When you move out of your house for whatever reason, one of things on your to-do list would be to close all your utility accounts – water, trash, electricity, gas, etc. When you get down to calling PG&E to close your gas & electricity account, pause for a moment, and consider the next occupants of your house. If they are moving in a few days after you move out, it just makes sense to notify them of your intention, so that they can in turn call PG&E to set up their own account. Coordination is key.

It takes only one phone call to close your account and shut off the power. It is, however, not that easy to turn on the power once it has been shut off.

When a new tenant calls PG&E to open a new account, the power is not turned on automatically (unless it is already turned on). They literally need to send a technician onsite to physically switch the power on. Depending on their load, it may take 2-5 days or maybe more to get a PG&E man to come to the property. This definitely poses an inconvenience to the next occupants.

On the other hand, if the power is still on, the new tenants can simply call PG&E to set up a new account. The transaction can be completed with just that phone call; no onsite visit is necessary. It makes a big difference if the power has not yet been switched off.