Your Right to Obtain Service
When you move into an apartment or home, you have the right to receive gas and electric service upon request, although special rules apply if you owe the utility company money from a prior address. Most companies will allow you to request new service by telephone. Some companies may require you to sign an application form.
Some companies refuse to serve people under 18 years old, even if they are living in their own home. There is no clear legal basis for refusing service to a minor. If a company refuses you service for this reason, call the DPU.4
Tenants also have the right to water service and a landlord is required by law to keep the water systems for a rental unit in good working order.5
4. While G.L. c. 231, §§85O, 85P say that if you are 18 or older, you have reached the age of maturity and have the full legal capacity to contract, there is no statute which provides a legal basis for denying services to someone under the age of 18.
5. See 105 C.M.R. §410.130 requires the property owner to provide occupants with potable water. 105 C.M.R. §410.140 and 410.235 requires the property owner to install and maintain all plumbing-related facilities in good operating condition.
6. In certain limited circumstances the property owner could require the tenants to pay the water bills. G.L. c. 186, §22 and 105 C.M.R §410.354(D). Very few property owners have been willing to comply with the conditions that must be met to shift to tenants the burden of paying for water bills. See more information about the water sub-meter law.
7. 105 C.M.R. §410.200 (specifying that the owner must provide and pay for gas and electricity, unless there is a written agreement to the contrary and the gas and electricity are metered through a meter for only the dwelling unit or other area under the exclusive use of an occupant); 105 C.M.R. §410.210 (specifying that the owner must provide and pay for oil unless there is a written agreement to the contrary and the oil is provided from a separate oil tank which serves only that dwelling unit). If no such written agreement exists, the landlord is legally responsible for the cost of heat and hot water even if the tenant has adopted the practice of paying for them. Young v. Patukonis, 24 Mass. App. Ct. 907 (1987).
10. 220 C.M.R. §27.00.
11. The name “Cromwell Waiver” is in reference to a Department of Public Utilities decision regarding bills owed from a prior address. See Cromwell v. Boston Edison Company, D.P.U. 18123 (1974).
12. The process of using "Cromwell Waivers" to get service at a new address is not required or even described anywhere in the DPU's regulations.
13. 220 C.M.R. §27.00. The process of using "Cromwell Waivers" to get service at a new address is not required or even described anywhere in the DPU's regulations. This prohibition on deposits applies to the privately owned utilities, such as Eversource and National Grid, which provide electricity and gas to 90% of the households in Massachusetts. Municipally owned utilities—for example, the Groton Electric Light Department—can charge deposits. G.L. c. 164, §58A.
14. DPU 18448, Rule 4.5.
15. Gas service is not available except where your company has existing distribution lines. Electric companies may not readily agree to provide service to a particularly remote rural customer unless the customer contributes to the cost of bringing a power line to the house.