Can my name be put on bills without my permission?

Quick question...

I recently tried to give some final meter readings to Southern Electric / Gas because I've just moved out of my flat.

It appears that we're no longer with them, and that the account was transferred to British Gas in April by one of my housemates.

I'm guessing (and hoping) that when he signed the utilities over to British Gas, ONLY his name will be on the bills for Gas / Electric?

There's no way he could have put my name on the bills is there?

Its just I can't be arsed to do any more chasing around, I'd rather let British Gas hunt him down if its just his name on the bill.

Oh and if what I'm doing seems a bit harsh, have a quick glance through these two threads:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=11995184&postcount=1

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17899021&highlight=username_mp3kla

I think it can be done, yes.

you can (possibly not legally, but very easily) put someone elses name on a bill, I did it in my old house because all the other bills were in my name so put the water i think it was in my housemates name

If you cancelled the service yourself you shouldn't be liable for bills...

I moved our service from Southern Electric to N-Power along with my girlfriends's name without them batting an eyelid. We don't have the same surname.

I didn't cancel the service with southern electric / gas, my housemate did. He signed us over to British Gas.

I didn't want him to do it, obviously if he has put my name on the bills, and they start hunting me down too - he could be in a spot of trouble wouldnt he?

Is it not fraud?

mp3kla said:

I didn't cancel the service with southern electric / gas, my housemate did. He signed us over to British Gas.

I didn't want him to do it, obviously if he has put my name on the bills, and they start hunting me down too - he could be in a spot of trouble wouldnt he?

Is it not fraud?

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I'm not sure, wouldnt you have to prove it was him and not you that did it, seeing as you lived at the property at the time I cant seem them being too bothered by it

It's totally legal. I've lost count of the amount of times I've done it for work purposes. Literally hundreds.

Abraham said:

I'm not sure, wouldnt you have to prove it was him and not you that did it, seeing as you lived at the property at the time I cant seem them being too bothered by it

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So if he wanted to, he could have put my name down for a Sky subscription? Or a new phone / internet subscription?

mp3kla said:

So if he wanted to, he could have put my name down for a Sky subscription? Or a new phone / internet subscription?

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No, not Sky or BT. They require proof that you are who you say you are.

Lysander said:

No, not Sky or BT. They require proof that you are who you say you are.

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My name somehow ended up on our BT Broadband bill and that was when I was still 16.

That seems totally messed up to me. Why should he have the right to add my name to something and make me legally responsible for paying - without my permission?

I've only just found out we're with British Gas, if there has been bills sent through to him - and he's not paid them - I'm going to get **** for this too...

Done it loads of times when I moved in with the ex fella. All I had to do was to call and request they put his name on bills and they did it straight away (he knew about thsi though)

I would have thought he would be able to anyway as he was just transferring suppliers. If you were already named with the previous supplier why would the new one have any reason to think that when transferring over that the names wouldn't be the same.

skippi90 said:

My name somehow ended up on our BT Broadband bill and that was when I was still 16.

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BT changed the rules recently. Anyone used to be able to set anyone else's account up, now they can't.

I just feel its weird that someone can go behind your back and change supplier or sign you up to something without having to have a signature from you.

What if I don't want BT Broadband, or British Gas, or Sky TV? Why should I have these things tagged to me. It seems very easy to add someone to a bill, yet when I had problems getting my other housemate to pay bills - it was impossible to remove myself from the bill once I'd paid my share.

It's all a bit of a joke if you ask me.

Unless he got someone to speak to them impersonating you then no. it is against the data protection act 1998 and revised in 2001, if they have your details and you feel it was given to them with out your permission its illegal. at my work i cant even speak to someones wife if they call up and have an issue even if it is the most simple thing we cant even confirm if they have an account as its against data protection