2 accounts set up, 1 without any knowledge?

Gurlzie_01

Is it possible for a 3rd party to change name on an electric ireland account into my name without me signing anything or giving permission?

My housemate has been paying our electric Ireland bill by direct debit since Sept 2012 but has started getting calls from electric Ireland saying that they owe over €700.00 on another account and that it is going to the debt collector. €300.00 of this is for not setting up direct debit and paying by cash, if we knew about this account we would have asked for direct debit to avoid the deposit. If we knew that this account existed, we would have expected a call from someone about setting it up and would have asked for direct debit to avoid paying any deposit. We don't understand how an account could be set up without being told or asked what options we wanted to use to make payments?

When we moved in, the landlord said that we had a choice to go with electric Ireland or Bord Gais but never actually said would set up any account and we just did our own thing and ended up setting up the account my housemate is currently paying.

It seems that the landlord might have changed the name on the account into the housemates and we're a bit confused as to how there are 2 accounts in the same name and address. All we can think of is that the previous tenants didn't pay their bill and then the landlord changed the name on the account into the housemates and shes now been landed with the debt?

Would have thought she would needed to have signed something or have spoken to someone from Electric Ireland to confirm she was happy to change details into her name? 

How can this be fixed, every time she calls in she gets told that there is nothing they can do and she needs to pay up or it will go to debt collector but as she keeps saying, she never knew that there was a second account and surely if you look back at previous invoices, you could see that the account was in another persons name before Sept 2012?

Thanks

Electric Ireland: David

Hi Gurlzie_01,

Thanks for your message.

Gurlzie_01 wrote:

Is it possible for a 3rd party to change name on an electric ireland account into my name without me signing anything or giving permission?

Landlords and letting agents are authorized to open and close accounts on behalf of tenants residing in the properties they own/manage. However, they are not permitted to discuss the details of these accounts (bills, balances etc).

In the case of other third parties, due to the Data Protection Act (1988) we are only able to discuss details or close and open accounts with the registered account holder or a nominated third party.

Gurlzie_01 wrote:

we're a bit confused as to how there are 2 accounts in the same name and address. All we can think of is that the previous tenants didn't pay their bill and then the landlord changed the name on the account into the housemates and shes now been landed with the debt?

If the landlord changed the name on the account, the debt associated with the closing account would remain with the individual(s) whose name was on that account. It would not be transferred to your housemate's account. A simple way to think of it is this: a debt is tied only to an account holder, not a property. If your housemate had a new acount set up, it would never include arrears accumulated by a different account holder.

In order to investigate this further, the registered account holder would need to contact us with his/her account details by private message. If you have any other questions however we'll be happy to help.

Thanks,
David