Published Date 5/4/2021
Of all the details you are tasked with when moving to a new home, few are more important than hooking up your utilities. Setting up your electrical, natural gas, water, and sewer, cable, and internet, as well as trash pick-up, sounds daunting at first since you have to know where to go for each one.
Moving.com's Laura Mueller explains how these five basic home utilities are common among both renters and homeowners, and the same process is used for setting them up. "Depending on where you live and what the terms of your lease or HOA (if applicable) are you may be responsible for all five or just a few of them," she says, and adds that this process should begin at least three weeks before the move, if possible, since some utility set-ups offer more wiggle room than others. "As a general rule though, give your utility providers as much notice as you can, especially if they need to come out and set up service manually."
First, determine who your providers are. Your Realtor or landlord should be able to provide a list, or you can go online to see who services your area. Oftentimes you'll have one provider option for utilities like electricity, natural gas, water and sewer, and trash pick-up, and multiple options for internet and cable. Once you know who your providers are going to be, you can get in touch (do this around 2 weeks out). "If you already have utilities set up in your current home, you're going to need to either transfer your existing utilities or cancel your existing utilities and set up new ones. If you're starting from scratch, you'll just need to set up new ones," says Mueller, who says that canceling utilities is only necessary if you're going to have to change providers.
To set up a new service, visit the website of your new provider. "There should be information on there about how to set up utilities, but if not, call them directly," says Mueller. "You'll need to tell them the address that you're looking to set up utilities, as well as the date that you need service to start. Most utility companies will also require payment information at this time, either in the form of a credit card or a checking account and routing number." And be aware that some utilities may require a credit check before you go through the application process.
Once you've got all this going on, you're not yet out of the utility woods yet, since there is always the possibility of errors when you're transferring, canceling, or setting up utilities. "For that reason, it's a good idea to verify that everything went through as it was supposed to—especially since you don't want to end up with a bill for utilities that you thought were shut off," says Mueller.
The utility should explain what extra set-up charges are added to the first bill, and for those you are discontinuing, expect a final bill for any utilities that you shut off. "These should be prorated, meaning that charges for usage only apply up until the day that you scheduled your cancellation for," says Mueller, who adds that in some cases, you may actually be owed money from your utility provider, for example, if you paid for trash collection through a certain month.
As for those automatic payments, it's wise not to set it and forget it. It's always a smart move to double-check that everything is correct from time to time.
Source: TBWS
All information furnished has been forwarded to you and is provided by thetbwsgroup only for informational purposes. Forecasting shall be considered as events which may be expected but not guaranteed. Neither the forwarding party and/or company nor thetbwsgroup assume any responsibility to any person who relies on information or forecasting contained in this report and disclaims all liability in respect to decisions or actions, or lack thereof based on any or all of the contents of this report.
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NMLS: 630337
NEXA Mortgage
3100 W Ray Rd Ste 201, Chandler AZ 85226
Company NMLS: 1660690
Office: 480-650-5412
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Email: lwong@nexamortgage.com
NMLS: 630337
Cell: 480-650-5412
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