Setting Up Utilities After Your Macon Move

Natural gas in Georgia can involve a choice you may not have made before, and it changes the first call you make. The Georgia Public Service Commission explains in its guide to natural gas deregulation that deregulation “applies exclusively to Atlanta Gas Light’s Company’s (AGLC) service area”, where Atlanta Gas Light stores and distributes the gas and certified marketers sell it. Atlanta Gas Light lists Macon among its regional offices and LNG plants in its 2025 fact sheet. So for a gas home in that service area, you sign up with a marketer. Electricity, water, trash and internet each have their own starting point too, and the address decides several of them. Most of these calls belong before moving day, so the house works when you arrive; the after-the-move part is checking that everything did.

Natural Gas: Choose a Marketer

To sign up, the commission says, “You may contact a marketer via telephone, Internet, or written correspondence to sign up for service.” After enrollment you receive a welcome package with your terms of service and disclosure statement, which the commission advises you to check for services you did not request. Marketers “are certificated by the Commission”, which publishes a list of certified marketers with contact information, along with a marketer scorecard and monthly pricing. Atlanta Gas Light’s fact sheet counted 14 certified marketers in Georgia at the end of 2025. To compare offers, the commission points consumers to its scorecard and to the monthly pricing listing for “information such as gas prices, customer service fees, etc.” Compare the price per therm, whether the rate is fixed or variable and for how long, and the monthly service fee, and read the terms in the welcome package against what you were quoted.

There is a fallback. The commission has approved SCANA Energy as the Regulated Provider “to offer natural gas to low-income consumers as well as customers who are unable to get natural gas service from other marketers.”

Before you call anyone, confirm that the address is in Atlanta Gas Light’s territory and that the house uses gas at all. If you smell gas at any point, do not try to find the source; leave the house and call from outside. Atlanta Gas Light’s website lists 877.427.4321 for leaks, odor or emergencies.

Electricity: Find Out Who Serves the Address

The electric provider follows the address, not the city name. Flint Energies, an electric cooperative, listed members in 17 central Georgia counties on its 2026 service area page, with 61,771 members in Houston County and 17 in Bibb County. Ask the landlord or seller which company serves the house before you schedule anything.

If it is Georgia Power, its residential page says service “can be connected at your residence Monday through Friday, excluding business holidays”, with next-day service for requests entered before midnight, except new service that needs installation or construction. Plan a weekday connection on or before your arrival. A deposit is possible. Georgia Power’s deposits page says: “Depending on your credit score, new customers may be asked to pay a security deposit before service can be established.” A residential deposit can be up to “two times the residence’s average monthly bill”, and the page adds: “If a deposit is required, it cannot be waived.”

Water and Sewer: Macon Water Authority

For water and sewer service, the Macon Water Authority’s account page says “Most applications can be completed over the phone. However, some new customers may be required to come into our business office to provide additional documentation.” Expect “An application fee due at the time service is requested.” The same page says a security deposit may be required and that “An additional deposit, up to three times the average monthly bill for water and sewer services, could be required based on past payment history.” Call before moving week so a request for documents does not delay the start date.

Before the connection, turn off every indoor faucet, including the washing machine and refrigerator ice maker lines. The authority says that “If the field personnel arrive at the service location (your home or business) and an open faucet is found, the water service will not be turned on”, and that it “will only make one additional attempt to turn on the water without assessing an additional fee for return visits.”

Trash and Recycling: The County’s Contractor

Macon-Bibb’s curbside garbage service is “provided by Ryland”, according to the county’s household garbage page, and the county lists the Solid Waste Department at (478) 803-0499 and Ryland at (866) 898-4411 on its solid waste site. The rules for the cart apply from your first week: bag all garbage, put the cart out after 7:00 p.m. the night before or by 6:00 a.m. on pickup day, and take it in by 7:00 p.m. that day. Paint, oil, construction debris and carpet are not collected at the curb. The county’s site also posts collection days, recycling and bulk waste pages; look up your street’s day before the boxes pile up.

Moving Boxes and Bulky Waste

A move produces more cardboard and bulky waste than a weekly cart holds. Macon-Bibb’s convenience centers accept recycling, furniture, building material and bagged household garbage free of charge from county residents who show a driver’s license with a Bibb County address. The 11th Street center is the only one that accepts paint, concrete and batteries, and none of the centers accepts oils, hazardous liquids, insulation or roofing material.

Internet

Internet service may need an installation visit, so treat it as a before-the-move task. Ask each provider whether it serves the exact street address, not just the ZIP code, and book the earliest installation window at or before your arrival. If you work from home, plan a backup for the first days, such as a phone hotspot, in case the installation slips.

What to Have Ready When You Call

Each provider sets its own requirements, but the calls go faster with the same few items at hand: the service address and move-in date, a government-issued photo ID, the lease or closing documents, and a way to pay any deposit or application fee. Ask each provider whether a deposit applies to you, how you will receive the confirmation, and what number to call if service is not on when you arrive.

Closing Accounts at the Old Address

Set the stop date for each service at the old home for the day after you hand over the keys, so you are not packing in the dark and are not paying for two homes longer than necessary. The order of all these calls, week by week, is laid out in the moving timeline for a Macon move.

The First Day in the House

When you arrive, turn on the cooling and confirm it holds a comfortable temperature, switch on the lights and outlets you will use tonight, run hot and cold water in the kitchen and bathroom, and find the breaker panel and the water shutoff. If the house uses gas and the service is active, check the stove and water heater the same day. If something is not working, separate the cases: no power or no water at all is a call to that utility with your confirmation number; a leak is a reason to close the water shutoff first; a smell of gas means leaving the house and calling from outside. Report any problem while you still have the confirmation numbers handy.

Deciding the Order

Make the address questions first: which electric company, whether the house uses gas and sits in Atlanta Gas Light’s territory, and whether it is inside Macon-Bibb for water and trash. Then schedule electricity and water for a weekday at or before arrival, choose a gas marketer if the house needs one, and confirm your trash day in the first week. Any deposit request is decided by the provider, so ask each one what it will require when you call.