in the comments. Click here to give it a like!
Follow us on Twitter - For breaking news and the latest stories, click here to follow SOTLive on Twitter.
Follow us on Instagram - Featuring pictures past and present from across Stoke-on-Trent, North Staffordshire & South Cheshire - and if you tag us in your posts, we could repost your picture on our page! We also put the latest news in our Instagram Stories. Click here to follow StokeonTrentLive on Instagram.
