Advice on gas bill

Mrbowie

Hi thankyou for all your advice, managed to speak to someone helpful yesterday from BG, seen FIL had been getting estimated bills for 5 years, that's why the bill is now so expensive. 😊 

Robin9

Thank you for the update.

A cautionary message for all of us with elderly parents - and don't forget insurances, council taxes, water ...........  While you can  get letters authorising you to speak on their behalf.

Scot_39

Getting lasting power of attorneys - financial and medical (or combined at least in Scotland saving a fee iirc ) sorted well in advance of need is not that expensive - you can even do the donkey work yourself with template kits to help etc rather than paying solicitors etc  and in "England" theres a purely on line route if confident iirc - so only pay the fees.

Letters - is that a reference to Ordinary PA ? - if so are only valid whilst mental capacity remains.

I did my own PoA for mum in Scotland and helped a now ex partners get registered for her dad in England years ago - and just paid the relavent fees.  In end both secumbed to dementia - so orders were in fact useful. 

My mum deteriorated very quickly - months not years - so much so she had extra tests as part of a clinical study.  We could have ended up on route B if had delayed from clear obvious signs and formal diagnosis.  Our GP who signed - said next time sas her she wouldn't have signed - just under 2 months later.


Route B - Petitioning (oops android and it's auto corrects) the courts for that control - after the event (e.g. if parent or sibling or growing child not deemed competent to grant that authority) is more expensive and more involved - and very likely to involve legal expenses.

Robin9

Scot_39 said:

Letters - is that a reference to Ordinary PA ? - if so are only valid whilst mental capacity remains.

I was just thinking in general terms outside of PoA.   The most irritating issue I found was with my MIL's doctor who refused to talk to family without her written permission. 

More generally it helps when querying bills with utilities.