Apology and concessions for elderly customer

A person acting on behalf of their elderly parent contacted the Retailer to inform it of their other parent’s passing, close their deceased parent’s account and open a new account in their surviving parent's name.

The person complained to the Energy and Water Ombudsman that, subsequently, the bills continued to be issued in the deceased parent’s name. They also said that when they called the Retailer to rectify the situation, they experienced difficulty convincing the Retailer that they had an Enduring Power of Attorney for their surviving parent, and later received a letter from the Retailer closing their own home account rather than that of their deceased parent. The person complained about the closure of the wrong account and that the concession previously applied to their deceased parent's account should have been applied to their surviving parent’s account.

Following contact from the Energy and Water Ombudsman, the Retailer apologised for the extra work created from closure of the wrong account and offered to apply a credit to the account of the person’s surviving parent to match the expected concession payment.