LCEC – Lee County Electric Cooperative

New residential customers with a favorable credit rating from our outside reporting agency are not required to pay a deposit. All commercial/business customers are required to pay a deposit.

Recent or existing customers with a good LCEC payment history are not required to pay a deposit.

In some cases, commercial customers may provide a Surety Bond in place of a cash deposit. When you contact LCEC to start service, let the agent know you are interested in this option and they will process your request. Credit Reference Letters cannot be used as a means of waiving a deposit.

A history of missed payments is the first sign that a customer may not pay for electricity they have used. Therefore, a customer without a deposit may eventually be required to pay one if they develop a history of late payments, missed payments, returned checks, bad-debt write-off, or service disconnection due to non-payment.

Similarly, a customer with an existing deposit may be asked for an additional deposit if their existing deposit does not cover two months worth of electricity usage. Additional or new deposits on existing accounts are billed in three monthly installments.

You are provided 21 days to pay after you are billed for the electricity you have used. A payment not received by the due date is considered late.

After establishing 12 consecutive months of consistent payment history with no infractions, in the 13th month you may be eligible to have your deposit amount credited back to your account. Commercial accounts must have 24 months of active service to be eligible for this deposit review.

Deposit credits cannot be transferred to another customer. You may not be eligible to have the deposit credited if you left LCEC with an unpaid debt in the past.

Upon termination of service, the deposit will be applied against any unpaid bills that you owe. Any remaining balance will be returned to you.

Do customers earn interest on deposits?
Until they are refunded or applied to a final bill, deposits are used to fund LCEC operations. This reduces the need to borrow funds from lenders that charge interest. In order to keep operating costs for all customers lower and because no interest is being earned by LCEC on customer deposits, no interest is paid to customers.

• For residential locations, the deposit amount is two times the twelve-month average of the bill, or $200, whichever is greater.
• If a residential location does not have 12 months of recent billing history, the deposit amount is $200.
• For commercial locations, the deposit amount is calculated based on the total square footage under air conditioning, with a $200 minimum.
• Builder accounts are assessed a deposit of $100 per property.