Billing Query: Living With OAPs

klaus23

To whom it may concern,

my wife and I have moved in with her parents to care for them. Both are OAPs and their Electricity bill reflects that they have a Free Electricity Allowance.

We have discovered that their bills are very high and are taking steps to reduce usage, both in terms of trying to identify what is causing the high usage and considering availing of existing discounts such as paperless billing and submitting meter readings for each billing interval.

The bill is in one of their names, but they only become confused when trying to submit meter readings, deal with customer service etc. With this in mind, is it possible to transition the bill into my name or my wife's name, but retain the Free Electricity Allowance?

Many thanks in advance for your guidance

Electric Ireland: Una

Hi klaus23,

Thanks for getting in touch.

The Electric Ireland account will have to remain in the present account-holder's name to avail of the FEA, however they could add your and your wife's names to their account so that you have authorisation to discuss queries with Electric Ireland.

The way the meter-reading system works for Electric Ireland and other electricity billing companies is: ESB Networks will read the meter for four out of the six annual bills (as long as they can access the meter) and the remaining bills are estimated. Always wait until the scheduled bill is issued first, as it should be accurate/based on a meter-reading most of the time. Whenever it is estimated though, send in the meter-reading ASAP to correct it (if there is significant difference between the estimate and the reading).

The account-holder will need to contact Electric Ireland to authorise adding your names to their account. The ways to get in touch are listed as follows on the Electric Ireland website. They could also send in this authorisation by letter, signed and posted to Electric Ireland, P.O. Box 841, South City Delivery Office, Togher, Cork T12C825. On a written request, it is required that they state they are the account-holder, confirming how their name appears on the account, their Electric Ireland account number, address and date of birth or telephone number, along with the name(s) and date(s) of birth of whomever they wish to give account authorisation to.

Confirmation from you and your wife will also be required, to confirm that you are agreeable to the above. We can take that by private message here on Boards from yourself.

If an estimated bill issues while the above is being organised, you can send us a meter-reading by private message here also - we just won't be able to provide the amount that the corrected bill is for, but we can process the meter-reading.

Let us know if you have further queries.

Kind regards,
Una

klaus23

Thanks Una, this is very helpful

Electric Ireland: Una

You are very welcome klaus23 - we're happy to advise.

And just to clarify something - you and your wife actually do not need to give us permission to add your names as authorised contacts to the account, only the account-holder has to.

If one of you wished to have your name added to the bill, then that permission would be needed from you, however if you are just looking to be able to discuss the account, the request from the account-holder is sufficient.

Kind regards,
Una