Met Ed First Energy Company With good credit, needed a $300 security deposit! Internet

On July 1st 2010, my roommate moved out & had the Met-Ed electric in his name. I called to switch it over to my name. Met-Ed told me that I need to pay them a $294.00 security deposit! My roommate had previously spent time in prison for cocaine charges & didn't have to pay a security deposit! But myself, who has a perfect record and good credit, had to pay a security deposit! The bills were all paid on time so that wasn't the problem either. When I was 18 years old with NO credit, PP&L did not make me pay any security deposit! I was on auto-pay with them so never missed a payment. I have had Comcast & Dish with no problem, they never asked for a security deposit and I never missed a payment with them. I have had 3 cars, credit cards, loans, cell phones, and never had a problem getting any of those. It's inhumane to deny someone electric services. They only gave me 5 days to pay the $294.00 also or the electric would be shut off. I called and talked to a nice and professional customer service representative that explained to me that they cannot do anything, but told me to call the Lebanon Red Cross that could assist me with getting the security deposit paid so the electric would not be shut off. I have two small children living with me that are 6 and 2 years old and it's the hottest days of the summer, so without saying, we cannot live without electric. I called the Red Cross and the guy acted like I was crazy and told me they cannot help me with that! He told me another number to call, "Dollar Electric." I waited on hold for 30 minutes and when someone answered, they asked for all of my information, it took about 10 minutes and once I got to tell her my story she said, "oh no, we cannot help you with that, we only assist for the monthly payments for low-income households, we never can assist with security deposits." Well thanks for nothing. I can afford the monthly payments, that is not the issue. The issue is that I live paycheck to paycheck and do not get a paycheck in 5 days to pay the security deposit, nor do I have an extra $300 on any of my paychecks to give to them. They are just trying to get money from anyone they can and I really don't understand how poor people can have electric in Lebanon county. I have had a steady job for 5 years, work hard, and keep good credit so I don't have to deal with these situations. When I called back again after talking to both other "charity" companies that couldn't help me, some puerto rican chick with a huge attitude answered for Met-Ed and had no sympathy for me. She just wanted me to pay that $294.00 right there on the phone. Plus they charge an extra fee if you pay it with a credit card, so that makes it $300.00. I just don't believe in having to pay a security deposit for ELECTRIC...something that you NEED. You are not taking anything from them, they are just greedy and trying to make money any way they can and they should be sued for it.