Unless the landlord is the one paying the electric bill, how could they possibly set up an account for someone else?
this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2026
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Everywhere I've ever lived in the US you tell the electric and gas company what date you'll be moving in or out. The power and gas are normally already turned on and they just switch billing to whoever the new responsible party is.
I love in British Columbia and electricity is a provincial utility organization. I would prefer all utilities be run by the government
The landlord will read the meter (often together with you when you get the keys), then you pick an energy provider and give them that meter reading so they can bill you for the energy you've used.
then you pick an energy provider
Wait, you guys get multiple choices?
When I lived in central Maryland we had that option. Now, in rural New Mexico, no.
In Maryland we only had the choice of what company generated the electricity, not who our power company was.
Its a source of annoyance because multiple times a week we have salesmen coming to the door trying to get us to switch providers. Also internet.
In Georgia (USA) you have the illusion of choice in a "deregulated" market. In reality, there is a single gas provider and you get to pick which company provides billing service to you. Each company advertises a rate to "compete" with each other, this rate is added on top of the base rate that the actual gas provider charges and then they charge you a service charge on top of the that ($5-6 per month) that is not advertised.
The base rate is the same no matter who you choose. And the base rate plus admin fee make up most of your bill, so the advertised "competitive" rate is basically meaningless. Also, you have to sign a contract or you pay a variable rate instead of the advertised rate, which is MUCH higher. Also, there are big discounts for "new" customers (lower rate, monthly bill credit, cash back visa, etc.), so after the first contract period your price goes up quite a bit.
So you need to change providers every 6-24 months (depending on contract length) in the month before your contract expires. Otherwise your bill goes up because you either switched to the much higher variable price or lost your new customer discount. Or if you switch early, you pay an early cancellation charge.
Also, if you ever have any issues with your gas lines, you have to call the actual gas company to get assistance. The company that you pay doesn't actually have any technicians or anything and provides no other service than billing you and paying the real gas company their share of the bill.
I'm so glad I don't live in Georgia anymore for lots of reasons, including this.
Germany and the UK: yes. Where I live in Germany I had to choose a green energy provider (it was in the contract), which wasn't hard because we run on renewables in our neck of the wood.
Well in NZ we have one big electric network and a system for how load is balanced and payments flow between generators and companies supplying to users of the power.
So while there are exceptions, in general we can choose any company, of which there are about 40.
And there are some big differences. Genesis charges me nothing extra for 3 phase. Some companies charge 3x the fixed fee for 3 phase.