Question on utilities

[pambysue]

Hello all. It's me again! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!
My question today is regarding the utilities on my home that I am letting go in foreclosure. I haven't filed my chap 7 BK yet due to not having the money for the attorney & court fees yet and I needed to wait a couple months so that my median income is lower due to loss of overtime at work. Anyway..I have received notices from my gas & electric companies for the amounts I owe ($246 elec & $267 gas) to keep the services on at my house. I had been on balanced billing and these amounts include the overages from the year. I moved out in November and have been staying up on all my bills, but these amounts are a lot of money to have to come up with when I am trying to pay my new bills and save for the BK filing. I have turned the heat down to 55 in my house and the only elec that is being used is to start the furnace when the temp drops to below 55. I was doing that to prevent the pipes from freezing over the winter. My question..if I am letting the house go in foreclosure and have already moved, how long do i need to keep the utilities on in the house? I live in Western NY and the winters here get extremely cold. thank God it has been a very mild winter so far..but, no one knows what january & february may be like.
Thankyou all for your advice.

[HHM]

The problem here is, that in most cities, you only have one choice of utility company...so if you screw them over on one place, it makes it that much harder to deal with them in the future (which usually means having to come up with a deposit to activate new service). This issue should not be a primary concern, but it is something to think about.

You're not under any duty to leave the utilities on, but I suppose that if failing to do so could signficantly damage the house (not likely), then you might need to, but for the most part, you can turn them off.

[pambysue]

Thankyou HHM. I already have utilities turned on at my new place. I intend to pay the amounts I owe in full for the house, but, I was curious if I should continue to keep them on..if I was responsible to keep them on. I wasnt sure if they could charge me for additional damage if by chance the pipes froze or burst as the house is no longer covered under homeowners insurance (unless my mortgage co has taken it out..they wont give me any information). Thankyou for your quick response