Changing your name with EDF

How do I change my name with EDF?#

Contact EDF. Its help page on changing your details says that My details in MyAccount updates your password, email address, contact details and marketing preferences, and then says to "get in touch to change the name on your account or correspondence address". A new name cannot be entered in MyAccount.

EDF's contact page gives three ways to reach its home energy team:

• Text message. EDF says it tries to reply within one working day.
• Email. EDF asks you to include your account number, and tries to reply within two working days.
• Phone. EDF also has a specialist support team, free to use, for customers living with dementia, a disability or a mental health condition.

EDF's pages give no timescale for the change itself and mention no fee.

What does EDF ask to see?#

Its help pages do not list a document for a change of name, whether it comes from a deed poll, a marriage, a civil partnership or a divorce. Energy, water, phone and broadband compares what other suppliers publish.

GOV.UK warns that some energy providers may accept only an enrolled deed poll, and tells you to check with the organisation. EDF publishes no such rule. Have your deed poll, or your marriage or civil partnership certificate, to hand when you contact EDF, and if it asks for a copy, send a copy and keep the original. Will organisations accept a photocopy or a PDF? covers who wants what.

Your own name, or a different account holder?#

EDF changes your name on the account you already hold. A new person taking over the energy at a home is a different process, and EDF publishes separate routes for each case.

Moving into a home EDF supplies#

If you do not already have an EDF account, EDF's moving home page lets you set up a new account online. If you already have one, you give your new address and move-in date through MyAccount and can set up the new account at the same time. If your new home has a smart Pay As You Go meter, EDF asks you to call it as soon as you can and not to use an old top-up card or number, which might pay someone else's debt.

When you leave a home, EDF asks you to use Moving Home in MyAccount, up to 14 days before you move or up to 90 days after, with your moving out date and a forwarding address for the final bill.

The account of someone who has died#

EDF asks you to email it, or call, when someone with an EDF account has died. It says it has no dedicated bereavement team, but that all its teams are trained to help. It asks for:

• the full name and address of the person who has died, and the date they died;
• contact details for the person managing their affairs, the executor or administrator;
• a copy of the death certificate, if you have it, which you can send later if not.

If there is no will and you are not sure who the administrator is, EDF asks you to give whatever information you have. Its pages do not say how the account passes to someone who still lives at the property, so ask when you get in touch. EDF's bereavement support page lists free help, including Citizens Advice Plymouth, which it has teamed up with, and IncomeMax, for checking extra benefits on a low income.

If something goes wrong#

Complain to EDF first. Ofgem says an energy supplier must try to resolve a complaint within 8 weeks, and that you can go to the Energy Ombudsman after that, or sooner if the supplier sends a deadlock letter. What to do if an organisation refuses your deed poll has the steps that usually settle it before then.