Setting up Utilities in New Jersey

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With all of the organization, packing and logistics that come with planning a move, there’s one important task that can easily slip through the cracks— setting up your utilities. While it’s pretty obvious that setting up your utilities is a crucial step to starting your new life in your new home, many people tend to put it off until right up until their move date. To help expedite this process and to get you set up as quickly and as soon in advance as possible, we’ve put together a guide to helping you set up your utilities in New Jersey.

setting up utilities in new jersey

Step 1: Start Sooner Rather Than Later

While the process itself is pretty simple, you’ll want to provide enough notice so that everything can be set up smoothly. It is suggested that you contact all of your utility companies a minimum of two weeks in advance of your moving date to avoid any interruptions in services.

Step 2: Cancel Your Old Services

Before you start the process of setting up new services, you’ll want to call your current utility companies and cancel your services. It’s a good idea to have the end date be the day after your moving date, so that your lights, water and heat are all still running on your move out date. If you haven’t signed up for e-bills, you’ll also want to provide the moving company with a forwarding address for the final bill. 

Step 3: Start Your New Services

After you’ve closed your existing accounts, you’ll want to start services at your new home. The easiest way to do this is by calling your realtor or landlord to find which services you need to set up and have them recommend a few companies in the area. Depending on where you live, your landlord could already take care of the heat and hot water bills, so you won’t need to set those up. Typically, you’ll need the below information to set up a new account. If you’re a new customer, some companies may require a security deposit, which will be returned after one year’s good pay. This depends on your state’s utility board as well as your credit rating.

  • Your name, phone number, and email address
  • Your service address 
  • Date of the start of service (typically most people start their utilities the day before their move, to ensure everything is set up on their moving day)
  • Your social security number (if you don’t have an SSN, some utilities accept a driver or non-driver license ID, a passport, or an alien ID number)

Step 4: Write Everything Down

With the chaos of moving, it’s easy to forget even signing up for your utility services in the first place, never mind your account number and password. Be sure to keep a note in your phone or write everything down upon singing up so that you have everything in one place when you need to pay your next bill.

Step 5: Sign Up

For Electric & Gas Services:

In New Jersey, electricity and gas customers can choose their energy providers. Once you have a utility account number, you can shop around from suppliers to find the best possible price. These are the largest electric companies in New Jersey:

  1. PSE&G: 1-800-436-7734
  2. Jersey Central Power & Light: 1-800-662-3115
  3. Atlantic City Electric: 1-800-642-3780
  4. Orange Rockland Electric Company: 1-877-434-4100

For a full map of which companies service your area, visit New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program’s Site Map.  Rural electric coops and municipal utilities serve some parts of New Jersey, so you’ll want to double check Call Me Power’s Directory to find which utility provides to your new home.

For gas services, check out the top natural gas providers in New Jersey below as well as a map of the areas they service.

  1. Elizabethtown Gas: 1-800-242-5830
  2. PSE&G: 1-800-436-7734
  3. South Jersey Gas: 1-888-766-9900
  4. New Jersey Gas: 1-800-221-0051

For Water Services:

Water service in New Jersey is managed by your municipal utility. You can find a list of New Jersey water utilities as well as their phone numbers on the New Jersey Board of Public Affairs’ website.

For Phone, Internet & Cable Services

Just like with gas and electric, you can shop around for the best deal for your phone, Internet and cable provider in New Jersey. This will allow you to make the best and most cost-efficient decision for you and your family. To get started, check out the top providers in New Jersey below. Note that Service Electric Cable provides service in the county of Sussex and Time Warner Cable covers the counties of Bergen and Hudson.

  1. Cablevision: 1-866-575-8000
  2. Comcast: 1-800-266-2278
  3. Verizon: 1-888-438-3467
  4. Service Electric Cable: 1-800-225-9102 (Hunterdon) / 1-800-992-0132 (Sparta)
  5. Time Warner Cable: 1-888-438-3467