# Bord Gais: charge tenants €200 to set up account but dont charge home owners! unfair?



## April Raine (11 Aug 2008)

bord gais charge 200 euro for a new account when one is a *tenant* but this is not levied on a *home owner*. can they do that? Would it breach equality legislation in any way


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## ajapale (11 Aug 2008)

*Re: Bord Gais: charge tenants €200 to set up account but dont charge home owners! unf*

Home ownership status is not a grounds to claim discrimination.

Bord Gais are perfectly entitled to charge tenants and not charge home owners to set up an account.


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## rmelly (11 Aug 2008)

*Re: Bord Gais: charge tenants €200 to set up account but dont charge home owners! unf*

My gas supplier charges a 'deposit' for both, ridiculous given that I currently plan to live there indefinitely.


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## bond-007 (11 Aug 2008)

*Re: Bord Gais: charge tenants €200 to set up account but dont charge home owners! unf*

Actually the ESB refuse to put accounts into the names of tenants until they have been resident for at least 12 months and even then a deposit of €300 is demanded.


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## micmclo (12 Aug 2008)

*Re: Bord Gais: charge tenants €200 to set up account but dont charge home owners! unf*



bond-007 said:


> Actually the ESB refuse to put accounts into the names of tenants until they have been resident for at least 12 months and even then a deposit of €300 is demanded.



Don't think so.
I got an account in my name as a tenant and it wasn't a problem. I pay by direct debit and I think the deposit was €150. Actually, I'm not sure if I paid a deposit or not, it was quite a while ago.


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## Bubbly Scot (12 Aug 2008)

*Re: Bord Gais: charge tenants €200 to set up account but dont charge home owners! unf*

If you set up a Direct Debit with ESB you don't have to pay the deposit, even as a new resident. At least this was the situation recently with a tenant.


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## Bronte (12 Aug 2008)

*Re: Bord Gais: charge tenants €200 to set up account but dont charge home owners! unf*



bond-007 said:


> Actually the ESB refuse to put accounts into the names of tenants until they have been resident for at least 12 months and even then a deposit of €300 is demanded.


This is not true, you can have an account in your name as long as you pay the deposit.  OP I can see nothing wrong with tenant's having to pay a deposit, ESB & Bord Gais have been stung once too often.  The reason house owners do not have to pay one is that the ESB know where they live and can come after then whereas tenants can disappear.


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## bond-007 (12 Aug 2008)

*Re: Bord Gais: charge tenants €200 to set up account but dont charge home owners! unf*

Things must have changed, as an ESB employee I couldn't avail of my 15% employee discount on a rented house. They wanted proof of 12 months occupancy. Otherwise account had to stay in landlords name.


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## Suzy (12 Aug 2008)

*Re: Bord Gais: charge tenants €200 to set up account but dont charge home owners! unf*

I am a home owner and I had to pay Bord Gais €200 deposit when we moved into our house.


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## tml (12 Aug 2008)

*Re: Bord Gais: charge tenants €200 to set up account but dont charge home owners! unf*

they told me it was €500 deposit (home owner) but never charged me for it, mind you they have lost 2 direct debit mandates on me so I have just paid my 2 bills by laser over the phone and nobody mentioned the €500. 

Will wait and see what my next bill says!


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## Sylvester3 (12 Aug 2008)

*Re: Bord Gais: charge tenants €200 to set up account but dont charge home owners! unf*

People will have different experiences depending on what the Credit systems of ESB and Bord Gais tell them to say. When I first came over to Ireland I had no credit history and the bad luck to rent a place where the previous tenant had decided not to bother paying. I had to pay extortionate deposits to set up accounts and dealt with very rude customer service staff (that was a mystery to me - they must have passed me to people who dealt with aggressive clients, or it might have been my impression only). When we moved to a new rental property 6 months later we had a different experience and were refunded the previous deposits. We bought a house a year later and again the experience was more pleasant - although the previous owner went to the trouble of disconnecting the gas rather than having it put in our name so we had to pay a connection charge, lovely woman that she was.


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## Bronte (12 Aug 2008)

*Re: Bord Gais: charge tenants €200 to set up account but dont charge home owners! unf*

I am a landlord and last xmas a tenant left and I just transferred the bill into my name no deposit required, then the new tenant had it transferred into his name (non Irish national and first time renting if this is relevant) and they put it in his name and sent him the first bill with the deposit (I think 300) on it to be paid.  All done over the phone and ESB very pleasant to deal with.  I find if I get someone not helpful in these organisations I just ring back another day and get a different person.


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## April Raine (12 Aug 2008)

*Re: Bord Gais: charge tenants €200 to set up account but dont charge home owners! unf*



Sylvester3 said:


> People will have different experiences depending on what the Credit systems of ESB and Bord Gais tell them to say.


I don't think that is correct. Bord Gais confirmed it is a policy to charge tenants and not owners. By the way I should have put a ? rather than a ! and the end of my title as 'unfair' was a question not a statement. I can see the thinking behind it but people have said to me it is discriminatory. Thanks for the feedback


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## Sylvester3 (12 Aug 2008)

*Re: Bord Gais: charge tenants €200 to set up account but dont charge home owners! unf*



April Raine said:


> I don't think that is correct. Bord Gais confirmed it is a policy to charge tenants and not owners. By the way I should have put a ? rather than a ! and the end of my title as 'unfair' was a question not a statement. I can see the thinking behind it but people have said to me it is discriminatory. Thanks for the feedback



So my _personal_ experience was incorrect was it?  my my, I will have to go and edit those memories so they match up with your reality then.


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## April Raine (12 Aug 2008)

*Re: Bord Gais: charge tenants €200 to set up account but dont charge home owners! unf*



Sylvester3 said:


> So my _personal_ experience was incorrect was it?  my my, I will have to go and edit those memories so they match up with your reality then.


don't know about your experience but that is what bord gais said at a senior mmanagement level


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## cleverclogs7 (26 Oct 2008)

*Re: Bord Gais: charge tenants €200 to set up account but dont charge home owners! unf*



Bubbly Scot said:


> If you set up a Direct Debit with ESB you don't have to pay the deposit, even as a new resident. At least this was the situation recently with a tenant.


 
Not true.i set up an account the end of august and had to pay a deposite of 300 euro and 400 euro with bord gais


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## Armada (27 Oct 2008)

*Re: Bord Gais: charge tenants €200 to set up account but dont charge home owners! unf*



cleverclogs7 said:


> Not true.i set up an account the end of august and had to pay a deposite of 300 euro and 400 euro with bord gais


 

I had the opposite experience a couple of weeks ago when I set up 2 new accounts with ESB for (first time) tenants. There was no deposit required when they agreed to pay by direct debit.


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