Utility Companies

Utility Companies

Utility companies don't have to report to consumer reporting agencies. But if they do, make sure the info is accurate.
Some tenant screening, background check, and credit reports contain your utility bill payment history. When this information is included, the law requires it to be accurate. Gain insight on whether that information should be there, what you can do about it, how you can correct it, and how Consumer Attorneys can help you throughout the process.

Usually, your record with utilities and utility bill payment histories will not appear on credit reports from the three major Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRAs). The three big CRAs are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. No law requires utility companies to report their accounts with CRAs. However, if you consistently pay on time, utility payments can boost your credit score, especially for individuals with little to no credit history. You can add these payments by engaging a third party to report these payments on your behalf. You can also pay utility bills with a credit card - which gets reported to CRAs regularly - to pay utility bills and then pay off the card regularly. This approach is one way to establish and improve your credit score and credit standing. Payment history can account for 35% of your credit score. Adding good utility payments to your credit report contributes to the number of timely payments.

However, when you don’t pay utility bills, and those bills go to collections, it is likely that this negative history will appear on your credit reports from CRAs, major and minor. Additionally, when you pay utilities and rent together, your utility payment history may appear on some tenant screening and background reports if the landlord reports your payments to those tenant screening and background check companies. Utility bills are especially susceptible to non-payment since people relocate, and utility bills can feel tied to an old residence.

Some companies focus almost exclusively on utility payments. These are usually tenant-screening companies that serve landlords and property management companies, or background check companies that occupy a similar niche. We have compiled a list of all credit reporting agencies for you.

As consumer protection attorneys, we see what can happen when consumers are surprised by the information in their credit reports - whether it’s outdated, inaccurate, duplicative, or from a company you’ve forgotten about. In this article, we provide a list of major utility companies in the US. We can’t provide a complete list of utility companies in the USA because there are too many. How many utility companies are in the USA? There are thousands. So our list contains the largest utility companies in the US and the top utility companies in the U.S. Use this list of the biggest utility companies in the USA to ensure your credit reports do not contain any inaccurate or outdated information from them.

Information on Utility Companies

One of the reasons that utility companies have not been required to report their accounts to CRAs is that utilities have traditionally not been considered credit. Customers pay utility companies for a service rather than making payments on a line of credit. The term utility typically refers to all the essential services we need to live, services like electricity and gas for heating and lighting, water and sewage services for sanitation, and trash and recycling collection for waste management. Utility payments typically meant customers received regular charges for using these services, and since those bills varied based on usage, regional rates, and service providers, they weren’t considered credit.

However, the concept of utilities has evolved. In the modern world, utilities have expanded to include telecommunications services like telephone, internet, WiFi, and cable TV as they have become necessary for contemporary life. Payment of some of these bills resembles something more akin to the sort of credit that would appear on a credit report.

Main Utility and Telecom Companies

Below is a list of the top utility companies in the USA. If you see one on a credit report, tenant screening report, or background check report, contact a background check lawyer at Consumer Attorneys. We will confirm that it is supposed to be there.

Utility Companies

  1. Alabama Power Company
  2. Ameren Corporation
  3. American Electric Power
  4. American Water Works Company, Inc.
  5. Arizona Public Service
  6. Atmos Energy
  7. Baltimore Gas and Electric
  8. Berkshire Hathaway Energy
  9. CenterPoint Energy
  10. CMS Energy
  11. Consolidated Edison
  12. Dominion Energy
  13. DTE Energy
  14. Duke Energy
  15. Entergy Corporation
  16. Exelon Corporation
  17. FirstEnergy Corp.
  18. Florida Power and Light Company
  19. Georgia Power
  20. Hawaiian Electric Industries
  21. Idaho Power
  22. Indianapolis Power & Light Company
  23. Kansas City Power and Light Company
  24. Kentucky Utilities
  25. Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
  26. MidAmerican Energy Company
  27. Mississippi Power
  28. National Grid USA
  29. New Jersey Natural Gas
  30. New York Power Authority
  31. NextEra Energy
  32. NiSource
  33. NorthWestern Energy
  34. NV Energy
  35. Oklahoma Gas & Electric
  36. Pacific Gas and Electric Company
  37. PECO Energy Company
  38. Portland General Electric
  39. PPL Corporation
  40. Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G)
  41. Puget Sound Energy
  42. Salt River Project
  43. San Diego Gas & Electric
  44. Sempra Energy
  45. Southern California Edison
  46. Southern Company
  47. Southwestern Electric Power Company
  48. Tampa Electric
  49. Tennessee Valley Authority
  50. The AES Corporation
  51. The Illuminating Company
  52. Tucson Electric Power
  53. TXU Energy
  54. Vectren
  55. Virginia Natural Gas
  56. Westar Energy
  57. Xcel Energy

Telecom Companies

  1. AT and T Inc.
  2. Boost Mobile
  3. CenturyLink (now Lumen Technologies)
  4. Charter Communications (Spectrum)
  5. Comcast Corporation (Xfinity)
  6. Cox Communications
  7. Cricket Wireless
  8. Dish Network
  9. Frontier Communications
  10. Google Fi
  11. HughesNet
  12. Metro by T-Mobile
  13. Mint Mobile
  14. NetZero
  15. Nextiva
  16. RingCentral
  17. Sprint Corporation (now part of T-Mobile US)
  18. T-Mobile US
  19. TracFone Wireless
  20. U.S. Cellular
  21. Verizon Communications
  22. Visible
  23. Vonage
  24. Windstream
  25. Xfinity Mobile

Contact Us

Credit reporting, tenant screening, and background check reporting can be confusing, especially when you add utility companies to a report. Even the best utility companies in the US don’t always have the best mechanisms and procedures for reporting customers’ accounts to credit reporting and tenant screening companies.

A credit dispute lawyer knows the laws that govern the reporting and sale of a consumer’s history and personal data. If you are confused by the appearance of one of the big utility companies in your credit report and wondering if it should be there; or if information from one of the largest utility companies in the USA is inaccurate and you want to dispute it, contact us.

Call us at 1-877-901-3829. Email us at info@consumerattorneys.com. Visit our website and talk to a representative online or fill out a contact form.

We are happy to talk to you, assess your situation, offer legal advice, and, if necessary, represent you in court. Because even the largest utility companies in the USA need to obey the law. We hold them accountable when they don’t. And sometimes, large utility companies listen to a lawyer more than a customer.

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