Houston Landlord Utility Accounts

[Daniel Kennedy]

Hi all. Our first and only tenant will be moving out at the end of the month and we plan to do some minor rehab and updates before releasing to a new tenant. I know I need to get the utilities back into my name for the time being but wondering what success people have had in finding companies that use "landlord"/"interim billing"/"revert to owner" agreements. I spoke with the gas company (Centerpoint) and they said they only offer them in select states, TX not being one of them. And as far as electric goes, I found one with a no activation/no cancellation policy but high rate and would still need to call to set up each time a tenant moves out. Spent a whole lot of time on the phone and honestly was a very cumbersome process. Is there an easier way to manage this in Houston? What am I missing? Would love some tips/suggestions!

[Owen Hehmeyer]

I put utilities back in my name, including Centerpoint. I make sure to sign up for a contractless plan for power and Centerpoint allows cancellation at anytime. The new tenants sign up and when they do your account will close automatically. You won't need to do anything to cancel. Centerpoint's website is not good at getting the billing address right when the service and billing address are different. They keep mailing stuff to the service address. Make sure everything looks good online - don't count on snail mail. I never had to talk to a human and everything worked out.