British Gas account switch over

Kirbarn

Hi I’m looking for some advice. My mum passed away in December and I have stayed in the property. I registered my mums death on the British Gas website on the 04/01/23 to say I would be the new account holder and filled in an application and inputted my direct debit details. After I had done this I had confirmation to say that they were sorry to hear of ‘ms Barnett’s passing’ and once everything has been processed I will receive a bill. I did not hear anything so I messaged British Gas on Facebook on the 31st of January, they replied saying my application has not yet been processed it should normally take 10-14 days they’re sure I will receive a letter soon and it’s probably because they have fell behind by working in another area that there has been no communication. Fast forward to today 16/01 I emailed the bereavement team at British Gas who replied to say they couldn’t find my application, but in order to proceed please fill in this consent form to say you will be taking over the account and that any money due will be my responsibility.  To me, this seems a little fishy? I replied basically saying that when I spoke to the person on Facebook they never mentioned my application being lost. I also attached a screenshot of the message from when I completed my application with a date stamp, and also the messages from the person on Facebook. I am now worried that I will be hit with a hefty energy bill because of their incompetence. I hope this is not the case as I have the relevant evidence to back me up to show them I actually did register the death and also the screenshots from the other conversation.  Something else that doesn’t add up is that we closed my mums bank account a few days after I had logged her death with British Gas. Meaning British Gas wouldn’t have been able to take any money from her account, yet there have been no bills sent for her? 

Gerry1

Welcome to the forum.

It might be easier to open an online account, give your own DD details and submit monthly meter readings.

pochase

Why do you believe it is fishy that they ask you to sign that you are responsible for money due.

You seem to have just asked for a change of the account holder, the old supply was not closed and a new one established.

brewerdave

Your mother's estate is responsible for settling bills on her death. Were you the executor ?

Mstty

Hello, welcome to the forum and sorry to hear of the bereavement it's not an easy time.

To put your mind at rest you should open up an account to pay the bills going forward and it does all appear to be inline with BG published info.

https://www.britishgas.co.uk/help-and-support/probate

Kirbarn

pochase said:

Why do you believe it is fishy that they ask you to sign that you are responsible for money due.

You seem to have just asked for a change of the account holder, the old supply was not closed and a new one established.

Because I registered her death with them over 2 months ago and they’re saying they’re unable to find anything on the system that I have done that. Even though I have screen shots of the complete application and conversations with them to say that my request hasn’t been processed as of yet and they’re behind? I haven’t received anything in the post or paid anything even though I set up a direct debit over 2 months ago? 

Kirbarn

Mstty said:

Hello, welcome to the forum and sorry to hear of the bereavement it's not an easy time.

To put your mind at rest you should open up an account to pay the bills going forward and it does all appear to be inline with BG published info.

Hi, this is what I did in December which they’re now saying they cannot find. 

ariarnia

sorry for your loss. 

probably nothing 'fishy' from what youve said. it could be becayse bg switched over to a new system recently and lots of people have been on here with problems with there account/billing ect. 

the good news is that it shouldnt actually be much of a problem to get sorted. if you have the date you wanted to take over the account from and the meter reading from that date then they can easily enough issue a final bill for the estate and set up a new account for you from that date. (i think you needed that info for the berevment form so hopefully still have it?)

your mums estate will be responsible for the energy used until you took it over and you will be responsible for the energy you used since then. that shouldn't be a shock if you no you haven't been paying for your energy since taking over the account?

the rate you would have been on as a 'deemed tarrif' (aka responsible for the energy use but without an actual account set up yet) is the same as the cap so you shouldn't have lost out there. you might find they bill you as a 'cheque or cash' account because you didn't have a dd set up but if you ask i expect they'll refund the difference in the circumstances. 

also your mum's estate will have the £66 from the government credited for every month they were the account holder on the 1st of the month (so 4 payments from 1 oct to 1 jan) and your account will be credited for it for 1 feb and 1 march (so £134 of your bill). 

i no this is probably a horrible time to be dealing with some more stress so if theres anything we can help with please just ask. 

ariarnia

oh. i forgot.  you might also push for the guaranteed service guarentee compensation. this is an industry wide thing and its set at £30 for if they dont produce a final bill within 10 days of getting the closing meter reading and another £30 if they dont give you the first £30 10 days after that. 

it go to the estate's account afaik. i'd have to check but you might be entitled to another £30 for them failing to set up your new account. can't remember of the top of my head but worth asking them about.