OMG deposit for electric co.!

**baxjul** · 02-27-2007, 07:19 PM

We were renting and the electric is in their name, so I applied online for our electric to be turned on. The security deposit for electricity is...

$380.00!

I almost passed out! Then they are going to charge me a "one-time" fee of $28.00. For a grand total of $408.00. Just to put the electric in our name. It is already turned on, so all they have to do is put our name on it!

**FrugalMomof3** · 02-27-2007, 07:30 PM

OMG I have never heard of that, usually they tell us that the person who's name it is now has to cancel their service and all we have to do is sign up for new service.

That seems a bit high, even getting a new phone number for a business here they only want $150 upfront, I think I would call them if I were you and ask about it one-on-one and what ways are there to avoid such fees.

**Grayce** · 02-28-2007, 12:58 AM

They have something similar here. When I got my first place 15 years ago it was $200. It is probably much more now. If you paid your bills on time for 2 years then you could apply to get your deposit back. We got our deposit back after 2 years and never had to pay again when we moved because we always have paid the hydro bill on time.

**Jenna** · 02-28-2007, 01:04 AM

We had to make a deposit of $162 for the electric service. They refunded it after a year.

**Luv2BeFrugal** · 02-28-2007, 01:11 AM

Wow! That's crazy!! I hope you can work something else out with the company...that just seems out of the question...

**Neeley** · 02-28-2007, 01:20 AM

The power company here charges a deposit as well. Here it is based on your credit score in conjunction with the average power bill for a home similar in size/features as yours. The only way they will waive 100% of the deposit is if you had power in your name previously with a different company and that company wrote a good customer reference letter for you.

**nuisance26** · 02-28-2007, 08:07 AM

~6 years ago when we moved in here, the deposits for electric and natural gas were $200 each and $80 for the phone. Got it all back in a year, but it's one of those things about home ownership that surprised and irked us. Can you ask your landlord to write a letter of reccommendation for you? Do you have canceled checks to back-up your on-time payment history? I think with those things you could ask them to waive the charge. ~

**YankeeMom** · 02-28-2007, 08:45 AM

I'd never heard of deposits for utilities until we moved from NY to NC where we found it would be nearly $600 deposit just to get long distance phone service

Yeah. We didn't ever get long-distance phone service while we lived there.

Oh, and this wasn't for a home we owned...we were renters!

**baxjul** · 02-28-2007, 05:46 PM

I called the electric co. today, they base it on the average electric bill for the address. They said that the elec. bill for that address was $190.00 per month. Jeez, whoever lived there must have run everything constantly! They wouldn't lower it at all.

**monkeywrangler71** · 02-28-2007, 05:55 PM

Our deposit was based on previous use as well. I think they wanted around $280, our bill is usually around $50. We got a reference from our old company and it was waived.

I don't know what the previous owners were doing here, but our usage has been less than half of theirs. Our power company estimates every second month based on previous use, so I have to call in the meter reading on the estimate months or else I get a ridiculous bill and then an adjustment the next month. It is a huge pain.

**Jeanna** · 03-01-2007, 10:09 AM

When we move this past year we had to but a $200 dollar deposit on our electric. It was because for the last 2 years we had had such large bills, I am talking $350-$410 for about 6 months every year trying to keep the other house we lived in warm, so we were always behind until up in July. So based on our credit we had to give a deposit. Once we pay on time for 1 year we get our money back. So far our bills have been much lower and we are right on time. I want my $200 back.