Hello All,

Is anyone able to advise on the following regarding utility bills in Florida?

1. What are the bills in Florida, i.e. Tv license, water, sewage, electric, gas etc.
2. How do we go about setting up accounts/registering for these?
3. How do you pay these bills, monthly etc?
4. I have read that you may need to pay a deposit whilst gaining credit, is this the case of all utilities?
5. Can we choose the service providers?
6. Roughly how much would you pay for each utility a month? Based on 2 people.
7. Any companies which should be avoided, or could be recommended?

Thanks.

Do a search for Florida and look up the stats/averages for the above questions that you have asked.

Where in Florida? Theres a whole bunch of power companies for example?

Is anyone able to advise on the following regarding utility bills in Florida?

1. What are the bills in Florida, i.e. Tv license, water, sewage, electric, gas etc. no TV licence,
water, electric, cable, HOA fees, property taxes, insurance, trash

2. How do we go about setting up accounts/registering for these?
Go into the respective offices
3. How do you pay these bills, monthly etc? monthly yes
4. I have read that you may need to pay a deposit whilst gaining credit, is this the case of all utilities? yes ....
5. Can we choose the service providers? Usually only one choice in each county
6. Roughly how much would you pay for each utility a month? Based on 2 people. too many variable, house size etc
7. Any companies which should be avoided, or could be recommended?
They are all crooks

cant be specific for florida but ive done the move 5 months ago and found the following.

there was no choice about sewerage, gas, water, eectricity.
there was choice about tv, internet and phone.
There MAY be choice about trash collection (some housing estates only allow one - others seem to allow a choice).

Some utilities will want a deposit. we had to pay 165 to the gas company and 75 to the water company. Think electricity was 200. No others asked for it.

in some places water sewerage and trash can be done by the same providor - but elsewhere it is done by seperate companies.

They send monthly bills and you pay by cheque. SOME providors have a kind of direct pay scheme - (like direct debit) but it varies from providor so you will have to ask. We set those up a few months after starting with those that did it.

to set them up - all i did was telephone them and sort it out over the phone (one exception - the water/trash/sewerage providor at the second rental we had required me to go to the office to set up and pay $50 deposit). The realtor told me the companies i needed to call. It took a while on the phone as they usually wanted a ssn number which we didnt have at that point. You have to explain you dont have one yet - OR a US drivers licence - and eventually they get on with it. I did have to fax a copy of my passport to some of them to proceed. One mistake we made was for me to do all the calling. the utility companies would only set up the bills in my name so the credit history is building in my name - when really my husband is the L1a and wage earner so it would have been better in his name.

one other thing i would say - the elec, gas and water bills seem to be billed on actual usage (think meter is read every months) so expect higher bills in winter than summer. our elec and gas here in ohio were over $200 each bill each month. water was about 20 a month, trash 15, cant remember the rest.

hope that helps a bit.

Yes, you will only be charged for what you use. For electricity, they charge by kilowatt hour and for water, they charge by the gallon. Not sure what the unit of measure is for gas, since we don't use it.

Typically, there isn't much of a choice for service providers. Remember that these are all private industries as well, so they can raise rates at any time (well at least they are in KY and OH).

Hello All,
Thank you for that, its a good place to start.
We will be in the Tampa Bay area, St Petes/Clearwater, TBC extact address.

I suppose we are after company names, or a website.
Good idea on who's name to put the bill in, do you know if we could do it in joint names?

At least with the cable company there Brighthouse
you can have the cable, phone. and internet all on the same bill ...

just found this leaflet in my mail (we have just used the post office redirection service after moving so are getting lots of this stuff).

www.homes.org - to set up all utilities maybe worth a look.

No TV licenses in the US. You don't have to worry about the detector vans driving down your street. If you want cable or satellite service you will pay for that. But if you want only over-the-air signals, just buy a TV and plug it in.

Hi, thanks MsElui
I will have a look at the website.

Are you telling me there isn't a Realtor in the area who has made a marketing website with all this information? Or the City doesn't have a website that gathers it?

Another idea is to use the local phone directory.. seriously, their website. They usually have a large section at the front which lays out all this info for newcomers to the area.

But would you believe anything a Realtor says...
I count my fingers after I shake hands with them ...

Stay clear of Direct Debits - no such thing as DD protection here......... it's a license for them to help themselves to your $$$...

the electric companies here rip you off and you have no say- you pay taxes on all your bills, and they plump on stuff like "customer charge" etc.

NEVER let them just take the money out of your bank-big NO NO.

NO TV license here but OH how I miss the Beeb-the adverts drive you crazy and its always the same things at different times of the day
daytime its going back to school ads
tea time its all ads for Drugs
night its all cars, cars, cars.

beware of credit cards too- they are the 2nd most complained about business in the US (and govt dont do sod all to control them)