Deposits

The member's options regarding payment of deposits are:

1. Pay the required amount
2. Establish a Prepaid Metering account

The deposit requirement for residential service will be determined by the member’s established credit based on the following:

1. Credit rating from a recognized credit bureau based upon MEC’s credit criteria, or
2. Established credit history with MEC for 12 continuous months

The amount of the deposit is based on the member’s established credit history and will be:

1. Good credit history- no deposit required
2. Marginal credit history -2 times the highest monthly bill for the service location's previous 12 months' historical usage.
3. Poor credit history - 3 times the highest monthly bill for the service location's previous 12 months' historical usage.

New construction members unable to establish good credit history will be charged a minimum deposit.

To determine if a deposit will be required for business service, either of the following will be used to establish the member’s credit history:

1. The prospective commercial business applicant must provide proof of prior service either with MEC or another electric utility for a period of 12 consecutive months within the past 24 consecutive months with no late payments.
   •  The credit history must be in the same name as the applicant or business applying for the service.
   • The credit history must be the same rate class.
2. Provide MEC with an assignment of either:
   1. Bank Certificate of Deposit
   2. Surety Bond

The amount of the deposit will be:

1. Good credit history- no deposit required
2. Marginal credit history - 2 times the highest monthly bill for the service location's previous 12 months' historical usage.
3. Poor credit history - 3 times the highest monthly bill for the service location's previous 12 months' historical usage.
4. New construction services, members unable to establish a good credit history will be charged 3 times the average monthly bill based on the MEC engineer’s estimated usage for that service, based on a 75% load factor.

The deposit for this service class will be a two-month average bill based on the service location's historical usage during the previous irrigation season.

The deposit for a new service or where the service location lacks full historical usage for the previous irrigation season, will be 2 times the MEC estimated average monthly usage for the service using the seasonal rate at a 75% load factor.

The deposit for this service class will be a two-month average bill based on the service location's previous 12 month's historical usage.

The deposit for a new service or where the service location lacks 12 months of historical usage, will be 2 times the MEC engineer's estimated average monthly usage for the service.