We are in the pilot phase of this program. Initially, this program is being offered as an alternative to customers who are required to pay a deposit to get their service turned on. For customers who have established service already, PrePay may be a viable option for a) those seeking to get their service restored after disconnection for nonpayment and b) those seeking a payment arrangement to avoid disconnection. Each situation will need to be examined closely in that PrePay may not be a less expensive alternative.

PrePay allows you to start your service without having to pay a security deposit. You also have the flexibility to determine how much you want to pay and when. As long as you have Dollars Remaining on your account, your meter will remain energized.

Customers who are starting a new account which requires a security deposit may join PrePay for a down payment of $100.00 to fund their account. For active customers who are converting to PrePay, the initial down payment of $100.00 is the first requirement. Additional funding will be required based on several factors that may vary based on the status of the account.

While there is no guarantee your energy usage will decrease, studies show that PrePay customers are more aware of their costs and tend to take more steps to conserve their usage.

If you determine this program is not a good plan for you, we can remove you from PrePay. A security deposit may be required to transition your account to a traditional billing plan.

Yes, there is an option to join the PrePay program if you have a past due balance. If converting your existing account at your current location to PrePay, we can establish a payment plan which can defer up to $700 of your utility balance. In these situations, requirements to begin PrePay include (1) $100.00 down payment, (2) 5 days average daily usage, (3) any past due balance greater than the $700 and (4) any charges accumulated since the last regular bill. Any existing deposit is refunded to the account to help offset these charges. Once these charges have been paid, the past due balance on the account becomes a part of the Deferred Amount. Forty percent of every future payment is applied to the Deferred Amount until it is paid in full.

If you are moving from one address to another in our service territory, and the new address is eligible for the PrePay program, you may establish PrePay at the new address. In this situation, up to $1,000 of the utility balance is eligible to be put into a deferred balance. Charges for your previous address > $1,000 must be paid within 30 days. While these charges are not eligible for the deferred program, they could still be transferred to your PrePay account and impact your balance, if they remain unpaid at 30 days.

Please note: Charges for products and services are not eligible for the PrePay program as these types of non-utility related charges cannot impact the dollars needed to maintain your utility service.

Your existing deposit will be credited back to your account and pay off any existing charges that are due. If your account has a credit balance, that credit will be used to fund your PrePay account.

If the dollars remaining goes to zero or below, your account becomes eligible for disconnection. You should make a payment as soon as possible to prevent interruption of service.

You are automatically opted in the Low Balance alerts. You should receive a notification via email. If you opted in for text notifications and/or mobile app notifications, you would also receive notifications through these channels when the balance left on your account is estimated to energize your meter for five days or less. At five days remaining or less, your account is scheduled for disconnection. All notifications you receive encourage you to make a payment as soon as possible to prevent disconnection.

• Dominion Energy website
• Any authorized payment agency (full listing here)
• Through our phone payment vendor at 800-450-9160
• With a debit/credit card on the Paymentus website

Special Note: When there is a credit balance on your account (which should be the case for PrePay), our payment vendor may indicate no payment is due, however, you will be able to make a payment. We strongly encourage you to take appropriate steps to ensure your account keeps a credit balance.

Paymentus assesses a convenience fee of $3.50 per transaction with a maximum of 10 transactions being allowed in a 30-day period.

While your service is active, the frequency you pay and the amount you pay is really up to you. That’s one of the benefits of PrePay. We strongly encourage you to establish a payment method that is free of charge. Payments by phone may be assessed a charge. As well, there are some “unauthorized” payment locations around town that may charge you to take your payment.

The amount you pay is at your discretion. However, we strongly recommend you make a payment to at least cover any overdrawn amount, if one exists, and fuel your meter for a few days. The average daily costs provide some insight into how long your payment may fuel your meter. Please note: If you have a Deferred Balance on your account, 40% of the payment will pay down this Deferred Balance and 60% will be applied to your PrePay Balance.

The balance on PrePay account will be available on the website, through the balance alerts you can subscribe to, or through our automated service at 800-251-7234.

A reading is taken on your meter every day. That reading is used to calculate the cost of your charges for the previous day. That amount is deducted from the credit balance on your account. The “Dollars Remaining” represents the credit you have left on your account. The “as of” date reflects the last day this calculation was done.

Dollars Remaining divided by average daily costs.

You will automatically be enrolled in the low balance alerts that could generate when your PrePay balance is estimated to be depleted in 5-4-3-2-1 0 days. You may also subscribe to get an alert at 10 days remaining, 7 days remaining, or if you need daily assurance, a daily balance is available to you. You can receive notifications via the mobile app or through text notifications.

You will automatically receive the notifications you subscribe to via email. In addition to the emails, we strongly recommend you select text notifications or download the Dominion Energy mobile app.

You are eligible to receive various notifications about typical account updates or transactions, such as payments received, outage alerts, etc.

You certainly have the option to leave them turned on. However, they are not as relevant while you are on PrePay. The Mid Billing Cycle alert as well as the Usage Threshold alert are based on a traditional 30/31 day billing cycle. While you will receive a monthly bill for reconciliation purposes, the PrePay program allows you to be more in tune with your balances. Alerts specific to PrePay allow you to closely monitor your daily usage and costs.

As long as your account has a credit balance, your meter will remain energized. When that is no longer the case, your meter will be disconnected. To reconnect, you will be required to pay any overdrawn amount plus enough to cover an additional 5 days of estimated usage. This additional amount above the overdrawn amount is required to fund your account. There is no reconnect charge or deposit.

Once a satisfactory payment is made, a remote signal is sent to reconnect your smart meter. Typically, the reconnection only takes a few minutes to process. If for some reason the remote signal is not received by your meter, a service technician is scheduled to visit your property.

Each payment is allocated at the 60/40 ratio. If your account is disconnected, the amount required for reconnection will include this factor. The payment must satisfy the overdrawn amount + estimated 5 days of future usage, and account for 40% of the payment going toward the deferred amount.

You will still receive a monthly statement. It will be a recap of monthly activity. We are required to provide you a monthly billing statement. It covers activities for a specific period of time, as noted by the billing period shown on your billing statement. However, because of the nature of the PrePay program and the daily updates to your dollars remaining, the balances presented on your online account will always reflect a more current balance.

If you have a deferred balance on your account, the monthly statement gives details on all payments that impacted the balance.

While there is an existing deferred balance on your account, each payment that you make is split with a percentage going to fund the credit balance on your meter (60%) and the remainder to the deferred balance (40%) until the deferred balance is paid in full.

Ex. On an account that has a $220 deferred balance, a payment of $100 will be split with $40 being applied to the deferred balance and $60 going to pay your future usage.

You will receive a final bill from the address you moved from. If any charges remain that did not get moved to a deferred plan on your PrePay account, you will need to pay those charges within 30 days. Otherwise, any unpaid utility charges will be transferred to your PrePay account. If this transfer results in your PrePay account being overdrawn, you will be subject to disconnection immediately.

Call 800-251-7234 to have a Dominion Energy South Carolina representative investigate any dispute you may have concerning your service. The South Carolina Office of Regulatory Staff is available at 800-922-1531 to investigate and review any unresolved disputes between you and Dominion Energy South Carolina.

Dominion Energy routinely monitors the daily readings to ensure all meters are communicating as they should. If, for some reason the meter stops communicating, Dominion Energy will take steps necessary to secure a daily reading such as adding additional equipment. Until the readings are secured, the daily process is suspended as well. However, when the reading is secured, the billing process will resume and be deducted from the credit balance. Dominion Energy will work with you if, by chance the account is overdrawn at that point.

The program is designed for the deposit to be refunded to the account. If the refunded deposit satisfies all billed balances on the account, any credit can be used to credit the account. However, if your deposit was paid by an assistance agency, refund of any amount beyond your billed balance is at the discretion of the assistance agency.