Closing a NY electricity account is two systems, not one.
Every New York address has two energy relationships that look like one bill. The first is the regulated delivery utility (Con Edison, National Grid, NYSEG, RG&E, Central Hudson, Orange & Rockland or PSEG Long Island). They own the meter and the wires. The second, if you opted in, is an ESCO, the competitive supplier of the kilowatt-hours themselves, billed through the utility statement.
Moving out closes one of them automatically: when the utility account goes to zero, the ESCO has no host bill to attach to and stops invoicing the address. But that does not mean your supplier contract is over. A fixed-rate ESCO plan still has a term, and if you have months left on it, the contract may charge an Early Termination Fee (ETF), typically $100 to $200 in NY.
The 2023 PSC Reset Order forces every new mass-market contract to include a move-out exemption, but only if you ask for it in writing and provide proof of the move. Skip that step and the ETF lands on your closing bill regardless.
The same applies in reverse: if the next tenant does not open their own account on time, the meter stays energized in your name and the closing balance keeps growing. The fix is procedural, not technical. Five steps, in order.
The five steps, in order
Do these in sequence and your closing bill is the last one.
A 3-week runway is comfortable, a 5-day runway is tight, anything shorter and you lose leverage on the ETF waiver and the final meter read.
21 days out
Pick the close-of-service date
Lock down the lease end, the walk-through and any cleaning day. The close-of-service date is the last day power is in your name. If you are doing the cleaning yourself, set it one day after the keys go back.
5 to 7 days out
Call the utility, not the ESCO
Phone your utility, give them: account number, close date, forwarding address. The utility files the close request; their phone notes are admissible if billing later disputes it. Confirmation by SMS or email is standard in 2026.
Same week
Decide what to do about your ESCO
If you have an ESCO contract: read the Customer Disclosure Statement for the ETF clause, send a written move notice, and explicitly ask for the move-out exemption. Detail in the ESCO section below.
Move day
Schedule the final meter read
If your meter is an AMI smart meter (Con Edison and PSEG Long Island are fully deployed; the upstate utilities are still rolling out), the final meter read happens remotely. If not, a tech needs access on or before the close date. Take a phone photo of the dial as a backup.
Within 21 days
Save the closing-bill confirmation
The final bill arrives 2 to 4 weeks after the close date. Check: meter read matches your phone photo, security deposit refunded with interest, no ESCO ETF if you filed the exemption. Keep the PDF, it is your proof against any future back-bill.
Rule of thumb
3 weeks comfortable. 5 days tight. Anything less is fragile.
Notice windows are the floor, not the ceiling. The earlier you call, the easier the ETF waiver, the meter-read slot and the deposit refund.
PSC residential disconnection rule, 16 NYCRR Part 11.
Utility-by-utility notes
Notice windows and the right number to call.
Phone numbers match the values in our main New York hub. Notice windows are taken from each utility's published "Moving" page, May 2026.
Close-of-service
Con Edison
NYC (5 boroughs) + most of Westchester County
- Notice
- 3 business days
- Phone
- 1-800-752-6633
- Meter
- AMI smart meter, most accounts closed remotely
Close-of-service
National Grid (Upstate)
Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany electric service area
- Notice
- 3 to 5 business days
- Phone
- 1-800-642-4272
- Meter
- Mix of AMR and AMI, older accounts need a final on-site read
Close-of-service
NYSEG
Southern Tier, Finger Lakes, Catskills, North Country
- Notice
- 3 business days
- Phone
- 1-800-572-1111
- Meter
- AMI rollout in progress, confirm read type when you call
Close-of-service
RG&E
9-county Rochester / Monroe region
- Notice
- 3 business days
- Phone
- 1-800-743-2110
- Meter
- AMI rollout in progress, confirm read type when you call
Close-of-service
Central Hudson
Mid-Hudson Valley (Poughkeepsie, Kingston, Newburgh)
- Notice
- 3 business days
- Phone
- 1-845-452-2700
- Meter
- AMI deployment underway, read style confirmed at booking
Close-of-service
Orange & Rockland
Rockland, Orange, Sullivan counties (lower Hudson)
- Notice
- 3 business days
- Phone
- 1-877-434-4100
- Meter
- AMI smart meter, most accounts closed remotely
Close-of-service
PSEG Long Island
Nassau + Suffolk counties + Queens Rockaways
- Notice
- 2 to 3 business days
- Phone
- 1-800-490-0025
- Meter
- AMI smart meter, most accounts closed remotely
Moving out of natural gas service too? See our companion moving out: gas guide. National Fuel customers in Western NY should use that page instead.
Your supplier contract has its own clock.
Closing the utility account does not by itself terminate the ESCO contract, it just leaves the supplier without a delivery point. Whether the ETF lands on your closing bill or not depends on four documents and one written request.
Find your Customer Disclosure Statement
The Customer Disclosure Statement is the one-page contract summary every NY ESCO must hand you before enrollment. It lists the rate, the term length, the ETF and any renewal terms. Find it in your enrollment email or in your ESCO online account. If you cannot, request a copy in writing, the supplier is required to provide it within 5 business days under PSC rules.
Locate the ETF clause and the move-out exemption
The ETF is usually labelled "Early Termination Fee" or "Cancellation Fee", most NY contracts set it at $100 to $200. The next paragraph almost always describes a move-out exemption (sometimes called "relocation exemption"). The 2023 Reset Order made that exemption mandatory for new mass-market contracts. If your contract is older and the clause is missing, you can still ask, most suppliers grant it on goodwill rather than risk a PSC complaint.
Send a written move notice
Email is fine; certified mail is overkill but ironclad. Include: ESCO account number, utility account number, move-out date, new address, and the sentence "I am requesting the move-out termination exemption referenced in my Customer Disclosure Statement." Attach a copy of the lease, the closing statement or the utility close confirmation. Keep the read receipt.
If the ESCO refuses, file a PSC complaint
Refusing a documented move-out exemption is one of the violations the PSC enforced in the April 2026 settlement. File a complaint at dps.ny.gov or call the consumer hotline. The April 2026 order ringfenced $50 million in billing adjustments for exactly these situations.
How movers quietly overpay on the way out.
Five patterns we see again and again on NY closing bills. Each is a small process step that costs real money when skipped.
A real move: Brooklyn to Albany, three weeks out.
Maya and Jordan are leaving a Park Slope apartment for a house in Albany on Friday 19 June 2026. Con Edison delivers to the old address, National Grid Upstate to the new one. Their supply contract is a 12-month fixed plan with Constellation NewEnergy at 11.99 ¢/kWh, signed in October 2025, with a $150 ETF. Here is what each step looks like for them.
Lock the move-out date and pull both contracts
Maya downloads the Con Edison closing PDF link from coned.com/account-service/moving and the Constellation Customer Disclosure Statement from her enrollment email. ETF clause confirmed at $150 with a move-out exemption referenced.
Call Con Edison to file close-of-service
Jordan calls 1-800-752-6633. The agent confirms a close-of-service date of Fri 19 Jun, an AMI remote final read, and the forwarding Albany address. SMS confirmation arrives in 90 seconds with reference number.
Open the new National Grid account
Same call window, different number: 1-800-642-4272. Start-of-service is scheduled for Thu 18 Jun so the house has power when they arrive. National Grid Upstate is still rolling out AMI in the Albany area, so a final read at the old Brooklyn address will not interfere here, that is Con Edison's job.
Email Constellation requesting the move-out exemption
Maya emails customer service with the closing PDF attached. Body of the email:
Hello, we are moving from the Brooklyn service address on 19 June 2026 to a new address in Albany NY, which is outside Constellation's New York footprint. Per the Customer Disclosure Statement dated 14 October 2025, I am requesting the move-out termination exemption. Con Edison reference number attached.
Maya R.
Constellation acknowledges within 48 hours, ETF waiver granted.
Final meter read remotely. Phone photo as backup.
Con Edison's AMI meter reports the final reading automatically at 23:59. Jordan still takes a phone photo of the dial before locking up, about 5 seconds of insurance against any later dispute. The new National Grid meter in Albany already shows usage from when the moving crew turned on the lights at 16:00 the day before.
Closing bill arrives. ETF: $0.
Final Con Edison bill emails to the new Albany address: $74.18 for the partial June period (delivery + supply + customer charge + taxes), credit of $120.00 for the original $100 security deposit plus 2 years of accrued interest, no Constellation ETF. Net refund: $45.82, paid by ACH within 10 business days. Total closing cost of the move on the energy side: nothing.
Names, dates and figures here are illustrative, Maya and Jordan are a composite. The procedure, phone numbers, ETF range and timing windows are real.
Closing a New York electricity account, in detail.
Every regulated NY electric utility wants at least 3 business days notice. National Grid Upstate asks for 3 to 5 business days because parts of its footprint still need a manual final meter read. If your move falls on a Friday or near a holiday, count business days, not calendar days. Calling earlier never hurts, utilities will hold the close-of-service date you give them.
Always your delivery utility, never the ESCO. Closing your utility account also closes the supply contract attached to it, the ESCO is billed-through, not stand-alone. You should still notify your ESCO separately (a one-line email referencing your account number and move-out date is enough) so they document the move and waive any early-termination fee.
An Early Termination Fee (ETF) is a flat penalty an ESCO can charge if you leave a fixed-rate contract before its end date. Typical NY ETFs run $100 to $200. Under the PSC 2023 Reset Order, every new mass-market contract must spell out the ETF in the Customer Disclosure Statement and must waive it for a documented move when service is not available at the new address. Ask in writing.
Yes. If your new address is inside the same utility footprint (for example Brooklyn to Queens, both Con Edison), the agent on the phone can close your old account and open the new one in the same call. Your ESCO contract usually follows, your supplier will keep serving you at the new address with the same rate and term, and the ETF does not apply. Confirm in the call recording.
No. ESCOs are licensed state-by-state. When you leave New York, the contract terminates because the supplier cannot serve you at the new address. Under the Reset Order, that triggers the move-out exemption: the ETF is waived, but only if you give written notice with the move-out date and a forwarding address. Some ESCOs ask for a copy of a lease or a closing statement.
If you paid a security deposit when you started service (most common with credit-challenged accounts), the utility refunds it on the final bill. Two paths: a credit against any closing balance, then a check or ACH refund for the remainder; or, if your deposit was earning interest under PSC rule, a separate interest credit on the closing statement. Provide a forwarding address when you call to close, otherwise the check goes to the property you just moved out of.
If the unit is still energized after your close date, billing reverts to the landlord under the PSC vacancy rule. Some landlords then back-bill the prior tenant under the lease. Protect yourself: keep the email confirmation of your close date, the final meter read figure and the date the account was zeroed out. If the utility tries to keep the meter in your name, dispute it citing the documented close request.
Not automatically, but you must report the move. HEAP benefits attach to a household, not an address, call NY OTDA or your county DSS within 30 days of the move so the grant follows you to the new utility account. The EAP discount (Energy Affordability Program) automatically restarts at the new address once the utility links your low-income enrollment to the new account number. Need help? Dial 211.
Keep reading about moving in New York
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