Setting Up PG&E, Water and Garbage for Your New SF Home

Four accounts cover a San Francisco house: PG&E for gas and electric delivery, CleanPowerSF for the electricity itself, the SFPUC for water and sewer, and Recology for garbage, recycling and compost. None of them transfer from the seller. You open each in your name effective the recording date, or the day after a rent-back ends, and only one household utility, internet, is something you actually shop. Here is the list, the timing, and the two bills that can follow the property.

The accounts

PG&E delivers gas and electricity and sends the bill. CleanPowerSF, run by the SFPUC, buys the electricity for most SF accounts; it appears as the generation line on the same PG&E bill, and new accounts are enrolled automatically with the option to upgrade to 100% renewable or opt out to PG&E generation. The SFPUC bills water and sewer together to the property owner. Recology is the city's residential collector, and service at an occupied property is required.

Timing: tie every start date to recording

• PG&E. Request service online or by phone about a week before closing with a start date equal to your expected recording date. The seller stops their account on the same date. If recording slips, call and move the start; a day of overlap costs a few dollars and a gap means a cold house with nothing to test. Photograph the meters when you get keys, as recording day suggests.
• SFPUC. Open the account effective the recording date. Escrow typically orders a final reading on the seller's account; ask your escrow officer to confirm the reading date matches.
• Recology. Start service effective recording. Cart sizes drive the bill, so choose the smallest landfill cart you can manage and the standard recycling and compost carts.
• Rent-back. Under the standard addendum the seller keeps utilities in their name through the possession period, so your start dates become the day after the seller leaves. Take readings at the handoff. Seller rent-backs covers the rest.

Water and garbage follow the property

PG&E balances follow the person; a seller's unpaid gas bill is their problem. Water and refuse behave differently. The SFPUC bills the owner of record, and unpaid water and sewer charges can be recorded against the property, which is why escrow orders a final reading and clears the seller's balance from their proceeds and why the preliminary title report you reviewed in escrow lists any recorded utility liens. Unpaid refuse charges can also be recorded as a lien against the property under the city's refuse collection ordinance.

Two practical steps: confirm with escrow that the seller's final SFPUC and Recology bills were settled, and keep the final-reading statement in your home file. If a prior-owner balance surfaces later, send it to escrow and the title company before you pay anything; escrow and title explains what the owner's policy covers.

Internet: the one you shop

Availability in SF changes block by block and building by building. Cable and fiber from the large carriers reach most of the city, two or three smaller fiber and fixed-wireless providers serve many neighborhoods and specific buildings, and a condo may be pre-wired for a single provider. Enter your exact address with every provider. Compare the post-promotion price, equipment rental, any data cap, installation fees and contract length. If a provider needs a new drop or building access, schedule the install for move-in week; appointments book out.

Condo buildings: what the HOA already covers

Read the HOA budget from your disclosure package before opening anything. Many SF buildings carry one SFPUC meter and one Recology account in the association's name and recover the cost through dues; some newer buildings submeter water to each unit and bill owners directly or through the manager. Electricity is almost always metered to the unit and yours to open. Ask the manager about the trash room, compost and recycling rules, bulky-item pickup, and any preferred or exclusive internet provider. How to read HOA documents covers the budget lines.

Energy programs, solar, EV charging and gas appliances

Your first PG&E bill will show a flat monthly Base Services Charge of about $24 (about $6 for CARE and $12 for FERA customers) that started in March 2026, paired with a lower per-kilowatt-hour rate; a typical combined gas and electric bill runs roughly $250 to $300 a month (as of 2026-10-25, check current figures), and rates change more than once a year. Your own figure depends on heating fuel, insulation and whether you charge a car at home. Three things to look into once settled: heat pump, induction and insulation rebates through regional and utility programs, whose terms change often, so as of 2026-10-24 check what is current; EV charging, a permit and an electrician in a house and an HOA conversation in a condo; and existing solar, which needs the seller's interconnection agreement and any lease or loan transferred through escrow. The federal residential energy credits ended for equipment placed in service after December 31, 2025 under the 2025 federal tax law, so only state, regional and utility rebates remain. Gas appliances in an existing home are yours to keep, but the Bay Area Air District's zero-NOx standards apply to new residential water heaters manufactured from January 1, 2027 under the 2023 rule (a draft amendment released in July 2026 would move that to January 1, 2028 and add exemptions, with a board vote expected in fall 2026) and to new furnaces from January 1, 2029, so as of 2026-10-25 check current rules before replacing one; a working appliance is not affected, and the city's all-electric rule covers new construction only.

Autopay, paperless and the first bills

Set up online accounts the week you open service, but hold off on autopay until you have seen one bill from each provider and checked the meter readings against your day-one photos. First bills can include deposits or establishment charges, a prorated partial month, and for Recology a cycle billed in advance. Once each looks right, switch to autopay and paperless and keep the first bill as a baseline.

Typical SF utility costs and an account tracker

Planning figures from published rates for a single-family house; each moves at least once a year, so check current figures. Condo owners usually see water and garbage inside their dues:

Those numbers are also inside the true cost of owning in SF. Your one-page tracker, kept with the closing package:

• Provider, account number, start date, login, autopay status and the day-one meter reading for PG&E, SFPUC and Recology
• CleanPowerSF product chosen (standard, 100% renewable, or opted out) and the date
• Internet provider, plan, promotional end date and equipment owned vs rented
• HOA-covered services and the manager's contact, for a condo
• Sewer lateral: the SFPUC repairs or replaces the lower lateral from curb to main for structural defects in most cases, while the upper section and routine cleaning and inspection of the whole line are yours, so note the date of any camera inspection from your disclosures

What to shop for right now

Internet is the shoppable item at this stage, and it rates medium because the saving depends on your block. Two or three providers at one address often means a real difference in the post-promotion price and equipment fees, and fiber or fixed-wireless entrants undercut the incumbents in some neighborhoods. Spend twenty minutes entering the address everywhere and read the price after month twelve. PG&E, SFPUC and Recology are not shoppable; your only choices inside them are the CleanPowerSF product and the Recology cart size.