Utilities / Reversion Policy or not?

[CJ M.]

The electric company and gas company where my properties are located offer a "Landlord Reversion Policy." This means that when I add a property to the policy, when the tenant moves out, or cancels their utilities they go back into my name automatically. I've been doing this for the past year for the convenience, however I'm starting to wonder if I will get burned by tenants eventually. For example, if I do not use the LL reversion policy and the tenant doesn't pay their utilities, they get shut off...thus probably forcing them to pay up quickly. If I use the LL reversion policy and the tenant doesn't pay their bill, the utilities switch to my name and the tenant in essance gets free service since legally I cannot turn off the utilities on a tenant.

What are your thoughts? Anyone have experience with this? Should I keep the LL reversion on my properties or get rid of it?