When a house sits empty, keep the electricity and heat on, keep water on unless you fully winterize the plumbing, tell your insurance company before day 60, and move the utility accounts into the name of whoever is now responsible for the property. That is the short version of what to do with utilities when a house is vacant. The longer version depends on the climate, the season, how long the vacancy will last, and whether the home has a fire sprinkler system, a well, propane, or heating oil. Get the core decisions right and the house protects itself. Get them wrong and you can lose insurance coverage, burst a pipe, or let a water bill turn into a lien.
Which Utilities to Keep On
Shutting off the wrong service costs far more than a few months of minimum charges. A vacant home still needs most of what an occupied one needs, just dialed back.
Electricity should stay on. It powers sump pumps, security systems, garage door openers, smart monitoring devices, and the well pump if the home is on a private well. Even if you shut the water off at the main, the sump and the alarm still need power.
Heat should stay on in any climate that drops below freezing. The American Red Cross recommends keeping the thermostat at a minimum of 55°F in an unoccupied home during cold weather to prevent pipes from freezing and bursting.1American Red Cross. Preventing and Thawing Frozen Pipes A single burst pipe can cause tens of thousands of dollars in damage, so this is the last place to try to save money.
Water usually stays on. It’s required if the home has a fire sprinkler system, since sprinklers need supply pressure to work. Even without sprinklers, a trickle of use keeps drain traps from drying out and letting sewer gas into the house. The exception is a long winter vacancy where full winterization makes sense.
Air conditioning matters in humid climates. Running the AC at roughly 80 to 85°F circulates air and holds humidity down. Mold can take hold in a closed-up house in about 48 hours.
What you can usually cut: trash collection, cable, subscription services tied to the address, and the landline if the security system doesn’t use it. Internet is a judgment call. If you want remote monitoring, you need to keep it.
When Winterizing Beats Paying for Heat All Winter
If the house will sit empty through an entire winter and nobody wants to pay heating bills on it, full winterization lets you shut off both the water and the furnace safely. This is common for probate properties, which can take six months or more to resolve. The tradeoff is upfront work and more work to bring the house back in spring.
The basic sequence is to shut off the main water supply, open every faucet starting from the top floor down, flush the toilets, drain the water heater, and clear residual water from the lines (an air compressor helps). Once the lines are empty, non-toxic RV antifreeze goes into every drain trap in the house: sinks, tubs, showers, the washing machine drain, and toilet bowls. The antifreeze keeps the trap seal intact so sewer gas can’t come up. An average house uses roughly 15 to 20 gallons.
One hard exception: if the home has a fire sprinkler system, you cannot shut off the water. The sprinkler lines have to stay charged and the house has to stay heated, which means 55°F minimum and water service active.1American Red Cross. Preventing and Thawing Frozen Pipes If you aren’t confident doing the winterization yourself, pay a plumber. It is cheaper than a flooded house.
Call Your Insurer Before Day 60
Most standard homeowners policies contain a vacancy clause that limits or eliminates coverage once the house has been unoccupied for 60 consecutive days. The standard fire policy specifically restricts coverage when a building “is vacant or unoccupied beyond a period of sixty consecutive days.” Some policies use a 30-day threshold instead. Read your actual policy rather than assuming you have the full 60.
What this means in practice: file a water damage, vandalism, or theft claim after that window closes, and the insurer can deny it outright. Many insurers also require you to report the vacancy proactively, and failing to do so can be treated as a material misrepresentation on the policy.
Two options cover the gap. A vacancy endorsement added to your existing policy typically raises the premium by 15 to 30 percent and tends to work well when the home still has furniture and active utilities. A standalone vacant home policy, built for completely empty properties, runs roughly 50 to 60 percent more than standard homeowners coverage. Either way, insurers usually require you to keep utilities active, keep heat on in winter, and conduct regular inspections.
Call your agent before the vacancy begins. Retroactive endorsements are not always available, and a gap in the most vulnerable window defeats the purpose of carrying insurance at all.
Who Can Change the Account, and What Proves It
Utility companies won’t let just anyone make changes. The paperwork depends on why the house is vacant.
For a probate or estate situation, you need the homeowner’s death certificate and your Letters Testamentary (or Letters of Administration if there was no will). These court-issued letters prove you have legal authority over the deceased person’s accounts. Most providers accept copies, but call ahead.
If you’re acting as someone’s agent, you need a valid power of attorney that specifically grants authority over financial matters. Some utility companies accept a general durable power of attorney; others require the document to name the specific provider or account.
If the property is being sold and you’re the owner, you can manage accounts directly. A real estate agent or property manager handling things on your behalf will need written authorization from you on file with each provider.
Before you call, pull together the account number, service address, and meter number for each utility. Old statements in the house, in the deceased person’s email, or in online account portals are the fastest source. If none of that turns up, the provider can usually locate the account by service address once you prove your identity.
Transferring Billing Without Disconnecting Service
For most vacant houses, the goal isn’t to shut services off. It’s to move billing responsibility to the right person while keeping the essentials running.
For a home in probate, call each utility and transfer the account into the name of the estate. The account reads something like “Estate of [Name]” and bills go to whatever mailing address you designate, usually the executor’s. Service stays on; the deceased person is no longer the responsible party on paper.
For a home being sold, coordinate with the buyer’s agent on a transfer date. On that date, your account closes and the buyer’s opens. There’s no physical disconnection at the meter. If there’s a gap between closing and the buyer’s move-in, you can often keep service in your name for the extra days or weeks so the property doesn’t go dark.
Ask for a final meter reading on the day billing should end. If the meter is inside the house or behind a locked gate, you’ll need to arrange access. Some providers let you submit a self-reading online or by phone. Expect a small processing fee on the final bill.
Landlords have one extra tool worth knowing about: a “landlord revert” arrangement, which automatically transfers billing back to the owner when a tenant cancels service. Without one, the utility may shut service off entirely between tenants and leave the property unprotected.
Catch the Mail Before It Turns Into a Lien
Bills, disconnection notices, insurance letters, and municipal violation notices keep arriving at the vacant address. If nobody is collecting them, deadlines slip past unseen.
USPS mail forwarding lasts 12 months and covers First-Class mail and periodicals at no extra charge, with a $1.25 identity verification fee if you set it up online.2USPS. Standard Forward Mail and Change of Address Forwarding can be extended for up to 18 additional months for a fee. For probate properties, forward to the executor. For a sale, forward to the owner’s current address.
Marketing mail doesn’t forward, so if a utility sends notices as bulk mail, those won’t reach you. Switch every utility account to paperless billing and put a reliable email address on file. That single step is the most dependable way to keep anything from slipping through.
The reason to care isn’t just late fees. If a utility bill goes delinquent and lands at a collection agency, the debt can show up on a credit report. Utility providers also share delinquency data through the National Consumer Telecom and Utilities Exchange, which can trigger deposit requirements when you try to open a new account elsewhere.3Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Does My History of Paying Utility Bills Go in My Credit Report
The bigger risk is the property itself. In many places, municipal utilities can place a lien on the home for unpaid water and sewer charges. The amount gets added to the property tax bill as a special charge, and if it stays unpaid, the municipality can pursue the same remedies available for delinquent property taxes, including tax sale. For an estate property, utility debts rank as general debts and get paid after administration costs, secured debts, funeral costs, and medical bills, so they can go unpaid when funds run short. But any lien still has to clear before the house can be sold with clean title.
Watching the House From a Distance
Driving by every week is ideal and often impractical. A small amount of smart equipment closes the gap between keeping services active and knowing they’re actually working.
A Wi-Fi thermostat is the single most useful device. It alerts you when the indoor temperature drops below your threshold, which buys time to send someone before pipes freeze. Most models let you adjust the setting remotely if the furnace fails. This requires keeping internet service active, which is worth the monthly cost for monitoring alone.
Leak sensors placed near water heaters, under sinks, next to toilets, and by the washing machine hookup send alerts the moment they touch moisture. A slow leak in an empty house can destroy flooring, drywall, and framing before anyone notices. Sensors run $20 to $50 each.
Smart plugs or a whole-panel electricity monitor can flag power outages. If power goes out in a winter storm and nobody knows, the interior temperature can drop below freezing within hours. Set the water heater to its vacation mode, which typically holds the tank around 50°F, instead of shutting it off entirely. Turning a water heater fully off can cause restart issues and leaves the tank vulnerable to freezing.
Propane and Heating Oil
Homes with propane or heating oil have concerns the grid doesn’t.
Keep heating oil tanks at least half full during vacancy, even in warm months. A near-empty tank develops interior condensation, which corrodes the tank from the inside. Topping off before the vacancy begins is simpler and cheaper than replacing a corroded tank. If the furnace will run at 55°F through winter, set up automatic delivery so the tank doesn’t run dry during a cold stretch.
Propane adds a wrinkle because many tanks are leased from the propane supplier rather than owned by the homeowner. A leased tank can’t be transferred to a new owner or simply walked away from. Call the supplier before listing or before the estate settles. The supplier may refund the propane remaining in the tank, though termination fees can offset the refund. A buyer will need to establish their own account and either take over the lease or negotiate a new one. The seller’s job is to disclose the arrangement and close the account properly.
Check Whether Your City Requires Vacant Property Registration
Hundreds of cities and counties require owners to register vacant properties with the local government. These ordinances charge annual fees that vary by jurisdiction, and failing to register can bring escalating fines. Registration requirements typically kick in after 30 to 90 days of vacancy, depending on the municipality.
Check with local code enforcement or the building department. Some ordinances also set maintenance standards for vacant properties, including keeping utilities active for fire suppression, maintaining the exterior, and securing all entry points. An executor managing an estate home or an owner with a house on the market for several months can easily miss this requirement without knowing it exists.
Turning Everything Back On
Reconnecting after an extended shutoff isn’t always as simple as placing a call. If the gas was off long enough, the utility typically sends a technician to inspect the meter, check the line for leaks, and relight pilot lights, and a pressure test may be required. Water should come back slowly: open the main valve gradually, check every fixture and connection for leaks, and inspect the water heater before firing it up. If antifreeze went into drain traps, flush each fixture thoroughly. Electricity is usually the simplest to restore, often handled by phone unless power was physically disconnected at the meter. Reconnection fees are common, especially after a nonpayment shutoff, so plan for them when you bring the house back online.