Guide To Move Utilities When Moving Home

Getting organized for moving day takes a lot of time and effort, and you want to be sure that you have everything in order. Obviously, you need to have your local movers scheduled and start packing up your home. But, what about all of the little things that need to be done? Do you have the small details in order, yet?

Many people don’t realize that utilities need to be part of their moving checklist from the beginning and that they should be taken care of pretty early on. Here are some of the things that you need to keep in mind when you’re moving utilities during the moving process.

Sort Out What Needs to be Turned Off and What Services Can Move With You in Advance

As you get started with the process of moving, you want to do some research and contact your utility companies to see what they have to say about the process. In many cases, you’ll just need to schedule your final bills to get a final meter reading and be done with it.

If you’re going to be transferring utilities, then you’ll provide them with your new address. They will add that address to your file. Then, they will schedule when you need to turn off your current utilities and when the utilities at your new home will be turned on (or put into your name, depending on the situation).

Connect with the City to See About Starting a Water/Sewer/Trash Account

Taking the time to set up utilities before moving into a city or town that takes care of such things for you will take a little effort. Many towns and cities have a central system of plumbing that goes underneath the city. The city or town is in charge of caring for this system. So, if a water pipe bursts on your street, the city or town will come to repair it.

In those cases, you also likely have a municipal trash route that you live on, and you’ll have a trash can from your locality. Garbage will be picked up on a particular day. There are even some municipalities that will have recycling bins available, either on the same day or a different one.

Water, sewer, and trash are typically under one bill. So, when you sign up for an account and put it under your name, the city will have a minimum cost that you’re working with. If you go over a certain threshold of water use, you may go to a different bracket where you will have to pay a bit more.

If you live in a rural area, it’s likely that you have some sort of septic system (instead of being connected to the main sewer line) and/or water well (instead of being connected to the main water line). These will be set up and ready to go when you move into your new place. You are also unlikely to have a trash system and may have to take your trash to the dump. In those instances, you won’t have to set up those utilities or pay extra for them.

Do You Have a Homeowners’ Association?

When you move into a neighborhood, you will learn whether or not you’re going to be affiliated with a Homeowners’ Association, or HOA. These are often “governing bodies” that help keep the neighborhood looking nice and ensuring that it’s safe.

In some cases, they will also be responsible for paying one large collective bill to the town or city you reside in. Your dues will then help pay for water, sewer, gas, and electricity. Your real estate agent can give you a better idea as to whether or not an HOA is in the neighborhood you’re looking at and how much you could expect to pay in monthly or yearly dues.

Update Your Address

Make sure that you have your account numbers and other pertinent information available, and then either sign onto your online account or connect directly with service professionals. Give them your new address and make sure that everything is updated with it. This includes checks and cards you may be used for payments and any other addresses associated with the card.

There are a lot of different things that you need to have in order before you get your move sorted out, and your utilities are absolutely essential in that case. If you start the process as you can, you’ll find that it’s much easier to accomplish your goals. You won’t have to worry about whether or not utilities have been turned on and you can stay ahead of problems.

Before You Move

1. Ways to inform your energy provider when moving to a new house

Reach out to your energy supplier and let them know of your upcoming move. You must provide them a minimum of 48-hour notice, but you can also inform them well ahead.
Find out if there is an early exit fee included in your current plan; there are suppliers that waive this when you are moving.
Your current energy supplier may ask if you would like them to continue supplying you at your new residence – you don’t have to decide at that moment. (You will want to make a comparison of the best energy deals for your new residence before you decide. But hey, there are many other steps to carry out first).
Plan to have your supplier send your overall bill to you at your new residence

2. Look for gas and electricity supplier of the new property

If you are unable to get this information from the landlord or current tenants, you can still look for your new energy supplier: you can check the gas supplier online service to find your gas supplier as it can also provide your gas meter number.

During The House Move

Moving day is a tedious time, but remember to take care of those little tasks like gas and electricity while you are loading your moving boxes. You will later like it when your new bills arrived in order.

Take a final reading of your meter on your last day in your old home.
Let your supplier know this reading and also file the readings for your o make a comparison against your overall bill.
Inform the tenants of the supplier, if you are yet to. You can also leave a note if are yet to meet the new tenants.

After The Property Move

Now that you’ve relocated into your new home, you are at the final phase.

Take a meter reading at your new house. Do this immediately you get there to make sure your first bill is accurate.
Reach out to the new property’s supplier to let them know about your move and to give them your reading. You want to avoid being made accountable for another person’s usage.
You should know that you are responsible for any usage starting from when you take charge of the property, not only from the date you first move-in.
Your new utility supplier will often place you on their standard plan at first – this is usually their costliest plan.
Now that all the details you need are in your custody, like your new supplier name, plan name, and postcode, you can make sure you are receiving the best deal on your electricity and gas by performing a comparison of energy price.

If you discover a better deal with another energy company via a switch provider like Uswitch, you don’t need to notify the supplier, the whole handover will be handled by the switch provider.

Choose the best utility provider by asking the right questions from them as regards the transfer

If you have the opportunity, make sure you choose the best utility company by following these tips:

Ask the previous occupants of your new apartment, new neighbors, and your realtors how satisfied they are with the services they have received.
In case, they have encountered challenges, ask them how quickly were they resolved and what was the monthly bill for utility services charged.
Check the websites of the utility providers to know what they offer.
Go through their customer reviews to evaluate their services. Or, you can sign up on local forums to receive feedback from their existing customers.

Immediately you are done with the early research make a list of phone numbers of the utility providers that match your specific requirement and choices.

Call the company and ask them vital questions like:

How much will I be charged for starting a service?
Is there any deposit required?
Do you offer any discounts or deals for first-time consumers, seniors, those living in a particular area, and so on?
Do I need to stay at home when they are setting up the utility?
Make a comparison of the offers and pick the service providers that provide the most quality services at affordable prices.

Tip: Recover the deposit that you paid to the utility company the first time of using the service. This money can be enough to serve as a start-up fee for a new utility deposit for the new home.

12 Ways to Save Costs on Utilities

Each small benefit you can get when you plan to reduce your monthly utility costs leaves more money at the end of the month on your account. The best aspect is that there are lots of effective ways to reduce your utility bills by performing a one-time task that reduces those bills.

Below are 12 things to do to cut down your utility cost.

Negotiate: Check each of your utility bills and identify each charge you find strange. Contact that utility, ask about the entire charges and request to remove them from your bill. each charge you can remove from your monthly bill will save you money in the future.
Purchase energy-efficient appliances: When you are changing an appliance, carefully look at energy efficiency. If you plan to reside in the same house for a long time or to move with your appliances to the new property, buy energy-efficient appliances.
Adjust your water heater setting: Modify the setting on your water heater to 120⁰ F (50⁰ C). This will not only prevent scalding water from escaping your shower head or kitchen faucet, but it will also largely reduce the cost of heating your water, lowering your utility costs.
Set your washer on cold before washing: Laundry detergent performs a great job of cleaning gently dirty fabrics with ordinary cold water. Unless you have heavily soiled clothes, change to cold-water washing of clothes. This will prevent you from spending on hit water for every laundry load, which can amount to about $0.50 per load, based on the size of the washing machine and costs of local energy.
Caulk your windows: Feel the boundaries of your window pane and determine if you can figure out any air leaks, which are areas where you can experience additional chill on a cold day or warmth on a hot day. Those areas are allowing energy to leak. Grab a caulking gun and a tube of caulk and cover those spots.
Install weather-stripping around edges of drafty doors: Check the boundaries of your outer doors on hot or cold days. Can you feel hot or cold air escaping? If yes, make sure you install weather-stripping around the boundaries of those doors. This will significantly lower the continuous energy loss, which implies that your furnace or air conditioning stops less frequent running.
Change to a highly efficient showerhead: With an efficient showerhead, your water use and the quantity of wasted heated water will reduce. ShowerStart showerheads are perfect as they only start to produce water when adequately heated, which implies that you don’t waste water as it is warming up. And they give a very easy way to temporarily halt water flow during the shower, reducing the water produced. This will reduce overall water used in your shower, cutting your water bill, and also lower the quantity of water you need to heat too, cutting your energy bill.
Air-dry your clothes: rather than making use of a tumble dryer, just dry your clothes by hanging them. If your yard is not spacious to hold a clothesline, you can set up a simple line on your balcony or designate a room to run a line across it. This takes away the cost of running a dryer on energy.
Make use of a wool dryer ball: wood dryer balls get rid of the need to use fabric softener and the running time needed for drying clothes by around ten percent, which amounts to a greater figure if you frequently dry clothes.
Cook at home in the winter and outside your home in the summer: cooking indoors during winter means that your home is warmed with the extra heat produced, which implies that your furnace won’t be doing all the heating. In the summer months, however, you don’t want heat indoors, because it will increase your air conditioning’s work rate and increase your energy bill. Plan to cook indoors during winter and outside your home with a grill during the summer months. If not possible, make use of indoor appliances that are energy-efficient to cook your food, like the microwave or slow cooker, not the stovetop or oven, because this will reduce the extra heat and lower your utility bill.
Use ceiling fans in the perfect direction: ceiling fans are a better way to maintain low energy costs as they can improve the coolness of your room in the summer, enabling you to reduce the running of your furnace and your thermometer lower. For this to work, you have to keep your ceiling fan rotating in the perfect direction for the season. In the summer months, the ceiling fan blades should rotate anticlockwise, so you enjoy the breeze under the fan.
During winter, make sure the blades rotate clockwise, and your fan won’t produce a breeze. That is because the air flowing upward, forcing warm air down from the ceiling across the room. Almost all ceiling fans come with a small switch that will change the direction of the blade.
Install smart power strips: With a smart power strip, many devices will be turned off at once when you turn the main device off. For instance, a smart power strip fixed to your monitor, computer, and desk lamp will disconnect power to the monitor and desk lamp immediately after the computer is off. A smart strip attached to your DVD player, television, video game consoles, and speakers will turn off the power of those devices when your television is turned off. This prevents you from wasting energy after not remembering to turn off a device or because of background energy consumption from devices that drain power while in standby mode.

Estimate the cost of moving the house utilities by using a moving cost calculator.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why would I be able to move some utilities with me?

Depending on where you are and where you’re headed, utility service or two may be the same in both areas. So, many utility companies will have something in a place where you can just keep your account but use it with a different meter at a different address.

Can I move my electric meter?

No, it is illegal to move your electric meter on your own, and it’s also very dangerous. But, if you’d like to take your electric meter with you (in instances where you purchased a smart meter and other reasons), you can talk to your utility and they can assist you.

What type of heat is best?

Electric is often the most expensive, but the most convenient. The most common is natural gas, and you can also have a fireplace, woodstove, or coal stove to keep your home warm. The type of heat that is best for you is the one that matches your lifestyle and your budget.

Should I have my gas meter indoors?

Probably not. If something goes wrong with your natural gas, the chance of a gas leak at your meter is incredibly high, and you don’t want that to be indoors if it happens.

What utilities are absolutely essential?

When you start to turn on your utilities when you move, you will be required to turn on the electricity, your form of heat, and water/sewer services. Your municipality may also include trash as a part of your water and sewer bills. Non-essentials can include internet, telephone, cable, and any other services that aren’t necessary for health and wellness.

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How to Move Utilities When Moving Home