IA utility deposit bonds.
2% of the bond amount.
An Iowa electric or gas utility may require a new or higher-risk customer to guarantee payment of future bills with a security deposit. Iowa Utilities Commission rules let the customer post the written guarantee of a surety instead of tying up cash — for electric service under 199 IAC 20.4(3), and for gas service under the parallel 199 IAC 19.4. Premiums cost 2% of the bond amount, $100 minimum, and the application collects no credit information.
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Apply to filed in one sitting.
No long underwriting queue for the standard utility deposit bond — enter your amount, pay, and send the bond to your utility. Here is the whole thing:
Apply online
Your details, the utility that requested the deposit, the deposit amount it set, and the effective date — that is the entire application.
Approved
The application collects no credit information, and most applications approve instantly. Premium is 2% of the bond amount, $100 minimum. Larger deposit amounts may get a brief review.
Send it to your utility
Your executed bond arrives by email, ready to submit to the utility in place of a cash deposit. Wet-ink originals mailed on request.
What it is and who needs it.
What the utility deposit bond actually does
Iowa lets an electric or gas utility ask certain customers — typically a new account without a payment history, or an account that has fallen delinquent — to guarantee partial payment of future bills with a security deposit. That protects the utility (and, ultimately, other ratepayers) if the account goes unpaid.
Rather than tying up cash with the utility for months, 199 IAC 20.4(3) (electric) and the parallel gas rule at 199 IAC 19.4 let the utility accept the written guarantee of a surety or other responsible party in place of a cash deposit. If you never fall behind, the bond simply sits behind the account; if you do, the utility can draw on it up to the bond amount, and you owe the surety back.
The deposit — and so the bond amount — is capped by rule: for a location that has previously received service, no more than the highest one month’s billing in the prior 12 months; for a new location, or an industrial customer, the customer’s projected one-month usage as determined by the utility. Ask your utility for the figure it calculated, enter it here, and your premium is priced from a $100 minimum with no credit information collected in the application.
You need this bond if you are
One application, issued instantly.
Submit the application with the deposit amount your utility calculated. The application collects no credit information, and most amounts approve instantly.
Start the application →Common questions.
Other Iowa bonds.
Skip the cash deposit.
Premiums from $100, 2% of the bond amount. Enter the figure your utility calculated and send the bond in today.