Electricity tariff after death

mac.d

crashedandcool said:

Condelences my friend. I will soon be in similar situation with dad on the way out. Rather than start a new thread I thought I'd post here hope that is ok. My dad is still on a contract so unaffected by the energy price rises and when he passes I will be the sole person living here. Does anyone know if there is a way to transfer the DD and account to my name while keeping the tariff(British Gas). I've put off phoning them as I find it best not to poke the beast.

Just be aware that I went through this experience a few years ago and even after speaking to the bereavement team they insisted that due to contract law they can only keep the account but change the name for a spouse/legal partner.

@lisyloo, sorry for continuing the thread hijack, I know its a similar topic but ideally people should start their own thread, and perhaps mods could split it?

JohnPo

Alnat1 said:

@crashedandcool You can give new bank details for a DD to an energy company whenever you want, they don't check who's paying it so long as they are getting payments. If your dad has an online account you can probably do it without having to try and phone them.

When the time comes that the account holder needs changing, ring and ask to speak to the bereavement team and explain that the account needs transferring into your name, there shouldn't be a problem and the tariff should remain the same.

If you on good tariff then probably best to avoid the bereavement team until you ready to change things. As stated above the utility company won't care who sends them the money.

crashedandcool

lisyloo said:

crashedandcool said:

Condelences my friend. I will soon be in similar situation with dad on the way out. Rather than start a new thread I thought I'd post here hope that is ok. My dad is still on a contract so unaffected by the energy price rises and when he passes I will be the sole person living here. Does anyone know if there is a way to transfer the DD and account to my name while keeping the tariff(British Gas). I've put off phoning them as I find it best not to poke the beast.

have you thought about creating an email for "your dad" in gmail.
Registering his account online.
Then adding you on to the account.
That might need his consent by email.

I suppose that is an option, but all depends on whether BG allow joint account holders especially if not spouses.

crashedandcool

JohnPo said:

Alnat1 said:

@crashedandcool You can give new bank details for a DD to an energy company whenever you want, they don't check who's paying it so long as they are getting payments. If your dad has an online account you can probably do it without having to try and phone them.

When the time comes that the account holder needs changing, ring and ask to speak to the bereavement team and explain that the account needs transferring into your name, there shouldn't be a problem and the tariff should remain the same.

If you on good tariff then probably best to avoid the bereavement team until you ready to change things. As stated above the utility company won't care who sends them the money.

My worry there is that could be seen as fraud as if they insisted on a new account/tariff then they'd be owed more from the point I should have informed them. I think without contacting them this is as much info as I can gather and as Mac.d said they would only allow a change into a spouses name.

lisyloo

Slinky said:

Have you contacted the water company? As far as I remember, they will waive the standing charges on an empty property where there's no water being used (the odd flush of a toilet if you're there sorting it out will barely shift the meter).

Sorry for your loss.

Thanks you, the water company were great and have closed the account completely from date of death.