Handling of bereavement by energy company

emma203

I’m in need of some assurance on how my late mother’s energy account should be handled after some confusing exchanges with Ovo energy over the past few weeks have left me doubting my understanding.

I am the executor for her estate and the house will be sold once probate is granted. It is currently unoccupied and my understanding from the conversation I originally had with an agent is that the account can remain open until the house is sold, to meet insurance conditions, and that I should provide meter readings at that stage so that a final bill can be prepared and the account closed. This matches the agreement I have reached without any drama with all other utility suppliers.

I was therefore somewhat surprised to receive an emailed estimated bill requesting payment within 14 days last week and the situation is now descending into farce as I try to get a straight answer on what I need to do.

After a flurry of unresolved emails, I rang the number in an email laughably titled “here to help you” this morning and spoke to an agent who clearly had no idea what I was talking about. Amongst a lot of odd suggestions, which included reinstating the cancelled direct debit from my late mother’s bank account which has obviously been closed, she insisted that the debt has to be settled now and that I need to open a new account in my own name. When I asked her to check her advice she said “hold on a minute” and promptly cut me off. 

I will be sending a strongly worded complaint, but am I correct in standing my ground re my role as executor ?

p00hsticks

Sorry for your experience.

My late brother was with Scottish Power, not Ovo, but they  told me the same as you have been on your last call - that I should open a new account in my name as executor and continue to pay any bills due (in fact I've set up a monthly direct debit), and this is what I did. To be fair I didn't really challenge it as I was happy with this arrangement, As the property, like yours, has been unoccupied and heating was kept at the minimum required for insurance purposes over winter the bills were low enough to be met by the money from savings in the estate - the company gets regular readings via the smart meter and adjusted the payments to reflect the actual (lack of) usage.

emma203

I can entirely understand why an energy company would prefer me to set up a new account, but I am I interested in whether they can insist - the latest email mentions referral to their "bereavement partners" aka a debt collection agency so I guess that will be their next step. Seems harsh when they had a direct debit payment in February and know why they haven't had a payment since. 

I don't want to be stubborn and cause myself unnecessary stress, but their approach from the outset has been aggressive and their attitude has got my back up.

 Apart from anything else, there is very little cash in the estate until the house (which I am not inheriting and will not be occupying) is sold and after funeral, legal and service charge expenses there is unlikely to be enough in the executor's account to cover an ongoing direct debit. 

shiraz99

I'm in the same process with OVO and followed their online advice to email their bereavement department with all the details and wait to hear back (within 4 working days), guess what still haven't heard anything. I'll be calling them myself on Monday but not expected much given the experiences of others with this company. They're definitely not the same since they were taken over.

my understanding is that there's two options available, 1, you can take over the existing account, or 2, you can close the account and then when you decide to sell the house or whatever you take a meter reading and they will bill you anything you've used in the meantime. What I'd personally like to know is if you take over the account can you keep the existing tariff in place, in my case, my late dad has a fixed tariff in place until August so it may be cheaper to keep running this rather than close the account.

emma203

shiraz99 said:

I'm in the same process with OVO and followed their online advice to email their bereavement department with all the details and wait to hear back (within 4 working days), guess what still haven't heard anything. I'll be calling them myself on Monday but not expected much given the experiences of others with this company. They're definitely not the same since they were taken over.

my understanding is that there's two options available, 1, you can take over the existing account, or 2, you can close the account and then when you decide to sell the house or whatever you take a meter reading and they will bill you anything you've used in the meantime. What I'd personally like to know is if you take over the account can you keep the existing tariff in place, in my case, my late dad has a fixed tariff in place until August so it may be cheaper to keep running this rather than close the account.

Be aware that the phone number takes you to a general agent rather than a dedicated bereavement team, which they don't seem to have, and they will probably ask you lots of confusing ID questions - this morning I had to clarify several times whether she wanted my information eg name and date of birth or my late mother's. 

As soon as they answer the phone I would state why you are ringing to avoid them swinging into robot mode and asking if it's possible to speak to the account holder (yes, that really happened). 

KxMx

It was British Gas who were awful when my Nan died.
Even when they were shown to be in the wrong, they never even said sorry. 

emma203

Perhaps I was lulled into a false sense of security by my dealings with all the other organisations I've been in contact with who have all been unfailingly compassionate and professional in their approach, explaining clearly how they would manage things and then doing exactly what they promised. 

In contrast Ovo don't seem capable of seeing the situation as anything beyond an ordinary debt that must be resolved immediately using their usual process. This started with the email sent within 24 hours of closing mum's bank account telling me that the tariff would be going up as I was no longer paying by direct debit and asking how the account would be paid in future. None of the agents I've spoken to have even offered their condolences, just straight into the script even if it doesn't quite fit. 

Maybe I'm expecting too much - it's my first time as an executor and I'm still feeling my way, but it feels like harassment at this stage and it's left me doubting whether I know what I'm doing in general. 

Keep_pedalling

emma203 said:

Perhaps I was lulled into a false sense of security by my dealings with all the other organisations I've been in contact with who have all been unfailingly compassionate and professional in their approach, explaining clearly how they would manage things and then doing exactly what they promised. 

In contrast Ovo don't seem capable of seeing the situation as anything beyond an ordinary debt that must be resolved immediately using their usual process. This started with the email sent within 24 hours of closing mum's bank account telling me that the tariff would be going up as I was no longer paying by direct debit and asking how the account would be paid in future. None of the agents I've spoken to have even offered their condolences, just straight into the script even if it doesn't quite fit. 

Maybe I'm expecting too much - it's my first time as an executor and I'm still feeling my way, but it feels like harassment at this stage and it's left me doubting whether I know what I'm doing in general. 

Are you dealing with their dedicated bereavement team?

https://www.ovoenergy.com/help/bereavement

SevenOfNine

As already said, you must ask for bereavement teams for pretty much everything.

My dealings 3 times for empty property following bereavements with assorted energy companies has always been fine (though doesn't include Ovo). Each time I've been given the choice of paying bills as they come in, taking over the account altogether, or just ignoring the bills & give an accurate reading when the house was sold & pay all outstanding usage then. 

The latter was always the recommended route & if I recall correctly I've had to send the death certificates. I've had a quick look at the Ovo bereavement site, & they don't make their process look particularly helpful!  "Take you through the options", why don't they just put them on the webpage.

emma203

That's interesting - the instructions I followed a few weeks ago also gave an option to phone, which I naively thought would simplify things ! Maybe they've had so many complaints they've removed it ?

I have since emailed the bereavement team with two separate queries but have not had a reply yet. I think the problem is that I am now also in the loop of the debt collection process so that what I thought was an automated response to my email with a phone number that would take me to the bereavement team actually took me to the debt collection agents. 

I guess it will sort itself out eventually ....

74jax

All bills for my mam's account were changed to be addressed to The Executor of {name of mam}.
I called and said a date (about 6 months in the future) when I expected to be able to settle the accounts. 
It turned out to be around 12 months later due to covid, but I kept them updated the whole way through.
It was passed to a debt company and was much easier to be sorted then as they were used to probate properties.