I can’t connect my electricity because my meter is locked with a switch hold.
What is a “Switch Hold”, and why is it so complicated?
If you’re reading this, it’s because you’re lost in the “land of confusion”. It’s one of the most complicated topics in the retail energy world: the SWITCH HOLD. As confusing and frustrating as it is for you, it’s even more complicated for anyone to explain (even when we consider ourselves experts in the industry).
I will do my best to give you an idea of what it is and what you need to do to remove this unpleasant problem. However, you need to read carefully and be patient because, in order to conquer this “Switch Hold” situation, you must be prepared to spend time on several phone calls, emails, and faxes. If you have the smallest doubt or think you may encounter a Switch Hold problem, and you are in the process to move into a new home, act quickly! Switch holds may take 72 hours to be removed.
What is a Switch Hold?
There is no official definition of the term “switch hold”, but in retail electricity, it means there’s a “lock” or block on the electricity meter. This “switch hold” is placed on the meter of a specific service-able residential address for 2 main reasons:
a) to ensure the resident responsible for the utilities for that address pays the unpaid utility bill to the REP (Retail Electricity Provider), or
b) to resolve a “tampering” on the address meter placed by the TDSP.
How to Remove a Switch Hold
Let’s review and see what to do in both scenarios.
- When you move to a new address, you bring in all your utilities including cable, satellite, home phone, internet, electricity services, etc. You don’t know which providers were servicing that specific address and the last resident, who may have forgot to disconnect. With energy service, if the last resident didn’t call the electricity provider to move out or cancel the account, the electricity will keep running. It cuts off when it reaches a certain amount owed, but the account stays in a “stand by” mode. It’st now a debt to the energy provider for nonpayment, and this REP, through TDSP, issues the SWITCH HOLD. The energy provider does not know the previous customer moved out.
Now that you need a new electric provider, you call us for a new energy service and we tell you that there is a “switch hold”. It is not the job of the landlord to get rid of it. However, he has all the tools to help you
Meters
remove it and establish the new energy service of your preference.
- Here is what you have to do: Call us and create an electricity account; you will need the account number. The sales rep will explain the situation. Make sure to ask for the ESI ID # (meter number) and write it down. Ask the sales rep to fax/email either you or your landlord the Appendix J2 form – New Occupant Statement. Get a copy of your lease agreement (not just the front page, but the full document) and the J2 form signed with a contact number. It’s very important to have all of these documents in order and typed – nothing handwritten. All signatures and dates must be in order. Write the account number the sales rep gave you on all pages and the J2 form and fax/email them to us.
- All this drama is for making sure you really are a new resident unlucky enough to have moved into an address with a switch hold. If there is the slightest chance that the TDSP can link you with the resident who left the premises with the unpaid electric bill, they will not remove the switch hold.
2. When there has been tampering done by a previous resident, follow the same instructions.
Electricity Express Helps Its Customers with Switch Holds
Moving into a new address is complicated enough without adding this kind of ordeal. You want your energy running without any additional complications. I have helped a lot of customers with this issue. I know how to fill out the forms and how the documents should look. This is my recommendation to you: at the first hint of a problem related to a switch hold, gather as much information as you can (as listed above), and call me at #ElectricityExpress; 855 722 7199. Don’t waste time because you need your electricity a.s.a.p.; we need to act quickly. I will ask you some questions; trust me, they’re for your own benefit. I can help you by mediating between your landlord and the energy company. As you’re moving boxes and getting settled, I will do the phone calls while sending and receiving emails or faxes for you.
Don’t forget to follow our blog and videos about saving on energy. At Electricity Express, we know we can help.
