Mom lives in NY and will transition to AL next month. We have all the big stuff taken care of, but I have to cancel all her utilities. You'd think this would be a simple process. Not so much. I'm finding many of them require an authorization code from the phone number used to set up the account - Mom's landline in NY.
OR -- they have to talk to her directly for authorization. Mom has enough on her plate right now preparing to move from her home of 50 years -- how can I handle this seamlessly from out of state?
My question, does she own this home? If so, why ru turning the utilities off. Are u selling it? If so, you need to keep basic utilities on so the house can be shown. With my Moms house I turned off phone and cable. I left the electric and heat on. I unplugged all large appliances like frig and small ones. I put a timer on a lamp in the l/r to go on at dark go off at 11pm. I set the heat at 55 to keep pipes from freezing. In my town it costs to shut water off and sewerage cannot be turned off.
If she rents then just basics need to be turned off. If Mom is competent, she needs to do this. Its just a call asking the electric be shut off by a certain time. Same with phone and cable. If she is not competent, then a POA needs to be sent to the utility company. I did this thru email. They need to know the person has authorization to do this.
I suggest that if she is having any utilities hooked up at the AL, they go in ur name or you are made a contact with authorization to make any changes to her acct.
Thanks for your help!