This Is Ridiculous

Herrick

I recently moved into my late grandmothers house, I'm the sole occupier. The bills were in my dads name since my grandmother passed away seeing as he inherited the house.

I'm on the social welfare at the moment and was told I needed a bill in my name to prove my change of residence to the SW. I ring up the ESB and am told I would have to pay €300 to have the account changed from my dads name into my name :mad:

But yet, when I pressed they said they would put it in both our names, the bill now reads "Mr John & Mr Peter Smith" Not real names obviously.

Can someone please explain whats the need to charge €300 for a simple name change? But yet they had no problem putting both our names on it?

I'm due to go into the SW tomorrow and I don't think having the bill in two names will cut it for them and there's no way I can afford €300

ted1

It's a deposit in case you run up bills. If you sign up to a direct debit or use someone who has a account sigh them as a gurantor you may avoid this.

Electric Ireland: David

Hi Herrick,

As ted1 said, if you sign up to pay by direct debit (you can do so online here), there would be no need to pay the €300 security deposit. The deposit is required for both new customers and those who have not had an account with us in the past 2 years. It is refundable after 14 months (or 6 clear bills - further info on our credit terms here).

If your father's name is to remain on the bill, there shouldn't be any requirement for a deposit - can you PM me your details so I can have a look at this for you?

Herrick wrote:

I'm due to go into the SW tomorrow and I don't think having the bill in two names will cut it for them

This shouldn't be a problem. For proof of address purposes, you needn't be the sole account holder.

If you have any further questions, I'll be happy to help.

Thanks,

David.

Herrick

Electric Ireland: David wrote: »

Hi Herrick,

As ted1 said, if you sign up to pay by direct debit (you can do so online here), there would be no need to pay the €300 security deposit. The deposit is required for both new customers and those who have not had an account with us in the past 2 years. It is refundable after 14 months (or 6 clear bills - further info on our credit terms here).

If your father's name is to remain on the bill, there shouldn't be any requirement for a deposit - can you PM me your details so I can have a look at this for you?



This shouldn't be a problem. For proof of address purposes, you needn't be the sole account holder.

If you have any further questions, I'll be happy to help.

Thanks,

David.

Hi David.

I'm afraid I'm in a catch 22 here. I don't have the €300 upfront and if I setup direct debit I can't guarantee I will have the money in the account the day its billed and am afraid I'll get some sort of interest added, if I'm a few days or a week late in payment.

I find getting a paper bill and having the extra week or two allowed to have payment in by allows me to have the bill price saved away.

As for the account name, I want it in my name only as I need to prove I'm the only person living in the house, proof of address is no good to me with two names on the account as I need to show I'm living on my own to qualify for extra payments I'm applying to the SW for.

To make it clear, my fathers name is not to stay on the bill.

If this is the case, I'll have to cancel the ESB account so, as I wouldn't be able to afford it if the SW don't see I'm the sole tenant of the house and approve me for extra money. It may seem dramatic but its day to day living for me currently

Electric Ireland: David

Hi Herrick,

Normally the deposit has to be paid within 10 working days after being applied to an account, but if the customer is not in a position to either sign up to direct debit or pay the €300 deposit up front, we could break down the €300 into more manageable installments.

I understand the concern of setting up a direct debit if you fear the funds won't be there to meet the bill when it issues. Budgeting for your bill in advance may circumvent this problem; for instance, if you prepay, say, €20 per week in advance of a bill using our online laser payment facility, these payments will be counted towards your bill as credit, thus reducing the bill total considerably once it does issue. The direct debit can then be used to 'clean up', so to speak.

Just to note, we don't charge interest on missed direct debit payments, but each time a direct debit is returned unpaid, there is a €6 charge applied to the account. This can be easily avoided if you notify us as soon as you receive the bill that the funds will not be present. We could then defer payment to a more suitable date (we would need at least 6 working days notice prior to the due date in order to do this).

Thanks,

David.

January

Your CWO may be able to help you with the deposit...

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Herrick wrote: »

As for the account name, I want it in my name only as I need to prove I'm the only person living in the house, proof of address is no good to me with two names on the account as I need to show I'm living on my own to qualify for extra payments I'm applying to the SW for.

To make it clear, my fathers name is not to stay on the bill.

If this is the case, I'll have to cancel the ESB account so, as I wouldn't be able to afford it if the SW don't see I'm the sole tenant of the house and approve me for extra money. It may seem dramatic but its day to day living for me currently

Being the sole accoutn holder for a utility in no way proves that you are the sole occupier of a premises. Many people who are renting in groups have one person put their name on the account and they split the payments; no question of sole accupation though.