Can someone explain this?

[LookingAhead]

I e-mailed one of the lawyers we had our choice narrowed down to last night and had a reply from him already (thumbs up to him for that!) with a few questions and one of them was about our power bill - we are a few months behind and have a deposit on the account from over the summer too that is a little over $300. Total bill is about $900 (I just told him we were a few months behind plus the deposit). This was his response to including it in the bk..
"2. the power company debt can be discharged in the bankruptcy but a. they will apply your deposit to the debt and b. you will have to pay a new deposit to keep service. So in your case it may not be worth listing, it is up to you."

What does it mean "they will apply your deposit to the debt"?
and is a deposit a set amount? Will it just be $300ish again, or could it be much more?

Thanks!

[NoMoreCards]

The deposit the power company currently has, will offset the past due balance.
In order to continue to have power, they will basically kill that old account and open a new one. This will again (probably) require a deposit for the new account. The deposit amount can range and depends on your history with them, typical usage and such.

If I were in your shoes, I would think long and hard about including that account with the BK. You certainly CAN, however you will lose the 300 they currently have for deposit, and you will have to come up with another deposit of who knows how much. IMHO

[OhioFiler]

You owe them $900 but they have $300 sitting in the bank just in case you default. What he is saying is you can discharge $600 via bankruptcy and you'll be required to establish a new deposit with them. How much, I have no idea. I'd call them and find out what they base their deposits on.

[AngelinaCatHub]

We owed $700 and became late. They charged us (after 45 years of service) a deposit of $700. So, we ended up paying $1400 by and by. 'Hub

[LookingAhead]

yikes,so it sounds like I might be better off trying to get the bill paid off somehow... =/

[housepoor]

I would call and see what deposits are based on like someone else suggested. If it could be over $600 your better off paying the bill unless there is another company you can get the services from.

[frogger]

yikes,so it sounds like I might be better off trying to get the bill paid off somehow... =/

Probably so.

[charismamill]

The $300 security deposit will most likely be used to offset the $900 bill; leaving you to owe $600.

[Dannmcg357]

My atty explained it to me this way: you owe 900, you discharge 900. OK, we can't collect on the 900 you discharged in BK. Fine, we now require a 900 deposit to restablish service. Have a nice day. I would not include any utility or service you plan to keep using post BK.

[LookingAhead]

My atty explained it to me this way: you owe 900, you discharge 900. OK, we can't collect on the 900 you discharged in BK. Fine, we now require a 900 deposit to restablish service. Have a nice day. I would not include any utility or service you plan to keep using post BK.

How nice of them, haha.
They are the only power company here, so no other choice. Would have been nice if our tax return showed up like I had anticipated today... or if we didn't have to buy a new car with our refund and could knock some of this bill out... Oh well...can't complain with a 1K bill with the rest of the 45K that will be wiped away hopefully sooner than later...