Moving properties is both an exciting and tiresome adventure. You have a lot of responsibilities and things to plan for, so carefully prioritising them is vital if you want to start life at your new home without any issues.

When changing homes, one of the essential things to know is how to transfer your utilities to your new residence. Remember that the process takes time, and you certainly don’t want to spend the first few days without electricity or hot water.

Familiarise yourself with your current utility provider

When discussing utilities, gas, electricity, and hot water usually come to mind. In addition to those, you may also want to think about cable and internet, sewer, security systems, trash, and phone services.

Most of those services are with different providers, so it can be easy to miss some. To make it easier for you, once you have decided on moving house, list all the providers you are using and their telephone numbers on a list or spreadsheet.

While you will not contact them before deciding on your new home, you want to help yourself take care of this before things get crazy. The more you do in advance, the less stressful your move will be!

Research new utility providers

Changing homes is the perfect opportunity to research new utility providers. Based on whether you are moving to a new city or a new area, you may find great deals, significantly reducing your monthly payment towards utilities.

Even if you do not have the option or decide not to move to another provider, you can still try to get a good bargain from your current one when changing your residence.

You may also want to explore combining certain services such as telephone, internet and TV. Package deals are cheaper, and making just one payment rather than three or four is easier.

If moving to another city, consider that the sewer and water prices may differ. If you are using a new water service, confirm the cost with the previous owner, landlord, or real estate agent to budget better.

Notify about your move in advance

Once you have researched, gotten quotes and decided whether to proceed with your current providers or switch to new ones, you have completed your homework. Add all the information onto the list or spreadsheet and focus on arranging your move.

If you have chosen a local house removals services to help you with your move, schedule an appointment with a date that suits you best.

Preparing well in advance will most likely land you a good discount from the removals and give you plenty of time to sort everything related to your move.

When the time for moving out approaches, contact your utility providers. The recommended notice is two to three weeks to ensure everything gets done on time.

You can separate your utilities in two. The ones that are essential and those that are handy. For the more important ones, schedule the disconnect date a day after you have planned to complete your move, just to give yourself that extra room for error and unforeseen circumstances.

When scheduling to disconnect your utilities, you should also make sure that the same will be present at your new home on the day of the move.

If your new property is close, or you plan on going there the day before, you should schedule your electricity and water to be connected the day before the move. Doing this will allow you to turn the AC on or plug in the fridge in advance.

Pay any overdue bills before moving

When calling your providers to disconnect your utilities, ask them if there are any outstanding bills or whether you owe anything. Ensure that any payments are taken care of in due time, as failure may result in many headaches and, in some cases, legal proceedings.

While no doubt moving takes its toll on the budget, getting everything straight will allow you to get that fresh new start at your new home.

Do a final meter reading

Once you have completed your move and have all your stuff at your new place, schedule a meeting with representatives of your service providers and get a final reading on your meters. Those include gas, electricity, and water.

Once they conduct the final read, ask them for a copy of the results and keep it safe after you move. While uncommon, you may need it as proof if you receive unexpected bills.

While at it, it doesn’t hurt to double-check that all of the utilities for your old property have been stopped or disconnected.

Update your address

When arranging the transfer of your utilities, your providers will usually note the new address and use that for correspondence.

With that being said, it is better to be safe than sorry. Once you have completed your move, get the list with the numbers of all your current providers and give them one final call just to confirm that they have your new address in the system.

This will help ensure that you get all communication from your providers on time and have your billing information updated.

Perform an energy audit of your new home

Once you have settled into your new home, you want to schedule a technician to perform a home energy audit.

Now that you have a fresh start, you should do it properly. The audit will let you know if you should consider improving your new home’s insulation, ductwork or furnace.

In other words, an audit will let you know if and where air leaks into the house, which may result in a significantly higher electricity bill.

Conclusion

While making arrangements with your landlord or real estate agent for your new home, browsing around local moving companies to find the best quote, and having to change address, it is easy to lose track of things.

Taking care of as many things as possible before your move will allow you to focus better and stay on top. Transferring your utilities is a mandatory task that is often overlooked or postponed until the last moment, which causes a lot of inconvenience.

Knowing how and when to take care of this and planning is essential for a smooth start to your life in your new home.