Iowa utility deposit bonds.
From $100.
An Iowa electric or gas utility may require a customer to guarantee payment of future bills with a security deposit. Iowa Utilities Commission rules, including 199 IAC 20.4(3) for electric service, let the customer post the written guarantee of a surety instead of cash. Premiums cost 2% of the bond amount, $100 minimum.
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How much does an Iowa utility deposit bond cost?
2% of the bond amount, from $100. Enter your amount in the calculator for the exact price.
Three steps. 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 application.
Approved
No credit check up to $15,000, 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 check up to $15,000 in the application.
You need this bond if you are
Claims, renewal, filing, and what sets the price.
If a claim is made
A claim comes from the party the bond protects, the obligee named on the form, when the duty the bond guarantees is not met.
The surety investigates and pays a valid claim, up to the bond amount. You then repay the surety: a surety bond is a guarantee of your performance, not insurance for you.
Renewal and term
The premium covers a one-year term from the effective date you choose.
Renew before the expiry date to keep the bond in force: the license, permit or contract it backs expects continuous coverage.
How to file it
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 sets the price
The premium is 2% of the bond amount, $100 minimum: the amount the obligee sets moves the price, not your business profile.
No credit check up to $15,000. Above that, the carrier may run a soft pull, which never affects your score.
Where a check runs, it decides approval; the rate is the same for everyone approved.
One application, issued instantly.
Submit the application with the deposit amount your utility calculated. No credit check up to $15,000, and most amounts approve instantly.
Start the application →Common questions.
Other Iowa bonds.
Price and requirements checked on the carrier’s application, . Page updated .
Skip the cash deposit.
Premiums from $100, 2% of the bond amount. Enter the figure your utility calculated and send the bond in today.