Eon account after bereavement?

Londonlisa12

If the named account holder and DD.bill payer passes away is it as easy as switching the named account holder and the DD payment to the remaining occupier obviously with their consent?
Then keeping the same contract and tariff and credit/debit in the account.
Thank you.

JJ_Egan

Eon will have a team that deal with that phone and ask for bereavment team .

You can swap but its up to EON if the prices remain the same as contract is void on death .
Usually the Bereavment teams are sympathetic .
Take meter readings asap anyway .

mac.d

Some will only do so if its a spouse, because as JJ Egans says, the contract is void upon death.

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Londonlisa12 wrote: »

If the named account holder and DD.bill payer passes away is it as easy as switching the named account holder and the DD payment to the remaining occupier obviously with their consent?
Then keeping the same contract and tariff and credit/debit in the account.
Thank you.

Hello Londonlisa12 and please accept my condolences for your sad loss.

As JJ Egan says, we've a Bereavement Support team who will look after this for you. Contact details are on our website and they're available from 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and between 8am and 6pm Saturdays.

These advisors deal exclusively with accounts where the bill payer has passed away. They'll make sure all the necessary actions are taken on the account and keep you up to date with what's happening. They'll ask for a death certificate, close the account and put it into the name of the executors or solicitors. They'll also open a new account in the name of the person taking over responsibility for the bills. Like JJ Egan says and if possible, meter readings would help.

You'll be given a direct phone number and email address so there's no need to contact different areas of the business.

Hope this points you in the right direction Londonlisa12. Please let me know if you need any more advice as happy to help.

Malc

Londonlisa12

JJ egan,mac.d andEon company rep thank you for the replies.

No bereavement has taken place but an elderly relative in her 90s is not in good health,so just a bit of forward planning.
I will phone in the morning.
If death brings an early termination to the contract I hope there is no early termination charge,especially since the other occupant (her son) would be happy for the tariff to continue and for the dd to be transferred to him.

mac.d

There won't be an early termination charge, but its highly unlikely the current tariff will continue in this situation. As Malc said, the account will be closed and put in the name of the executor, her son will have a new account and it'll just be on Eon's standard tariff, although he will obviously have the choice to choose a new deal with Eon, or move elsewhere.

It's happened to me previously, and I was told that it's due to contract law, the contract can't be transferred to another person, unless its a spouse. Some other bills I was able to take over without any issue, but not the energy supply. I chose to move to another supplier asap as I wasn't happy with how they dealt with it all (SSE not Eon).

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Londonlisa12 wrote: »

JJ egan,mac.d andEon company rep thank you for the replies.

No bereavement has taken place but an elderly relative in her 90s is not in good health,so just a bit of forward planning.
I will phone in the morning.
If death brings an early termination to the contract I hope there is no early termination charge,especially since the other occupant (her son) would be happy for the tariff to continue and for the dd to be transferred to him.

Sorry Londonlisa12, I thought someone had passed away.

Definitely no early termination charge in these circumstances.

As mac.d says, if the tariff the son is on is no longer available for sale, he'll need to choose another. If he doesn't and the new account goes on to our standard variable Energy Plan, he'll have the option of changing supplier. There are no exit fees or restrictions on Energy Plan as there are on some of our other tariffs.

Our Bereavement Support team will go through the options when they become involved.

Hope this is useful Londonlisa12. Please let me know if you need any more details as happy to help.

Malc

Cardew

Londonlisa12 wrote: »

If death brings an early termination to the contract I hope there is no early termination charge,especially since the other occupant (her son) would be happy for the tariff to continue and for the dd to be transferred to him.

Many would keep the account in her name and get the DD changed to his name(or stop the DD) and keep paying until the tariff ends. The cost and time taken in dealing with solicitors, probate can be considerable.

JJ_Egan

As above if the persons bank account is still running be in no hurry to inform anyone .
Just slowly start the transfer of accounts and payees .

Londonlisa12

Cardew wrote: »

Many would keep the account in her name and get the DD changed to his name(or stop the DD) and keep paying until the tariff ends. The cost and time taken in dealing with solicitors, probate can be considerable.

That was our concern,shes heavily in credit (at least the next 4 months bills) in part due to the £140 warm home discount being credited to her account and also lower usage the last few months but they will not stop the dd and only lowered it a fraction,come the inevitable time i can see many hurdles being put up to get her credit returned,eg death certificates,copies of the will,etc

UPDATE.

Just phoned the bereavement team and was told they have system to ascertain if the account holder has died and if so any credit would be passed on to next of kin,executor or solicitor any of which do NOT need to supply any documentation ,

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

Londonlisa12 wrote: »

That was our concern,shes heavily in credit (at least the next 4 months bills) but they will not stop or lower the dd amount,come the inevitable time i can see many hurdles being put up to get her credit returned,eg death certificates,copies of the will,etc

Might be an idea to take a refund now Londonlisa12.

Provided the account is billed up to date, your relative can have part or all of any remaining credit balance refunded immediately. If the Direct Debit is left in place, the lower prices for paying this way will remain.

Taking a refund part way through the arrangement might mean we ask to change the monthly payments. Monthly Direct Debits spread the cost of energy over a full 12 months with the aim of achieving as near as possible to a zero balance by the annual review. A refund part way through might mean there's not enough in the pot to cover expected usage up to the annual review and triggers a request to increase the payments.

Our estimate of expected usage is based on what's been used over the past 12-18 months. Totally understand the difficulty of your situation and that the circumstances may sadly change. To help and if there's an online account, you can use the Direct Debit Manager to make changes to the arrangement to better suit the new circumstances.

Do you or your relative's son have permission to look after the account? If not, there's a Letter of Authority that can be downloaded from our website. This is useful for setting up permission for a third party to look after accounts.

Hope this is useful Londonlisa12. Please let me know if there's any other advice you need as happy to help.

Malc