Electricity account in joint names

WrenBoy

I would like to put our electricity account in joint names of myself/husband because utility bills are always required as proof of identity and it can be difficult scraping together recent bills.

I've always done this but now I'm having a problem with my electricity supplier (was GB Energy/now Co-Op). They told me it was illegal to do this, but could not tell me which law and told me to Google it.

Has anyone successfully done this with any electricity supplier? Or know of any reason why it would be impossible?

Thanks

Hasbeen

WrenBoy wrote: »

I would like to put our electricity account in joint names of myself/husband because utility bills are always required as proof of identity and it can be difficult scraping together recent bills.

I've always done this but now I'm having a problem with my electricity supplier (was GB Energy/now Co-Op). They told me it was illegal to do this, but could not tell me which law and told me to Google it.

Has anyone successfully done this with any electricity supplier? Or know of any reason why it would be impossible?

Thanks

Joint bank statement. Council tax bill, etc are all usually acceptable as well.

footyguy

WrenBoy wrote: »

I would like to put our electricity account in joint names of myself/husband because utility bills are always required as proof of identity and it can be difficult scraping together recent bills.

I've always done this but now I'm having a problem with my electricity supplier (was GB Energy/now Co-Op). They told me it was illegal to do this, but could not tell me which law and told me to Google it.

Has anyone successfully done this with any electricity supplier? Or know of any reason why it would be impossible?

Thanks

Sounds like some minimum wage phone jockey shooting from the hip.

However, you'll probably need to speak to someone of a similar ilk at that supplier if you need their assistence in future :eek:

I suggest one of two options:

1. Raise a formal complaint regarding what you are seeking and what the response was that was given to you when you called the supplier.

Or

2. Consult a comparison site and review if there is a better alternative for you. It's not always about the money.

WrenBoy

Thanks guys.

Really don't like using bank statements for this purpose so I'm going to look for another supplier.

Raxiel

You could try phoning back and trying a different advisor first.

GingerBob_3

Putting utility accounts in joint names is a very bad idea. It gives the unscrupulous providers the opportunity to hit you with a malicious financial association at the CRAs (they are not allowed to do this, but the CRAs don't stop them).


Always have utility and phone accounts in single names.

unhingedtuna

Same here. just got told the same thing by an advisor from Eon.

The line was that they dont do joint accounts as a business decision and it is because of credit referencing/fraud issues.

Strange - as there is nothing on their website to confirm/refute this.

There are legit reasons why couples would want this, accepting that not all share this view.

This has been discussed in former thread and an Eon rep it could be done.

Who is right/wrong?

Is there a rep from Eon that can shed some light on this?

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Hello unhingedtuna and welcome to the Forums.

My colleague's right. All accounts are now set up in the one name only. We stopped having accounts under more than one name when we started sharing information with Credit Reference Agencies in 2012. Before this, it was possible to have more than the one name on an account.

Take your point about making this clear on our website. It's a question advisors are often asked so it would be useful to have this in a prominent place on there. I'll raise this. Thanks for the suggestion.

Hope this explains unhingedtuna.

Malc

gbhxu

I don't see why not.

I've had no trouble adding my name to my Fathers' name with Anglian Water.
Nor did I have any trouble getting my name on His house Insurance.

firefox1956

I tried to get my gas & electric put into joint names.
No way would they do it.
Water yes, gas & electric no.

Inky_66

Flow energy allow named account holder plus secondary account holder. Its all very well saying sue bank account, but we needed 6 different sources of bank and utilities and it was night on impossible! luckily with council tax, Thames water and Flow energy an an additional bank account we were able to do it....