EDF threatening to break in mum's property after her death with a bill of £59

jankush

Re: EDF ENERGY----£60.00 Bill, 28 May 09 – 21 Aug 09

1.[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]Mum passed away 2nd of July, I have only just got round to telling EDF Energy. They said they would put it on hold for 28 days. They wanted my address to which I said no, so they wanted solicitors address. I said send correspondence to executors at mum’s address as probate has not started as we are still looking for documents and no solicitor has been instructed yet. They then wanted me to fax through my mum’s death certificate which no any other company (telephone, water) has wanted. I have a disability and I do not have a fax or computer this is someone else kindly letting me use theirs. They then said that they were still going to proceed with getting a court order to enter the property ASAP.

My intention was to put my name on the electric bill there and then but they were all whispering in the back ground and reduced me to tears because of the delicate nature.

2.[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]Does anyone have any advice?

Does anyone know of a nicer company to deal with and less expensive?

Thank you

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

Whilst it is appreciated that it is a distressing time for you, any company must have some proof that their customer is deceased. Otherwise, and whilst it is not the case with you, people would just call and say the customer was dead.

It is reasonable after nearly 4 months that they should have sight of a death certificate - why can't you put one in the post, or simply pay the bill?

Fran

Sorry to hear of your loss.

If you have a look at Martin's article you might even be able to get some cash back if you change company. Are you living at the property? If not, there would be no need to put the bill in your name.

Why do they need to break into a property?

I would suggest contacting Community Legal Advice or Citizens Advice to get the situation clear and also CAB can negotiate with the company on your behalf with your permission.

You might find Cruse bereavement care helpful.

Cardew

Fran wrote: »

.

Why do they need to break into a property?

Surely from the Utility company's point of view, they have no proof their customer is dead, and as said above, after 4 months the OP has still refused to send them a death certificate.

The company are presumably just treating this as an outstanding unpaid bill and going through normal procedures. They are allowed to break in and fit a pre-payment meter if bills are not paid.

They wouldn't take this action without a series of bills and reminders.

Had a death certificate been sent, many companies will write off such a small sum.

Premier_2

The bill up to the account holder's death should be paid for out of the deceased's estate. It appears quite in order to me for the supplier to request the name, address and possibly phone number of the executor(s) as they are responsible for administering the estate.

If you don't have a fax or computer (although you appear to certainly have access to a computer as you used one to post here!), then try your local library.
After almost 4 months, you could even have posted a copy of the death certificate.

The other issue, I guess, is since the death of the account holder, someone needs to accept responsibility for the supply (although they cannot be asked to pay the existing bill). If no one accepts responsibility, then the supplier may seek to terminate the supply..