Death and Bills

catladyLou

thanks thanks for the great advice, ive had a play with the account and managed to change everything but the name
it was great to have you all for a soundboard at this time usually it was dad I would discuss these things with !

Brie

glad you were able to sort it.

sorry for your loss and hope the rest of the bills etc aren't too difficult to deal with.

mac.d

catladyLou said:

thanks thanks for the great advice, ive had a play with the account and managed to change everything but the name
it was great to have you all for a soundboard at this time usually it was dad I would discuss these things with !

Great you've managed to change some of the details online, but the correct thing to do is to ask to speak to their bereavement team and get them to change the account over to your Mum's name, and at the same time, ask that they add instructions to allow you to speak to them about the bills on her behalf. That way, if any problems arise in future, you won't have the hassle of them only willing to deal with the account holder. 

The bereavement of a spouse is often the only time energy suppliers will allow you to change the name but keep the same deal (apparently due to contract law).

With energy prices as they are it's understandable if you want to make sure your Mum is kept on the current deal by doing what you have though. Especially as you're probably dealing with a lot of other things right now too. Good luck with, most companies are very good when dealing with bereavement.

Cardew

Mobtr said:

Cardew said:

Mobtr said:

 If it was, change it by using WhatsApp/text as you can pretend to be him on there. Don’t think you can change it yourself online 

At various times I have taken over paying for my children's gas/electricity when they were students, and later, also for my mother,. All I did was phone the company and gave them the energy account number and my bank details and the DD was changed immediately.

It will depend on who you speak to. A man ringing can pretend to be the account holder & go through DP but if the bank account is going to be in a different name, they should ask permission of the bank account holder. 

I think you have missed the point. I am a male and I have simply phoned the energy company and said I wished to pay the Direct Debit for my daughter and another time for my mother. Energy company and my bank are happy to oblige.

No pretence needed.

Mobtr

Cardew said:

Mobtr said:

Cardew said:

Mobtr said:

 If it was, change it by using WhatsApp/text as you can pretend to be him on there. Don’t think you can change it yourself online 

At various times I have taken over paying for my children's gas/electricity when they were students, and later, also for my mother,. All I did was phone the company and gave them the energy account number and my bank details and the DD was changed immediately.

It will depend on who you speak to. A man ringing can pretend to be the account holder & go through DP but if the bank account is going to be in a different name, they should ask permission of the bank account holder. 

I think you have missed the point. I am a male and I have simply phoned the energy company and said I wished to pay the Direct Debit for my daughter and another time for my mother. Energy company and my bank are happy to oblige.

No pretence needed.

No I’m not. You must be either named on the  account or have the account holder with you to go through security questions. If you don’t then they shouldn’t speak to you. Unfortunately the OP is not able to do this. 

Swipe

mac.d said:

catladyLou said:

thanks thanks for the great advice, ive had a play with the account and managed to change everything but the name
it was great to have you all for a soundboard at this time usually it was dad I would discuss these things with !

The bereavement of a spouse is often the only time energy suppliers will allow you to change the name but keep the same deal (apparently due to contract law).

With energy prices as they are it's understandable if you want to make sure your Mum is kept on the current deal by doing what you have though. Especially as you're probably dealing with a lot of other things right now too. Good luck with, most companies are very good when dealing with bereavement.

Not worth the risk in this case. Who knows what policy they have these days with such high prices? The OP has achieved the end result with minimal hassle and can just switch away at the end of the fix. When my father died I had no end of hassle getting the account switched to my mother's name. They were asking for death certificates and all sorts of nonsense, and that was just on a variable tariff with Bulb. Sometimes it's just not worth going by the book.

Reed_Richards

I have no legal expertise but I know there is something in law called Joint and Several Liability which applies to debts, including electricity bills.  If your mother inherited the house (or the tenancy) when your dad died then she becomes solely liable for paying the bills.  But before she was jointly liable even though not named on the bills so it seems to me that means she should "inherit" the fixed term contract.       

Alnat1

What should be and what utility companies do isn't always the same. Insurance, bank, phone, water were all dealt with easily when Mum passed but Bulb were a nightmare. Luckily my hubby had always helped her and had access to her online account. We didn't even get a 'sorry for your loss' just a 'sorry, you're not the account holder so we can't give you any information'.

Olinda99

I would be a little bit careful in not being entirely truthful with the electricity company. We all.know the correct thing to do is inform them of the account holder"s death.

This is paricularly true now as we are all getting £400 credit in october which, in this case, will be paid to a deceased person.

Swipe

Olinda99 said:

I would be a little bit careful in not being entirely truthful with the electricity company. We all.know the correct thing to do is inform them of the account holder"s death.

This is paricularly true now as we are all getting £400 credit in october which, in this case, will be paid to an deceased person. electricity account

Fixed that for you