Setting up utilities, internet and your change of address
Every service that is not in the rent set up for the key day, whose name each is in, the change of address and voter registration done, and the router secured.
- Start here: the essentials
- 1. Which services are yours, and starting them
- 2. Whose name each account is in, and help with the bills
- 3. Change of address and voter registration
- 4. The router on the day it is installed
- 5. Insurance terms, and hiring movers
- 6. See it: Dani's two accounts and the roommates' four
- 7. Practice: the accounts sheet and the address list
- 8. Your home
- 9. Check your work
- 10. Knowledge check and scenario
Start here Essentials
At minimum, set up every service the rent does not include so it starts on the key day, move your mail, and secure the router. Everything marked Go deeper can wait.
- List each service and mark it included in the rent or yours, from the lease's utilities clause (which services are yours).
- For each service that is yours, contact the provider and set the start date to the key day. Write the provider, the date and whose name on the services sheet (whose name each account is in).
- Submit the change of address on usps.com with the start date set to your move, and check that you are on the real USPS site (change of address).
- Change the router's default password and network name on the day it is installed (the router).
Minimum time: about 1 hour, spread over the weeks before the keys. Done when: the services sheet has a row for every service not included, each with a start date, and the change of address is confirmed.
1. Which services are yours, and starting them Understand
Utilities are the services that run the home: electricity, gas, water and sewer, and trash and recycling. Internet and phone are usually set up the same way, so this manual treats all six together. Each comes from a provider, the company or public agency that supplies it and bills for it.
The first question for each service is whether it is yours. In a rental, some services may be included in the rent; in a condo, some may be in the association fee. The lease (or the association's documents) says which. If you chose "I don't know yet" for included services in setup, the lease's utilities clause is the place to look, and the lease reading in Lease and move-in record has a question to send if it is unclear.
| Service | Who often supplies it | What to find out |
|---|---|---|
| Electricity | The electric utility for the area | Is it in the rent? Which company serves the address? Is there a deposit or a credit check? |
| Gas | The gas utility, if the home has gas | Does the home have any gas appliance (stove, furnace, water heater)? Is it in the rent? |
| Heat | The building's boiler, or your own furnace or heat pump on the gas or electric account | Is heat included? If not, which account does it run on? |
| Water and sewer | The city or a water district; in many rentals, the landlord | Is it in the rent? If not, who bills it, and how often? |
| Trash and recycling | The city, a hauler, or the building | Is it included? Which days, and where do bins go? (Home facts sheet, First night and safety) |
| Internet | Whatever providers serve the address; some buildings include it | Which providers serve the address? Is equipment rented or bought? When is the first installation appointment? |
| Phone | A mobile carrier, or a landline provider | Does anything change with the move (billing address, coverage at the new address)? |
"Who often supplies it" is the common pattern, not a rule for your address. Convention The arrangement varies by city and building.
Finding the provider for an address
In some places one electric utility and one gas utility serve each address; in others you can choose a supplier. Three places to ask, in order:
- The landlord or manager. They know which companies serve the building and whether any service is in their name.
- The previous occupant's utility. If you know who served the address before, call them and give the new address; they can tell you whether they serve it.
- The city or county. The city's website may list water, sewer and trash services, and sometimes the electric and gas utilities.
For internet, check which providers serve the exact address (an apartment number can matter), since availability changes from building to building.
Start dates on the key day
Set each service to start on the key day, so the home has power and heat for the first night. The phased plan dates this contact three weeks before the keys (T−21). Convention That is this manual's lead time, not a provider's; ask each provider how much notice it needs and how start dates work, and write the answer on the services sheet.
Questions to ask each provider when you call or sign up online:
- What is the earliest start date, and is a technician visit needed? If so, when, and does someone need to be home?
- Is there a deposit, or a credit check? If there is a deposit, how and when does it come back?
- Are there any setup, connection or installation fees?
- For internet: is the modem or router rented or bought, and who owns it?
- When will the first bill come, and what are the ways to pay it?
Deposits, credit checks and fees are each provider's own terms. Product-specific This manual gives no figures; your provider's answer is the figure.
If a service is already on in the previous occupant's or the landlord's name, ask the landlord who closes that account and on what date, so the service does not lapse and you are not billed for days before the keys. That is a question for the landlord, in writing. Ask the authority
Owners: the accounts that come with the deed. An owner has accounts a renter does not: property tax, which may be paid through the mortgage's escrow account or directly; association dues for a condo or co-op; and sometimes water and sewer, which some cities bill to the owner of record. Each is a question for the closing documents and the lender or association: who bills it, how often, when the first bill comes and whether the closing settled the current period. Add each one to the services sheet as "other," with its due day.
2. Whose name each account is in, and help with the bills
The account holder is the person whose name is on a service account. The provider bills that person and deals with that person about the account. In a household of one, that is you. In a shared home, it is a decision.
University roommate agreement templates put the same questions in a utilities section: which provider, whose name the account is in, how the bill is divided, and a monthly review of the bills. Arizona State University's housemate agreement has those questions (Arizona State University, Housemate Agreement, PDF), and Keene State College's sample roommate agreement has a utilities table with the account holder, any deposit and how the bill is shared (Keene State College, sample roommate agreement, Word document).
What to settle now, and write on the services sheet:
- Whose name each account is in. One name per account is common. Some households spread the accounts so no one person holds all of them. Preference
- How the bill is paid and shared. The account holder pays the provider; how the others pay their share is a Sharing a home decision (the split method and the ledger).
- What happens if the account holder leaves. Whether the account can be transferred to another name, closed or kept is the provider's policy; ask it, and write the answer. Who pays the last bill is a household question for the agreement.
What the services sheet holds, and what it does not
The services sheet has one row per service: the service, the provider, the start date, whose name, how it is paid, the due day and its status. It does not have a column for account numbers or passwords, and it is not the place for them. The binder is a browser file you may export, print or share with a roommate; a password manager is built to hold credentials. Learn Digital Security covers choosing and using one (Learn Digital Security, Passwords).
The due day matters later: Weekly routines puts each bill's due day on the routine, and Your household binder checks the first month's bills at the 30-day review.
Help with the bills: LIHEAP and Lifeline
Two federal programs help some households with these bills. Each decides its own eligibility; this manual describes them and does not say who qualifies.
- LIHEAP, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, is federally funded help with home energy bills, energy crises, weatherization and some energy-related repairs, run through local programs. The Administration for Children and Families says it targets low-income households with a high energy burden or with members who are older, disabled or young children; you apply through a local program, found through EnergyHelp.us or the National Energy Assistance Referral line, 1-866-674-6327 (ACF, Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program). ACF also says LIHEAP gives no direct grants to individuals and charges no fee, and asks that offers claiming otherwise be reported to the HHS fraud hotline, 1-800-447-8477.
- Lifeline is the FCC's discount on phone or internet service: up to $9.25 a month, or up to $34.25 on Tribal lands, one benefit per household (FCC, Lifeline Support for Affordable Communications). The FCC lists eligibility as income at or below 135 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, or taking part in programs including SNAP, Medicaid, Federal Public Housing Assistance, SSI and the Veterans Pension. You apply through the National Verifier or a participating provider, and recertify every year.
One program is gone. The Affordable Connectivity Program, an internet discount, ended on June 1, 2024, when its funding ran out; the FCC warns about websites that still advertise it or collect personal information for it (FCC, Affordable Connectivity Program (archived)). Lifeline is a separate, smaller program with its own rules, not a replacement the FCC names.
Eligibility for LIHEAP or Lifeline is decided by the program, not by this manual. A deposit, a credit check, a fee or a transfer rule is the provider's. This manual shows what to ask and where; the program or the provider gives the answer.
Keeping a utility in one name and splitting it. When one person holds an account and the household shares the bill, three things need writing down: who pays the provider and by when, how each person's share is worked out, and when the others pay the account holder. The split calculator, used in Sharing a home, does the arithmetic for an equal, a weighted or an income-based split; the household chooses the method. A worked case: a monthly bill of $96 (an invented figure) shared equally by three people is $32 each. The account holder pays the provider $96 by the due day and logs it in the shared ledger; the other two each pay $32 and mark it settled. Reviewing the bills monthly, as the ASU template suggests, catches a bill that rose or a payment that was missed.
3. Change of address and voter registration
Moving your mail and your records is a task with a lead time, which is why the plan dates it two weeks before the keys.
The USPS change of address
A change of address tells the Postal Service to send mail addressed to you at the old address to the new one; mail forwarding is the service that does it. From USPS's page (USPS, Standard Forward Mail and Change of Address):
- Two ways to submit. Online, with a $1.25 identity verification fee charged to a card whose billing address matches the old or the new address. Or in person at a Post Office, with photo ID and PS Form 3575; USPS requires the in-person route for some cases, including when online verification fails.
- Timing. USPS says to allow at least 7 to 10 business days for the change to take effect once it is approved. A letter confirming the move goes to the old address, and a notification letter arrives at the new address about 5 business days before the start date.
- How long it lasts. Standard forwarding runs for 12 months and can be extended for a fee. First-Class and Priority mail are forwarded free; magazines and other periodicals for 60 days.
- What it does not move. USPS says senders such as government agencies and banks do not let some sensitive documents be forwarded, naming driver's licenses, voter registration, credit cards and financial or medical information. And a change of address changes it only with the Post Office: telling everyone else is up to you.
So the change of address is one row on the address checklist, not the whole list.
Look-alike change-of-address sites buy search ads that appear above the real USPS site and charge far more than USPS's fee. The Georgia Attorney General's office warns about them and says to use USPS.com or USPS.com/move directly, and to pay with a credit card so a fraudulent charge can be disputed (Georgia Attorney General, warning on fake change-of-address websites, 2021). Type the address yourself rather than clicking an ad.
Everyone else who needs the new address
The address checklist lists who to tell, each with a date column:
| Who | Why the change of address does not cover it | How |
|---|---|---|
| USPS change of address | It is the forwarding itself | usps.com, or in person |
| Voter registration | USPS names voter registration among the documents that may not be forwarded | vote.gov, below |
| Driver's license or state ID | States set their own rule and deadline for updating it | Your state's motor vehicle agency; ask what it requires |
| Employer or school | Tax forms and records go to the address on file | HR or the registrar |
| Bank and cards | Cards and financial statements may not be forwarded | Each bank's site or app |
| Subscriptions and deliveries | Magazines and periodicals are forwarded for 60 days only | Each account |
| Health providers and insurers | Medical information may not be forwarded | Each provider |
| Anyone else who sends mail | Forwarding ends after 12 months | As it arrives forwarded, update the sender |
Each piece of forwarded mail that arrives is from a sender still using the old address; update that sender and check it off. Test it
Voter registration
Vote.gov says to update your registration after any change of address, whether you moved within a state or to another one; if you moved to another state, you register there (Vote.gov, Register to vote). Deadlines vary by state; vote.gov says some are as early as 30 days before Election Day and some states allow registration on Election Day itself. The plan dates the update a week after the keys (T+7). Convention If an election is coming, your state's deadline sets the date instead. Ask the authority
4. The router on the day it is installed
A router is the box that makes your home Wi-Fi network and connects it to the internet; the provider may supply it, or you may buy your own. Out of the box, a router has a default admin password and network name, which may be printed on a label or easy to look up. The FTC's steps for a new home network, in order (FTC Consumer Advice, How To Secure Your Home Wi-Fi Network):
- Change the router's admin username and password from the defaults. The admin password is the one that controls the router's settings, separate from the Wi-Fi password guests use.
- Change the network name to something unique that does not identify you: not your name, your address or the router's brand.
- Turn on encryption: WPA3 Personal, the newer of the two Wi-Fi security settings the FTC names, or WPA2 Personal if the router does not offer WPA3. The FTC says not to use the older WPA or WEP.
- Keep the router's software updated. Check the maker's site, register the router, or ask your provider whether it updates automatically.
- Turn off remote management, WPS and UPnP unless you need them, and log out of the admin account when you finish.
Do this on the day the router is installed, before devices join it. The plan dates it the day after the keys (T+1); if your installation is later, move the task to that day. Convention Learn Digital Security's chapter on computers and Wi-Fi goes through each setting in more detail (Learn Digital Security, Computer and Wi-Fi).
If internet is included in the rent and the building runs the network, the router may be the building's, not yours to configure. Ask the landlord who manages it, whether your connection is separated from other units', and who to contact when it stops working. Ask the authority
5. Insurance terms, and hiring movers
This section defines the terms you will meet before talking to an insurance agent or hiring a mover. It does not recommend a policy, a coverage amount or a company.
Renters insurance terms
Renters insurance is a policy that covers a tenant's belongings and liability. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners notes that a landlord's insurance covers the building's structure, not a tenant's belongings (NAIC, For Rent: Protecting Your Belongings With Renters Insurance). The parts of a policy, as NAIC and the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance describe them (New Jersey DOBI, A Consumer Guide to Renters Insurance, PDF):
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Personal property coverage | Pays to repair or replace your belongings if they are damaged, destroyed or stolen in a covered event. |
| Liability coverage | Covers claims or lawsuits over injury to others or damage to their property, and provides a legal defense. |
| Loss of use | Pays extra living costs if a covered loss makes the home unlivable for a time (NAIC says some policies include it). |
| Actual cash value | Pays what the item was worth at the time of the loss, after depreciation, minus the deductible. |
| Replacement cost | Pays the cost of a new item, with no deduction for depreciation (still minus the deductible); NAIC notes you may need to buy the item and submit receipts. |
| Deductible | The part of a covered loss you pay before the policy pays. |
| Exclusions | What a policy does not cover. New Jersey's guide lists flooding and earthquakes among them, with flood insurance available separately. |
Coverage names and terms vary by insurer and by state. Product-specific The policy document is what defines your coverage.
Condo owners: the master policy and the HO-6
The Maryland Insurance Administration describes a condo as usually covered by two policies (Maryland Insurance Administration, Condominium insurance FAQs). The association's master policy, paid for through owners' assessments, generally covers the common areas, the building's exterior and structure, and liability in common areas. The owner's HO-6 policy covers the unit's interior, including improvements, the owner's belongings and liability inside the unit. Which parts of the unit fall under which policy is set by the association's documents, and the FAQ tells owners to check the bylaws and ask the association. It also notes that Maryland does not require an HO-6 by law, but that lenders or associations often do.
This manual defines insurance terms. It does not say whether to buy a policy, how much coverage to carry or which insurer to use. A lease, a lender or an association may require a policy; check your own documents (the lease answers sheet has a row for it). Questions about a policy go to a licensed agent or your state's insurance department.
More from the New Jersey regulator's guide. Its guide names the usual parts of a renters policy by coverage letter: Personal Property (Coverage C), Loss of Use (Coverage D), Personal Liability (Coverage E) and Medical Payments to Others (Coverage F). It gives an example of the difference between the two valuation methods: a three-year-old computer might have an actual cash value of $650 but cost $1,100 to replace. Its list of what a renters policy does not cover includes flooding (insured separately through the National Flood Insurance Program), earthquakes, vermin, wear and tear, and mold unless it results from a covered loss. Its glossary defines a claim, depreciation, an endorsement (a change added to a policy), the policy limit and the premium. These are New Jersey's descriptions; your state's insurance department publishes its own.
Hiring movers
For a move across state lines, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is the place to start (FMCSA, Protect Your Move). It says interstate movers have to give you its booklet Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move and its Ready to Move brochure, and that you can check a mover in its registered-mover database. FMCSA counts a move as interstate when your goods cross a state line with a mover involved. For a move within one state, FMCSA points you to your state, county or local consumer affairs agency or the state's movers association, since each state has its own rules.
The interstate mover checklist. FMCSA lists red flags (FMCSA, Spot the Red Flags). In our words:
- An estimate given by phone or online without anyone looking at your things, or no written estimate.
- A price set only after your things are loaded, or a claim that you have more than estimated.
- A demand for cash or a large deposit, or a request to sign blank documents.
- No copy of the required booklet and brochure.
- A website with no local address and no registration or insurance information.
- A claim that all your goods are covered by the mover's insurance.
- A phone answered "Movers" rather than with a company name, or a rental truck on moving day.
Valuation: what the mover owes if something is lost or damaged. FMCSA describes two options interstate movers have to offer (FMCSA, Liability and Protection). Full value protection makes the mover responsible for the replacement value of lost or damaged goods; it is the default unless you sign for the other option, and items worth more than $100 a pound can be limited unless you list them. Released value costs nothing extra but pays no more than 60 cents a pound per article; FMCSA's example is a 25-pound television, for which the mover would owe $15. FMCSA notes that packing your own boxes, not declaring high-value items, or signing a delivery receipt with release language can limit what you recover, and that you have nine months from delivery to file a written claim. We could not read the booklet itself, so this manual does not cover estimates in detail; the booklet the mover gives you does.
6. See it: Dani's two accounts and the roommates' four See it
Dani Ortiz (fictional; they/them) rents a studio in a 1958 building; the keys come on Sunday 2026-11-01. Names, dates and amounts here are invented for the example.
Known. The lease includes water and sewer, heat and trash; electricity and internet are Dani's. The building's boiler supplies heat, so Dani has no gas account. Dani's setup lists "Water and sewer, Heat, Trash" as included, so the services sheet seeds two rows: electricity and internet.
The calls. Dani starts late, on Tuesday 2026-10-20, 12 days before the keys (Your first-home plan). The manager names the electric utility for the building. The utility sets the start date to 2026-11-01 in Dani's name, with no deposit ($0). The first internet installation appointment is Thursday 2026-11-05, with a $50 installation charge (fictional). Dani writes both on the services sheet:
| Service | Provider | Start date | Whose name | How paid | Due day | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electricity | The electric utility for the building | 2026-11-01 | Dani | Online, monthly | Ask on first bill | Scheduled |
| Internet | An internet provider serving the address | 2026-11-05 (install) | Dani | Online, monthly | Ask on first bill | Scheduled; $50 installation |
The address. The same evening, Dani types usps.com into the browser rather than searching, submits the change of address online with the $1.25 fee, and sets the start date to 2026-11-01. With 7 to 10 business days from approval, forwarding is likely to start around the key date, so Dani also gives the new address directly to their employer and bank. The address checklist gets a date beside each one.
The router. On Thursday 2026-11-05, when the installer leaves, Dani changes the admin password and the network name (to one that is not their name or the building's), confirms WPA3 is on, and moves the plan's router task from 2026-11-02 to that day. The first four nights are on the phone's data.
Assumed. That the change of address is approved the day it is submitted. Under that assumption, forwarding starts by about 2026-11-03; the USPS confirmation letter at the old address and the notification letter at the new one settle when it actually starts.
Open, and who settles it. The due day for each bill: settled by the first bill from each provider. Voter registration: Dani updates it at vote.gov on 2026-11-08 (T+7). Whether Dani wants renters insurance, and whether the lease requires it: the lease answers sheet from Lease and move-in record shows what the lease says; the decision is Dani's, and this manual does not make it.
Priya Raman, Sam Kowalski and Theo Mensah (fictional) rent a three-bedroom house on one joint lease, from 2026-09-01. Electricity, gas, water and sewer, and internet are the tenants'. The house has a gas furnace and a gas water heater, so the gas account runs the heat and the hot water.
Decided. Each account goes into one person's name, so no one holds all of them: electricity in Priya's name, gas in Sam's, internet in Theo's, and water and sewer in Priya's. They write each on the services sheet with its due day, and note for the Sharing a home agreement that the account holders pay the providers and the others pay them their shares.
Open, and who settles it. How each bill is split: the three of them, with the split method they choose in Sharing a home. What happens to an account if one of them moves out: each provider's policy, which each account holder asks and writes down, and the agreement's "if someone moves out" line.
Marisol Díaz and Kwame Boateng (fictional) closed on a two-bedroom condo on 2026-10-10. The unit has an electric heat pump and an electric water heater and no gas, so there is no gas account. Neither has set up utilities before. Both work from home two days a week, so they book the internet installation for the closing week and secure the router that day. Their closing documents show the association fee and how property tax is paid; both go on the services sheet as "other." On insurance, they read the association's documents for what the master policy covers and what the documents expect owners to insure, and take those questions to an agent; this manual stops at the definitions.
Free sources behind this chapter:
- USPS, Standard Forward Mail and Change of Address: the fee, the timing and what is not forwarded.
- FTC, How To Secure Your Home Wi-Fi Network: the router steps.
- Vote.gov, Register to vote: updating your registration after a move, with each state's rules.
- New Jersey DOBI, A Consumer Guide to Renters Insurance (PDF): a regulator's plain description of a renters policy.
7. Practice: the accounts sheet and the address list Practice
Minimum: a row on the services sheet for every service not included, each with a provider, a start date and whose name; the change of address submitted on usps.com; the router's default password and network name changed on installation day. Time: about 1 hour in all, in two or three sittings. Materials: the lease (or the association's documents), a phone, a card for the USPS fee, the accounts and services page, and the router's label and instructions on installation day.
- Mark each service included or yours from the lease, and fix the setup's included services if they differ.
- Find the provider for each service that is yours, through the landlord, the previous occupant's utility or the city.
- Contact each provider with the questions in start dates, set the start date to the key day, and fill the row: provider, start date, whose name, how paid, status.
- Submit the change of address by typing usps.com yourself, and note the date submitted on the address checklist.
- Work down the address checklist, dating each line as you update it. Update your voter registration at vote.gov.
- On installation day, secure the router with the FTC's steps before devices join.
- In a shared home, write the utilities lines for the agreement: whose name, how the bill is shared, when shares are paid, and what happens if the account holder leaves.
- Read your lease's insurance clause and your state insurance department's consumer guide, and write the questions you would ask an agent.
- For an interstate move, check the mover in FMCSA's database and read the red flags before signing anything.
8. Your home Your home
9. Check your work Check your work
Criteria
- Does the services sheet have a row for every service the rent or fee does not include, and none for one it does?
- Does each row have a provider, a start date on or near the key day, and a name?
- Are account numbers and passwords kept off the sheet?
- Is the change of address confirmed (an emailed confirmation, or the letters USPS sends), and was it made on usps.com?
- Is each line of the address checklist dated or marked "not for me"?
- Is the voter registration update done, or dated in the plan?
- Were the router's admin password and network name changed, and is WPA3 or WPA2 on?
Worked example
Dani's sheet (fictional) has two rows, electricity and internet, both in Dani's name with start dates; it has none for water, heat or trash, which the rent includes. No account numbers are on it. The change of address was made on usps.com on 2026-10-20 and the employer and bank were told directly. The router was secured on installation day, 2026-11-05. The due days are open until the first bills, and the voter update is dated for 2026-11-08. The sheet meets the criteria for this point in the move.
Common mistakes
- Assuming a service is included because it was at your last place. Check the lease for each one.
- Starting service on the day you call rather than the key day, and paying for days before you live there, or starting it after the key day and having no power the first night.
- Searching "USPS change of address" and clicking the first result. It may be a paid look-alike; type usps.com.
- Treating mail forwarding as telling everyone. USPS says the rest is up to you, and some sensitive mail is not forwarded.
- Writing account numbers or passwords in the binder because it is convenient. Use a password manager.
- Leaving the router on its default password "until later." Change it before devices join.
- Reading an insurance definition as a recommendation. This manual defines; the decision is yours, with an agent.
What is still unresolved
This chapter cannot tell you which providers serve your address, what they charge, or whether they require a deposit; they do. It cannot tell you whether you qualify for LIHEAP or Lifeline; the programs decide. It cannot tell you your state's voter registration deadline; vote.gov and your state election office do. Whether to buy insurance, and how much, is your decision with a licensed agent. How shared bills are split is worked out in Sharing a home, and the bills' due days join the routine in Weekly routines.