OP is asking if we can make the call for her. Penelec is a utility company in PA. If your billing is like mine, your provider should be on the bill if talking about electricity. To allow someone to talk for you, you need to be present when u make the call. You tell the representative you are giving them permission to have someone talk for you. Sorry we cannot help you. This group is for caregivers sharing experiences.
What I've done is conference my father in on calls if a company needs to get his permission. (If your phone has "flash" function, you can do this.) During the first call, the company usually offers to send one of their own forms by which my father authorizes me to interact with them on his behalf.
These company forms are much simpler than a DPOA, and we don't reveal the extent of authority or any other personal information that would be in a DPOA. I never particularly wanted companies to have access to any other information that was specifically tailored to his situation, such as successor proxies.
During the initial call, I usually ask that future bills be sent to me. That's worked out well so far.
You can, but unless you have a formal Power of Attorney you need the explicit permission of the older person on whose behalf you are calling; and the company will need this either in writing or by speaking directly to the older person initially.
I am DPOA for my mother. What I did was send every phone,electric,bank etc a copy of DPOA. This will allows me to act on mothers account. No company is supposed to give you any information about another persons account with out legal authorization. The only way around this is to have the person you are helping to be on the phone with you and grant you permission. Can you imagine if a company just let anyone call and inquire about someone else. That is why we have privacy laws. I guess you could get on the phone and pretend to be someone else if you want to risk the legal consequences.
I don't know who Penelec is, but many companies today insist that they will only speak to the account holder. On the other hand, if you are conducting business over the phone how will they know you aren't the account holder unless you tell them? (wink wink)
Sorry we cannot help you. This group is for caregivers sharing experiences.
These company forms are much simpler than a DPOA, and we don't reveal the extent of authority or any other personal information that would be in a DPOA. I never particularly wanted companies to have access to any other information that was specifically tailored to his situation, such as successor proxies.
During the initial call, I usually ask that future bills be sent to me. That's worked out well so far.
You can, but unless you have a formal Power of Attorney you need the explicit permission of the older person on whose behalf you are calling; and the company will need this either in writing or by speaking directly to the older person initially.