Is tenant and water utility agreement legally binding?

[Mags S.]

First let me preface, until now, all my tenants had (a single family property) utilities in their names and this was a requirement to lease.  I know, I know, I’ll just say, I’ve never had an issue where the utilities were not paid.  Until now. The tenant got behind on the water bill and finally made arrangements/agreement with Water company to pay a specific amount monthly to bring the account up to date.  Tenant’s lease terminates at the end of this month and since tenant has made agreement with water company regarding outstanding bill, I was going to renew.  (The tenant has always paid the rent on time for the 2 years they have lived there.)

 I attempted to speak with the water company about this agreement but appears since acct is in tenants name, I could not get any answers.  Does anyone know if this water company agreement is legally binding?

Does anyone have any suggestions on how i should handle this?  Should I include in new lease that these monthly payments be made directly to me?  I will be writing a new lease since current lease terminates and does not automatically renew. It appears that i should prolly put the water utility in property owners name and bill tenants monthly.  What and how do other landlords do? What specifically do you put in the lease?  Thanks for ur insight.