empty house still pay standing charge?

footyguy

pixiecat wrote: »

I rang Eon who I use and they said if the property was used for an occasional kettle cup of tea, lights for security etc then no standing charge ...

Did you get that in writing from Eon, signed by one of their directors?

These phone jockeys will tell you anything to secure a sale (and some commission to line their own pockets with)

davemorton

As said in post 2 (or was it 3) just switch to Ebico who do not charge a standing rate, simples. Blimey, having to wade all the way through that for such a simple solution.

DollyDee_2

Same thing has happened with me & my sister (joint executors). Mom was with Eon on a fixed dual fuel deal but it was changed immediately to their Standard Tariff with daily standing charges & quarterly billing.

Mom died at the end of October and the house went on the market at the end of November. Sold straight away, buyer pulled out at the beginning of March, had to start again but we should (fingers crossed) be completing this Friday. Standing charges per day are 24.78p electricity and 30.0p gas + 5% VAT. So £56.42 + VAT on the last bill (103 days).

We needed to keep heating on because of the winter period.

modsandmockers

Just to repeat a couple of my earlier points…

1 - if a rental property stands empty between tenancies, the energy suppliers do not appear to chase the property owner for daily standing charges

2 - if a property owner dies, the energy suppliers main priority is to get a new name on the account so that they can continue to charge - they are not remotely interested in whether the name is that of an executor of the will, or whether it is the man in the chip shop who looks like Elvis.

A couple of posters have mentioned that the deceased’s account was placed ‘on hold’, but then continued to accrue charges. Other posters have mentioned that because the deceased’s energy account was in credit, then there were no charges to worry about.

I repeat my earlier advice - “On the face of it, my advice would be to notify the energy supplier of your Father’s death (and supply a final meter reading), but don’t accept the transfer of the account into your own name” and I would now add “if the account is in credit, then the amount of the credit is part of the deceased’s estate, and should be refunded asap”

The Ebico solution is, imo, likely to nose-dive some time soon - since the abolition of two-tier tariffs, Ebico is only attractive to zero or very low users.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

pixiecat wrote: »

I thank you all for your input to my dilemma


My Dad did have credit on his account so I wont incur charges for quite a few months, its just so maddening that BG have this policy, I rang Eon who I use and they said if the property was used for an occasional kettle cup of tea, lights for security etc then no standing charge but if we used it for say 2/3 months for renovations for sale then obviously we would have to pay for those months, now that sounds reasonable.
I do feel like they are money making off the back of bereavements

Hi pixiecat

I'm really sorry to hear about your loss. I'm sorry, too, that our advisor has given you the wrong information. Certainly not what you need at this time.

Where a property is empty and isn't using energy, customers may not have to pay a daily standing charge. If the supply is used, though, the standing charge will need to be paid. This applies if only one unit is used so our advisor was totally wrong to say making a cuppa would be okay. It wouldn't. Also, where customers explicitly accept a contract, standing charges will again need to be paid.

To be clear, for standing charges to be waived, customers need to be on a standard plan from the time they took over responsibility. At the moment, this would be Energy Plan and Energy Plan with Prepayment. They also need to use no energy. In these cases, standing charges will usually be removed.

Hope this make it a bit clearer pixiecat and sorry again for giving you the wrong information in the first place.

Malc

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

DollyDee wrote: »

Same thing has happened with me & my sister (joint executors). Mom was with Eon on a fixed dual fuel deal but it was changed immediately to their Standard Tariff with daily standing charges & quarterly billing.

Mom died at the end of October and the house went on the market at the end of November. Sold straight away, buyer pulled out at the beginning of March, had to start again but we should (fingers crossed) be completing this Friday. Standing charges per day are 24.78p electricity and 30.0p gas + 5% VAT. So £56.42 + VAT on the last bill (103 days).

We needed to keep heating on because of the winter period.

Hi DollyDee

I'm really sorry to hear about your loss, too. I hope my reply to pixiecat above is of interest. As energy is being used for heating then it looks as though the standing charges do apply.

Hope all goes well with the sale this time.

Malc

modsandmockers

E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc wrote: »

Where a property is empty and isn't using energy, customers may not have to pay a daily standing charge. If the supply is used, though, the standing charge will need to be paid. This applies if only one unit is used so our advisor was totally wrong to say making a cuppa would be okay. It wouldn't. Also, where customers explicitly accept a contract, standing charges will again need to be paid.

To be clear, for standing charges to be waived, customers need to be on a standard plan from the time they took over responsibility. At the moment, this would be Energy Plan and Energy Plan with Prepayment. They also need to use no energy. In these cases, standing charges will usually be removed

In other words, if an executor (who is not really a customer...) naively signs up to one of the supplier’s cheaper/fixed tariffs in order to cut costs, then standing charges will be payable even if no energy is used?

In order to avoid standing charges, the executor(s) would have to accept the supplier’s standard tariff, and then use no energy?

Standing charges are priced by the day, so if the executor(s) were to provide daily meter readings, would they only have to pay the standing charge on the days when energy was actually used?

[Deleted User]

Best to just switch to Ebico with no standing charge at the earliest opportunity. Along with cancelling any phone lines and tv services.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

modsandmockers wrote: »

In other words, if an executor (who is not really a customer...) naively signs up to one of the supplier’s cheaper/fixed tariffs in order to cut costs, then standing charges will be payable even if no energy is used?

In order to avoid standing charges, the executor(s) would have to accept the supplier’s standard tariff, and then use no energy?

Standing charges are priced by the day, so if the executor(s) were to provide daily meter readings, would they only have to pay the standing charge on the days when energy was actually used?

Hi modsandmockers

We'll usually look to remove standing charges at properties where there's no explicit agreement in place and no energy has been used from the time responsibility is taken on. An explicit agreement can include standard tariffs where they're specifically asked for. I know this wouldn't usually apply to most MSE users but there are those who ask for these tariffs as there's no tie-ins. Giving daily readings wouldn't make a difference. If any energy is used, standing charges become due from the time consumption starts regardless of whether or not there are days after this when nothing is used.

Each case is look at individually and, where there's been a bereavement, we've a dedicated team to help at what's often a difficult time. People in these situations should talk to this team for specific advice.

Hope this answers your questions modsandmockers.

Malc

undaunted

Did your Dad leave an estate? If yes you may have to pay the standing charges from that estate until the property id disposed of.

If there's no estate however you can't sue the dead & you aren't liable for anything as you have no contract with BG (as long as you don't use the supply there can be no deemed contract formed with you)