How to use the lookup before you call a provider

The notes we send are for the local utilities you still have to enroll: gas, water, trash, and electricity in a regulated market. Read them before you dial, so the first call is to a company that serves the address. Internet, TV, security, insurance, home warranty, and movers, and deregulated electricity are not in that homework. Those are set up with you on our call.

Separate the two lists before you start

Write two headings on the same page. "Set up on the call" gets a check when you have a confirmation from the company: internet, a TV or satellite package if you wanted one, phone, security, insurance, a home warranty, and a mover, and electric if we told you the market is deregulated. "I still enroll" gets gas, water, trash, and electric if we told you the market is regulated, minus anything your landlord or HOA already covers.

If a service is on the wrong list, stop and call (877) 587-9566. The expensive mistake is spending an hour enrolling in an internet plan we were supposed to set up with you, or assuming we opened the water account because the other services have confirmation numbers.

Then read the local notes

Confirm the address, including the unit. Compare it to the lease or the closing documents. New construction may need the lot number as well as the street. If a partner requested the lookup, make sure they typed the house you are actually moving into.

Cross off local services the property already pays. Do not start a second water account because the notes listed the city's utility and the lease says water is in the rent. Duplicate municipal accounts are slow to unwind.

One start date, then enroll

Use the possession date with every local provider. Say it the same way: month, day, and whether service should begin that morning. If you will not have keys until afternoon, ask whether you are billed for the full day anyway. Write down the date they actually accept. It may not be the date you requested.

Call or use their site. Complete their form yourself. If they say they do not serve the address, stop and tell us before you try a similar name. We will correct the research. We still will not submit that application. When they accept it, save the confirmation number next to that service. Our email is not the confirmation.

A practical order

1. Finish our call first, so internet and any deregulated electric plan are actually set up
2. Enroll regulated electric, gas, and water the same day, while those offices are open
3. Enroll trash if the city requires you to request it
4. File mail forwarding with the Postal Service yourself
5. Recheck every confirmation the week of the move

You can do the local enrollments in an hour if the notes are in front of you. Waiting until the truck is in the driveway is how one of them is closed for the day.

Common questions

Should I conference you in while I call the water department?

You can call us first if a line in the notes does not make sense. We will explain the research. We will not talk to the water department as you, and we will not finish the enrollment on a second line.

What if I already started an application with the wrong utility?

Call them and cancel it before it becomes an account with a deposit. Then use the corrected notes.

Can the person who will make the local calls get the email?

Yes. Send it to the account holder. The person whose name will be on the bill needs to be the person on the phone with that provider.

If you do not have notes yet, start with how the call is split.

Keep reading

Moving in

Local utilities we research. Everything else we set up on the call.

Gas, water, trash, and regulated electric are information we send you. Internet, TV, security, insurance, home warranty, and movers, and deregulated electric are set up with you on the call.

Read article

Moving in

The week you get the keys

Which services get set up on the call, and which local utilities you still enroll in before the keys.

Read article