Ocala to refund utility deposits for OEU customers

File photo: Keith Green, a lineman with Ocala Electric Utility, works on power lines from a bucket truck at the Eugene Dearmin substation off Southeast 36th Avenue in Ocala, Fla. on Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2021.

Ocala Electric Utility residential customers will receive a credit to their account and a reduced bill starting in August after the Ocala City Council passed an ordinance to return customer’s initial utility deposit.

In August, the city will return over $1.89 million to 10,820 OEU customers. The ordinance, passed in January, will allow the city to provide refunds from time to time at its own discretion.

“Revising the procedure for the maintenance and refund of utility service deposits…is intended to and does protect and promote the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the city of Ocala,” according to the ordinance.

Customers who have been serviced by OEU for two years and shown a satisfactory payment record are eligible for the credit. They must have a payment history with fewer than two penalties, no returned checks and no delinquencies for a year before the refund.

If a customer isn’t currently eligible to receive the credit, they may become eligible once they complete one year of satisfactory payments.

For more information, contact the customer service department at (352) 629-2489.