When to Turn Off Utilities When Selling a House in Houston: The Day After Funding, Not a Day Sooner — A Houston Real Estate Broker’s Guide

The business day after the sale funds. That is when to turn off utilities when selling a house in Houston, and it is later than most sellers expect: not the move-out day, and not the closing date. The Texas resale contract requires the seller to keep the utilities on for as long as the contract is in effect, a home inspector cannot test anything that is not running, and in Houston a sealed house with the air conditioning off starts smelling of mildew within a few weeks. The accounts you are tempted to close cost roughly $100 to $200 a month for a vacant house as of October 2026, by my estimate below, closer to $240 in a MUD, against a sale price in the hundreds of thousands. Here is what each shut-off actually costs a seller, and the simple way to hand the accounts off.

The short version: keep electric, water and gas in your name from the day the listing goes live until the day after the title company tells you the sale has funded. Set the thermostat, put a couple of lamps on timers, and schedule the transfer for the business day after funding. In Texas the sale is done when the money moves, which can be the business day after you sign.

What the Texas contract says about utilities when selling a house

Once you are under contract, keeping the utilities on stops being a judgment call. Paragraph 7A of the TREC One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale), form 20-19, the version dated May 4, 2026 and effective July 1, 2026, is titled Access, Inspections and Utilities, and its last sentence is the one that matters:

“Seller at Seller’s expense shall immediately cause existing utilities to be turned on and shall keep the utilities on during the time this contract is in effect.”

Three phrases in that sentence are easy to read past. Immediately means a seller who shut the power off after moving out owes a reconnection the day the contract goes effective. At Seller’s expense means the fees and the bills are yours. And during the time this contract is in effect runs from the effective date through closing and funding, well past the option period, where the buyer’s inspection happens in the first few days. The same paragraph requires the seller to “permit Buyer and Buyer’s agents access to the Property at reasonable times.”

The contract is quieter about the two other visits that need the lights on. The buyer’s final walk-through is a matter of custom, documented on the Texas REALTORS® walk-through form (TXR-1925), and it is how the buyer confirms what Paragraph 10A promises: possession “in its present or required condition, ordinary wear and tear excepted” upon closing and funding. The appraiser’s visit is a lender requirement, and I cover it below. All three visits ride on the same sentence: access at reasonable times, with the utilities on.

One more line sellers do not expect. Paragraph 13, Prorations, divides taxes, interest, rents and association dues through the closing date. Utilities are missing from that list, so the final bills through the day the accounts leave your name are simply yours.

What “Not Inspected” costs a seller

A Texas home inspector works to a written standard of practice, and the report follows a required TREC form, REI 7-6, which gives every line four boxes: Inspected, Not Inspected, Not Present and Deficient. The standards say the inspector is not required to “turn on decommissioned equipment, systems or utility services,” to “operate any main, branch, or shut-off valves,” or to inspect “any system that has been winterized, shut down or otherwise secured” (22 TAC §535.227 and §535.231). So in a house with the power off, the air conditioner, furnace, water heater, oven, dishwasher, disposal, GFCI outlets and pool equipment all come back marked Not Inspected. With the water off, nobody runs the fixtures, loads the drains, checks for leaks under pressure or tests the irrigation. With the gas off, the water heater, furnace and range sit untested, and the inspector is not required to light a pilot. The report arrives with a column of NI boxes down the side, and the form tells the buyer, in capital letters, that only the items noted as inspected were inspected.

A buyer looking at a report full of Not Inspected boxes has four choices inside the option period, and every one of them costs the seller something:

• Re-inspect. The utilities get turned on and the inspector comes back for the systems that could not be run. Paragraph 12A of the contract puts repair inspections and the final compliance inspection on the buyer’s expense list by default, but when the first trip was wasted because the seller’s power was off, the second trip becomes a negotiation. In my experience it has come out of the seller’s side, and I plan for that.
• Ask for a credit or an escrow holdback. A buyer who cannot test the air conditioner in July will price the risk. The ask is a credit at closing, or, when a system fails late in the deal, an escrow holdback that keeps part of your proceeds at the title company until the repair is proven.
• Extend the option period. An amendment that adds days so the re-inspection fits inside the window. The buyer keeps the unrestricted right to walk for longer, and your closing date may slide with it.
• Terminate. Inside the option period the buyer can end the contract for any reason, and a report that could not confirm the major systems is a good one. The earnest money goes back under the release of earnest money, your listing goes back on the market, and the next buyer’s real estate agent asks why the first contract fell through.

There is a disclosure angle too. If a system was off during the inspection and later turns out to be broken, what you knew and when becomes part of the seller’s disclosure conversation. Keeping the systems running and testable is the cleaner path. For the buyer-side reading of what the report’s boxes mean, I wrote a separate guide to reading the inspection report on an older Houston home.

The appraiser needs it on too

On an FHA loan the appraiser is required to run the systems. HUD Handbook 4000.1, section II.D.3.f (Update 18, revised August 12, 2026), says the appraiser “must operate the applicable systems and observe their performance,” must note whether the utilities were on or off at a vacant property, and, if they are off, “must ask to have them turned on.” When they cannot be, the appraisal is rendered “subject to reobservation,” which means a second trip, a second fee, and a closing that waits on it. VA’s handbook takes a lighter line, and its appraiser does not perform operational checks of the mechanical systems. A conventional appraiser answers a narrower question than an inspector, but from the appraiser’s side of the table, where I also hold a license, a dark house with the water off still reads as a condition problem, and a vacant house whose systems could not be confirmed can come back subject to a re-inspection. The re-inspection fee and who pays it are negotiated, which I explain in what appraisers look for; the seller’s prep list, utilities included, is in my home appraisal checklist.

Houston heat, Houston humidity, and a house with the A/C off

This is the part the contract does not cover, and in Houston it is the part that costs sellers the most. A house closed up with the air conditioning off from May through October gets hot and, worse, humid, because the air conditioner is also the dehumidifier, and the EPA’s guidance is to keep indoor humidity below 60 percent to keep mold from starting. Within a few weeks a sealed, dark Houston house develops a musty smell that buyers notice at the front door, and by then there is often mildew on the backs of closet doors and in the grout. I have walked buyers into vacant listings where the smell ended the showing before we reached the kitchen.

The showing is the other half. A vacant house with the power off is dark, hot and silent, and buyers read it as neglected. The fix costs very little: hold the thermostat between 78 and 82 degrees in summer so the air keeps moving, leave the blinds partly open, and put two or three lamps on plug-in timers so the house has lights on at dusk when buyers drive by. Outside, keep the irrigation on its normal schedule; a Houston lawn with the water cut off in August is brown in two weeks, and the listing photos start to look like a different house.

Winter is the flip side, and it is the worst case. In a freeze week like February 2021 or January 2024, a vacant house with the heat off and nobody checking on it is the house whose pipes burst. Turning the water off at the meter does not drain the lines; the water already in the pipes and the water heater is still there to freeze. Keep the heat on low, around 55 degrees, open the cabinet doors under the sinks, insulate the exposed pipes in the attic and garage, and have someone check the house the morning after a hard freeze. A burst line in an unattended house can run for days before anyone knows.

Vacant-house insurance: one call to your carrier

Your homeowner’s policy was written for a house someone lives in. Most standard policies limit or exclude certain coverage once the home has been vacant for a stated period, commonly 30 or 60 consecutive days, and Texas courts have enforced those clauses. In Greene v. Farmers Insurance Exchange (Tex. 2014) the policy suspended dwelling coverage 60 days into a vacancy, the house burned in a fire that spread from next door, and the Texas Supreme Court enforced the clause even though the vacancy had nothing to do with the fire. I am not an insurance agent and your policy may read differently, so the step is a phone call: tell your carrier the house is vacant and listed, ask what the policy does after 30 or 60 days, and ask about a vacancy endorsement. Paragraph 10A of the contract tells both parties to consult their insurance agent before possession changes; the vacancy call is the same conversation, just earlier, and I cover the storm side of it in what happens when a hurricane hits before closing.

The reconnection trap: how a shut-off blows a closing date

Sellers assume a shut-off is reversible with one phone call. In greater Houston it is three calls to three companies, each with its own clock, and none of the clocks run on your closing date. Electricity is the easy one: CenterPoint Energy owns the wires and the smart meter, its filed tariff (effective April 28, 2025) charges nothing for a move-in on an existing smart meter, and CenterPoint completes the move-in the same day if the order arrives by 7:00 p.m. on a business day, so a retail electric provider can usually have the power on the same day or the next business day; if a truck has to visit, the lead time runs to several business days.

Natural gas is the slow one. A technician has to turn the meter on, test the lines and relight the appliances, and an adult has to be at the house for the appointment. SiEnergy, which serves many of the master-planned communities in Cypress and Katy, says it will contact you within three business days to set the next available appointment; CenterPoint’s gas rules allow up to seven working days for a service order, and its Houston fee schedule charges $40 to institute or restore service, plus a $47 surcharge for an after-hours or weekend call. Texas Gas Service and UniGas serve other pockets of the area, and only their technicians can turn a meter on.

Water depends on the address: the City of Houston opens accounts through its water-billing office, and a MUD opens them through its operator, with an owner’s deposit of about $75 to $100, an application fee of $15 to $35, and same-day service only if you reach the office before 2:00 p.m. on a weekday, in the Inframark districts I checked.

Put that against a contract calendar. The inspector is booked for day two of a seven-day option period, the seller realizes on day one that the gas was shut off in September, and the gas company’s next appointment is four business days out. The inspection moves, the option period is extended by amendment, the appraisal moves behind it, and a closing set for the 30th is now the 6th, which puts the buyer’s rate lock and moving date at risk. The reconnection fee was $40; the lost week cost the seller far more.

What it actually costs to keep the lights on in a vacant Houston house

Sellers asking when to turn off utilities when selling a house are usually asking what it costs to leave them on, and nobody publishes a vacant-house figure for Houston, so here is mine, built from the current rate sheets. Electricity carries CenterPoint’s delivery charge of $4.90 a month plus about six cents per kilowatt-hour, and 12-month fixed plans in the Houston area ran about 14 to 17 cents per kilowatt-hour all-in at the end of October 2026; the Public Utility Commission’s Power to Choose site shows what is on offer today. A vacant house holding 80 degrees uses well under the 1,300 to 1,600 kilowatt-hours an occupied Houston home averages; at 400 to 800 kilowatt-hours the electric bill lands between $60 and $140, and the fixed charges push a low-use bill toward the top of that range. Gas with nothing running is close to the customer charge alone, $15.75 a month on CenterPoint’s residential rate. Water and sewer with almost no use runs about $22 to $31 a month on the City of Houston’s April 2026 rate table, before the drainage fee, and $48 to $81 a month in the Harris County MUDs I looked at, because most districts bill a flat sewer charge whether you use a gallon or not. Call it $100 to $200 a month for a typical vacant house on city water, closer to $240 in a MUD, and more with a pool pump or a large irrigation system. Figures as of October 2026; your bills vary by address, plan and season.

On a $350,000 Houston house, three months of that is less than a quarter of one percent of the price, and it buys an inspection that confirms the systems, an appraisal that does not come back subject to a second visit, a house that shows the way it photographed, and a closing that keeps its date. Budget it as a cost of selling, on the same list as the title policy and the prorated taxes in my post on what it costs to sell a home in Houston.

When to turn off utilities when selling a house: the hand-off at closing

It comes down to one rule and a short list. The rule: every account stays in your name until the title company confirms the sale has funded, and the transfer or disconnect is scheduled for the business day after that. Funding is when the lender wires the money and the title company disburses it, and it can land the business day after you sign. A seller who cancels service effective the closing date can leave the house dark on a day the contract still holds them responsible for it. The buyer’s new accounts typically start the day they take possession, and the providers can overlap a day without a gap.

What to do, in order:

• At listing: keep every account open; set the thermostat and the timers; confirm the irrigation schedule; call your insurance carrier about the vacancy.
• At contract: ask the title company whether your closing funds the same day, and plan the utility transfer for the business day after the expected funding date; if the house had been shut off, reconnect the day the contract goes effective, as Paragraph 7A requires.
• The week of closing: call each provider and schedule the final read or the transfer for the business day after the expected funding date, and ask for the final bill at your forwarding address.
• At funding: when the title company confirms the sale has funded, let the scheduled transfer stand; if closing or funding slips, move the transfer date with it.
• After closing: pay the final bills. Taxes and association dues are prorated at the table, which I explain in closing costs in Texas and who pays what; utilities are not.

How I handle this for my sellers

A vacant listing gets its own checklist at the listing appointment, and the utility-transfer date is the last line on it. We walk the house together and set the thermostat, the timers and the irrigation controller before the photographer comes. The utility accounts go on my transaction calendar next to the option period and the closing date, so the transfer date is already set when we go under contract. I coordinate the inspection and the appraisal access myself, so the inspector and the appraiser find the systems running and nobody makes a second trip. After every showing I ask the buyer’s real estate agent for feedback, and if the house is reading hot, dark or musty I hear about it that day. And when the file funds, I am the one who calls you and tells you it is safe to move the accounts.

Questions Houston sellers ask me about utilities and a vacant house

Do utilities have to be on for a home inspection in Texas?

Yes, once the house is under contract. Paragraph 7A of the TREC resale contract (form 20-19) requires the seller, at the seller’s expense, to immediately have existing utilities turned on and to keep them on for as long as the contract is in effect. A Texas inspector is not required to turn on utility services or operate shut-off valves, so anything that is not running is marked Not Inspected on the TREC report form.

Can I turn off the water when selling a vacant house?

I would not, and once you are under contract the contract does not allow it. With the water off the inspector cannot test the plumbing, the water heater or the irrigation, the lawn in your listing photos dies, and in a freeze week shutting the water off at the meter does not drain the lines, so the pipes can still burst. Keep the water on, keep the heat on low in winter, and have someone check the house after a hard freeze.

What happens if the utilities are off during the inspection?

The inspector marks every system that cannot be run as Not Inspected, and the buyer has four options inside the option period: come back for a re-inspection once the utilities are on, ask for a credit or an escrow holdback for the untested systems, extend the option period, or terminate and have the earnest money refunded. Every one of those costs the seller something: money, time, or the buyer.

Who pays for a re-inspection when the utilities were off?

The contract’s expense list puts repair inspections on the buyer’s side by default, but when the first inspection was wasted because the seller’s utilities were off, the cost of the second trip is negotiated, and in my experience it has come out of the seller’s side. An FHA appraiser’s return visit, when an appraisal is made subject to reobservation, carries its own fee and is negotiated the same way.

When should I cancel utilities when selling a house?

The business day after the title company confirms the sale has funded. In Texas the sale is complete at funding, which can be the day after you sign, and the contract requires the utilities on while it is in effect. Schedule the final read or the transfer for the business day after the expected funding date, and move it if closing or funding moves.

How much does it cost to keep utilities on in a vacant Houston house?

Roughly $100 to $200 a month as of October 2026, by my estimate from the current rate sheets: $60 to $140 for electricity with the thermostat near 80 degrees in summer, about $16 for gas with nothing running, and $22 to $81 for water and sewer depending on whether the house is on City of Houston water or in a MUD with a flat sewer charge, which can push the total closer to $240. A pool pump or heavy irrigation adds to it. Your bills vary by address and plan.

How do I choose a real estate agent to sell a vacant house in Houston?

Ask each candidate what their vacant-home checklist is, who sets the thermostat and the timers, how they handle inspection and appraisal access, and when they would schedule your utility transfer. A real estate agent who has sold vacant houses answers with specifics. Check the license on TREC’s website, read the client surveys on HAR.com, and expect the listing agreement to spell out compensation in writing before the sign goes up; the longer interview is in how to choose a REALTOR®.

Last updated: October 2026 · Sources: TREC form 20-19 (05-04-2026), Paragraphs 7A, 10A, 12A and 13; Texas REALTORS® form TXR-1925 (06-15-26); TREC Standards of Practice, 22 TAC §535.227 and §535.231, and Property Inspection Report form REI 7-6; HUD Handbook 4000.1 §II.D.3.f (Update 18, August 12, 2026); VA Pamphlet 26-7, Chapter 12 (Change 46, effective May 1, 2026); EPA, A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home; Greene v. Farmers Insurance Exchange (Tex. 2014); CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric residential rates and its PUCT-filed tariff (April 28, 2025); CenterPoint Houston gas rate schedules R-2095-I and MISC-20; SiEnergy service options page; Power to Choose and electricchoice.com Houston averages (October 28, 2026); City of Houston Public Works water and wastewater rate table (April 2026 step); Inframark welcome letters for Harris County MUDs 5, 82, 149 and 490; Insurance Information Institute and NAIC statements on vacancy clauses. Figures as of October 2026 and typical, not quotes; rates, fees and lead times change and vary by provider and address. General information, not legal, insurance or tax advice; for a specific property talk with your title company, a Texas real estate attorney and a licensed insurance agent.

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