Query about claiming a water bill credit

perdyscroop

I've got a bit of a problem. My water bill is in my dad's name but as he did not have a bank account, it has always been paid from mine, as we lived together. He died three years ago and I have continued living in the house and paying the bills. I've now been informed that a large credit is in the account, and I want to claim it. The problem is I never got round to changing the name of the account holder - it was just a difficult time. I want to do that now and claim the refund, but I am afraid the water company will refuse to give me all or part of the credit, even though there was no question of fraud and the bills have always been paid. Has anyone had any experience of how water companies handle this? I'd be grateful for any advice.

DE_612183

Were you an executor of the estate?

how did you deal with the estate?

You should be able to get the account changed over to you and a cheque paid to the executors, then take the will etc to a bank and I think they would then pay it into your account.

QrizB

There are two different issues here; changing the name on the account and reclaiming the credit.

The water co should have a bereavement team. You should talk to them and offer the info that is mentioned in the post above. That should let them change the account into your name.

Considering that you've been paying the bill all along, I'm not sure if you need to involve the executors. The water co might be happy to return the credit to the account it came from (your account). If not, you could just ask for a payment holiday until the credit is depleted.