Spark, the energy company used by a number of letting agents and landlords, is being investigated by regulator Ofgem, the BBC has reported.
The company was recently featured by BBC Watchdog which said it had received 200 complaints in a year.
The programme claimed that tenants are often automatically signed up to Spark through their tenancy agreements, and then find it impossible to switch.
Others reportedly experienced missing bills, struggling to get refunds when in credit and meter readings that were recorded properly. There were also reported difficulties in getting hold of Spark’s customer service team.
Ofgem said: “Suppliers are required to receive, handle and process consumer complaints in an efficient and timely manner.
“Suppliers are also unable to block a customer from switching unless there are valid outstanding charges.”
Spark told Watchdog it had serviced more than 300,000 tenancies to date. “Most tenants are happy to inherit Spark Energy,” it said in a statement.
“However, we accept that things can go wrong and that in a small proportion of cases we have fallen short of the high standards that we, our customers and our letting agent partners expect from us.”
It also said tenants were free to move to alternative suppliers.
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