New Ownership Costs

I just received my first utilities bill today from Ontario PUC and there was a charge for 'Home Occupancy' - $30.00 and 'Deposit' - $200.00! I'm a bit stunned by this because I wasn't expecting to pay a $200.00 deposit, and I don't even know what it's for.

I bought a new home (re-sale) about a month ago so this is all new for me especially all of these 'Administrative Charges' for changing my name to the new address. I had to pay the City of Oshawa $10.00, and another $25.00 to Hydro to change my name to the new address. I think it's a bit ridiculous to pay all these administrative fees. It's not cheap. They add up - in my case, $65.00 just to change ownership!

Does anyone know what the $200 deposit is for, and do all new owners have to pay this?

Thanks.

When I bought my house, both the gas and hydro companies required a deposit. However the gas company waived the deposit if I signed up for pre-authorized payments, and the hydro company waived the deposit if I provided a credit report.

They're not trying to screw you, they just want to protect themselves (ie: you use a lot of utilities over a period of 3 months and don't pay, they could be out a lot of money).

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Ontario Hydro (Hydro One - EDIT) told me that I have to pay a $200 security deposit but I would get it back at the end of the year with interest. They just want to be sure you don't default on your payments or anything like that.


The only way I was able to get out of it was by doing pre-authorized payments and equal billing. I chose to pay the $200 bucks as I don't like the fact that Ontario Hydro could potentially have $100s of my dollars sitting in their bank account collecting interest instead of mine. I'd rather leave it at $200 and get it back next year.