Add this to the long list of ways that small businesses take it sans lube.  Duke Energy requires a $500 deposit for new business account transfers.  There are a few ways to get around this: 1.  Find a co-signer who owns a business and has been a Duke Energy customer for 2 years without a late bill in the past year. 2.  Get a Irrevocable Standby Letter of Credit from your bank:  example.  Turns out your money is still kept in a separate account and the bank's charge is $300 in addition to the $500.  Nice. 3.  Surety bond.  Requires advanced knowledge of legal babble:  example. After attempting #2 (and 10 transfers around our bank's phone system later) we decided to just go ahead and pay the $500 deposit over the phone.  I called Duke's Business number on the site and was taken to the Residential department *cough* where they told me it'd be a $3 convenience fee to pay over the phone (also only a $200 deposit). Once they realized I was in the wrong place I was transferred to Business Services where it costs $12.50 convenience fee instead for them to take our money and hold it in their interest-bearing account rather than our interest-bearing account. It didn't matter that I've personally been a paying customer for 2 years, etc. and we've been in business for 3-- they just want to hold on to that money.  A $500 deposit that our bill draws from would've been fine.  We're setup for E-bills to begin with.  If somebody doesn't pay, flip a switch and turn off their power. Somebody, somewhere, is getting rich.