Gas and Electricity suppliers

[DPK96]

Hi everyone, I am new to TP but think that it seems a wonderful way of getting help and advice.

My heart goes out to Jennifer and her sister and her situation just makes me grateful that my father is so gentle and accepting of his illness - at least for now!

My Dad lives in the Midlands about 200 miles away from me but is so accommodating that he agrees to change gas and elec suppliers as soon as he is contacted by any other supplier. I have tried getting the Companies to take his phone number off their database, contacted his existing supplier to try and stop them changing his supply but it all seems to fail after about 3 weeks. The net result is that he gets a succession of bills from different companies and it takes ages to try and sort it all out again. the other maddening thing is that these companies won't talk to me about my dad's bills due to data protection.

sorry if this seems trivial but it's making my blood boil !!

Any ideas anyone ?

 

[jenniferpa]

Do you have an EPA? If you did, your father could not legally enter into a contract and also, they would talk to you on the phone. As a short term alternative, and you may have already tried this, a conference or 3 way call will allow you to get your father on the phone plus the utility company and then you can do all the talking. I have done this (from the US to the UK even) when I needed to sort out my mother's credit card bill.

Jennifer

P.S. I think you may have confused me with someone else - no sisters (or father for that matter!)

 

[DPK96]

Gas & ElectricitySuppliers

Thanks Jennifer,

Sorry for the confusion - yes I do have an EPA for Dad - didn't realise that it meant he wasn't able to enter into a contract though. However doesn't it mean that I would have to lodge a copy of this with every supplier that is likely to phone my dad ?

I'll look into making a conference call - that's such a good idea thanks!

 

[jenniferpa]

Next question - is the EPA registered? I should have put that it my first post. the guardianship site is unclear about the ability of someone who has an epa that is unregistered to enter into a contract. However, if the EPA is registered, the donor has by definition lost mental capacity and cannot, therefore, be held to a contract. However, obviously better to deal with this before a court case, rather than after. There are also exceptions to this (marriage, I believe).

Something I have been investigating (not found yet, but I'm not giving up!) is some kind of call interceptor, where someone making an incoming phone call has to enter a code, otherwise the call is redirected either to an answering machine, or another number. Something like that is available in the US, but I have yet to find it in the UK.

Jennifer

 

[jenniferpa]

Also have you seen this?
http://www.energywatch.org.uk/uploads/Free_Services1.pdf

The other thing I've thought of - would it be possible to get the utilities put in your name? I'm not sure about the financial ramifications, but it might stop them calling him.

 

[Margarita]

I'm not sure who my current supplier is; how do I find out?

Look for recent bills - the supplier name will be on there. Otherwise, to find out who your current gas supplier is, you can contact the Meter Point Number Helpline on 0870 608 1524. To find out who your current electricity supplier is, you can contact your landlord or letting agency or your regional electricity supplier eg. London Electricity - you can find their phone number in the phone book, on the web or from directory enquiries

I got the above from this link http://www.energyhelpline.com/mhl/page_a.aspx?ref=EHL-Energy-Sec 2&p=1.

How does your father pay his bills , does he have Direct debit set up from his account ?

get one compony you think best and set a Direct debit for your father .

Or does he have a key meter ?



Pretend to be your father on the phone, tell them your grandfather keeps answering phone when people phone asking him to change supplier and you want to know who supply’s your gas light is now .

Or phone BT and ask them what help they can offer you from stop getting those phone call, have your father bill at hand and again pretend to be your father , or you could ask them to change phone number that put a stop to all those phone number on any daterbase


PS
Be care full that one day your father dose not give out his bank detail to someone on the phone one day , so I would go with changing phone number, and going ex directory , and hopefully your father won’t remember new phone number to give it out to any con artist out there

 

[Helena]

If you have an EPA the Utility Compaines should actually send all bills to you and ONLY deal with you

I had no trouble sorting out this side of my Mothers affairs and putting everything on Direct Debit

Only problem is now she has died I have to stert all over again because her Bank account is frozen until I get probate