Utilities

Know which utilities are your responsibility. Check your lease or ask your landlord. Find out if the utilities will be turned on when you arrive. It is important to get the utilities turned on or transferred into tenants’ names. Some utilities have fees that you must pay in order to turn the service back on and a transfer of service can help you avoid these fees. Ask the landlord if it is possible to directly transfer the utilities to your name and avoid unnecessary fees.

In preparing for your move, it's typically best to call for utility set up a couple of weeks in advance, as many people will be trying to set up utilities in a short amount of time surrounding your move-in day. 

City of Oxford (Water, sewer, trash, and recycling)
cityofoxford.org
524-5221

Duke Energy (electric)
duke-energy.com
651-4182 

Glenwood Energy (natural gas)
glenwoodenergy.org
523-2555

Paying Utilities with Roommates

If you are in a house or apartment in which you are responsible for setting up and paying utilities, you may have to decide how you will split up the utility payments with your roommates in a way that is fair and doesn't burden any particular person. Students choose to handle this situation in many different ways. Regardless of how pay for utilities, ideally the utility bills will not all be in one person’s name. If someone does not pay his/her share of the bills one month, you do not want the burden to fall on the same person. In addition, setting up a utility bill in your name helps build credit, so take this opportunity to build your credit and learn how to pay bills on time.

  1. Joint Account: One option is to set up a joint account between all roommates. All roommates should contribute an equal amount to the account at the beginning of the year or semester and then use the account to pay all utility bills. 
  2. App / Website: There are several apps and sites that provide tracking, reminders, and easy payments between roommates. A quick web search should yield several options. 
  3. Splitting Services: Some roommates decide to each take on one utility and then "settle up" at the end of each month. This method requires some additional trust in your roommates to get bills paid on time.