Utility Bills, to include or not

[mylife]

Is it possible or wise to include past due utility bills?

[BKOnce]

If there are no house liens attached?

[mylife]

No liens, just a past due balance.

[newbie2]

You can include them, but be prepared for the utility companies wanting a large deposit the next time around. Might be cheaper to just pay the past due bills.

[kornellred]

Usually, a utility company will just shut off the service for non-payment, unless prohibited by law. There is no point in not paying utility bills.

[mylife]

We're paying them, just trying to get caught up on what was behind. That's good information, we'll keep doing what we're doing.

[walkthaplank]

You can generally include any debt in your plan, however if you include your utility bills in your plan, the utility will close your old account, applying any deposit they may be holding to your old account, open a new account back to the filing date and charge you a new deposit. You might not end up in a position that is any better than when you started. You are better off working out a payment arrangement with them. Don't tell them you filed BK if you do contact them. They won't know, but if you tell them they will do what I described above and probably won't talk to you anymore.

[corrin69]

I discharged a rather large PSEG bill (about $1500). I found two problems with this.

First, they required a $500 security deposit. I haven't paid it yet. I just keep ignoring it and paying my bill. PSEG's does not report the unpaid security deposit to credit bureaus (not sure why; perhaps they cannot because it is not an actual debt). Eventually, I assume they will threaten to discontinue my service over it.

Second, it screwed up my bill big time. It took them months after I filed before they sent me a bill under the new account. When I got it, it was for only one partial month. I called PSEG and asked them about the months of October and November, which were not included in my bill but were post-filing. They told me not to worry about it. I even asked the person in PSEG's bankruptcy department if this mean they were giving me two months of free electricy and gas. She responded, "yep, basically." Wrong. Last month I got a large bill. When I inquired into why it was so high, I was told it includes the months of October and November.

By the way, PSEG is the only creditor that has tried to collect bills included in my petition. Just a few days before my discharge, I got a letter from a collection agency trying to collect their bill. I called PSEG and they apologized and told me they would put a stop to it. A few weeks letter, now after my discharge, I got a letter from a another collection agency about the old account. Again, I called and got an apology. Finally, the 'large bill" I mentioned above turned out to include part of my old bill as well. The rep in PSEG's bankruptcy department refused to acknowledge that they had screwed up and tried about 10 ways to convince me the only thing included was my post-filing obligation. I finally said I would send it to my lawyer and let her sort it out with the court. That prompted an immediate apology.

[chicagoannie]

I included my electric bill - a bit of a story behind that, but the old bill was about $800. I did have to pay a deposit - approx 2 months worth of my current bill, which came to $120. My electric supplier is Commonwealth Edison, and I also had an issue with them trying to collect a portion of the old bill after I filed.

[discouraged]

This is the one thing I was adament to NOT include in the filing - I was not behind on any though. But there was a time I moved to a different state and due to my great credit with the utility companies, they did not charge me a deposit for new service in the new state. That was many years ago but never forgot it.