Moving Into a New Pittsburgh Apartment? Here’s Who to Call About Utilities & Internet.
You signed the lease. You found a couch on Facebook Marketplace. Your buddies are lined up to unload a truck on the hottest Saturday of the year.
Here’s the real measure of getting your apartment set up: figuring out which utility companies you actually need to call, and which ones your landlord already handles.
If you’re moving into Oakland, Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, Greenfield, Bloomfield, Garfield, Lawrenceville, or the South Side, good news: it’s the same short list of companies for all of them. Here’s the whole picture, in the order you should tackle it.
Step one: read your lease
Before you call anyone, check the utilities section of your lease. Every landlord splits things differently. Some cover everything but electric. Some cover nothing but water. The lease will tell you which accounts need to go in your name. Calling a utility company to set up an account your landlord already pays for is a headache nobody needs.
Not sure after reading it? Ask your landlord or property manager directly: “Which utilities do I need to put in my name before move-in?” It’s a completely normal question, and they answer it a dozen times every August.
Electric: Duquesne Light (you’ll almost definitely set this up)
Every neighborhood on this list gets electricity from Duquesne Light. If any utility goes in your name, it’s this one — electric is the account tenants are most commonly responsible for.
- Website: duquesnelight.com (start service online under “New Residential Customer”)
- Phone: 1-888-393-7100
- What you’ll need: Your service address, move-in date, Social Security number or other ID for identity verification, and contact info. You must be 18 or older to open an account.
- Timing: Apply a few days before move-in so the account starts on day one — otherwise you may be on the hook for whoever lived there before, or worse, the power gets shut off between tenants.
One Pittsburgh quirk worth knowing: Pennsylvania has a deregulated electricity market, which means you can optionally shop for a different electricity supplier through PAPowerSwitch.com while Duquesne Light still delivers it. Totally optional. If you do nothing, you get Duquesne Light’s default rate, which is a perfectly fine choice for a nine-month lease. Be careful with these suppliers, however. They can have terms that make it hard to leave early or switch back if their costs rise more than what Duquesne Light offers.
Gas: Peoples Natural Gas (common, but check your lease)
Lots of older apartments in Bloomfield, Lawrenceville, Squirrel Hill, and the South Side have gas heat, gas water heaters, or gas stoves. If your unit does — and your lease says gas is on you — you’ll set up an account with Peoples Natural Gas.
- Website: peoples-gas.com (start service through Peoples e-Account)
- Phone: 1-800-764-0111, Monday–Friday, 7:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
- What you’ll need: Your address, move-in date, and identifying info. Heads up for multi-unit buildings: if the gas meter is in a locked basement or utility room, Peoples needs access to it on activation day, so coordinate with your landlord before scheduling.
- Gas emergencies (you smell gas): 1-800-400-4271, any time.
If your building is all-electric, skip this one entirely.
Internet: Local and National Options (usually you)
Landlords in these neighborhoods rarely provide Internet unless it is a new, high-end, multi-unit building.
The providers you’ll run into most around Pittsburgh are Xfinity, Verizon Fios (in parts of the East End), and us — Green Light Wireless, Pittsburgh’s independent ISP, based right in Shadyside since 2004.
Some national providers may already be set up at your apartment, with cable run through walls or floors. Your landlord will tell you what is allowed if it’s not spelled out in the lease. They may require a one year contract, which might not make sense if you don’t plan to stay all summer.
Our Unlimited 5G Internet is built for exactly this situation: it’s plug and play. A device shows up, you plug it in, and you’re online — no technician appointment, no drilling holes in a rental you don’t own, no waiting around during move-in week. And when you move next year, the device moves with you.
A few things worth comparing before you pick, because they matter more for a student lease than for anyone else:
- Contracts. A 12-month contract on a 9-month lease is how people end up paying early termination fees in May. Green Light Wireless is contract-free — month to month, cancel or move whenever.
- Equipment fees. National providers often tack on a monthly router rental. Our monthly price includes taxes, fees, and equipment — the number you see is the number you pay.
- Who picks up the phone. When your Wi-Fi dies during finals week, you want local HelpDesk support, not a national call center.
- Sign up is simple. Just fill out the form and your device will be on its way (from Shadyside).
Green Light Wireless is contract-free and cable-free. Just plug and go.
Student move-in special
If you’re moving in for the fall semester, we’re cutting our one-time setup fee in half — $125 instead of $250 — for new student subscribers. Use promo code NewStudent when you sign up. That fee covers all your equipment with no monthly rental charges afterward, and there’s no other setup required on your end. After that, your service is just $60/month. All up, all in.
Water & sewer: Pittsburgh Water (usually your landlord’s, but verify)
In Pittsburgh, unpaid water charges become a lien on the property, not the person. Because of that, many landlords keep the water account in their own name and either cover it or bill you back. Most student renters never open a water account. But some leases do require it — so this is a check-your-lease situation.
All of these neighborhoods are served by Pittsburgh Water (you may still hear people call it PWSA: same organization, recent rebrand). Water covers sewer too: wastewater treatment is handled regionally by ALCOSAN, but it shows up as a line on the same Pittsburgh Water bill, so there’s no separate sewer company to call.
On the off chance that your lease says water’s on you:
- Website: pgh2o.com — look for the “Application for Service – Tenants” form
- Phone: 412-255-2423
- What you’ll need: Proof of tenancy (your lease, a landlord authorization, or valid ID plus a utility bill), your move-in date, and contact info.
Trash & recycling: Thanks, Pittsburgh! Nothing to set up
Within Pittsburgh city limits, trash is handled by the city’s Environmental Services — no account, no signup, no bill. Buildings with five or fewer units get weekly trash pickup and every-other-week recycling at the curb. Larger apartment buildings use a private hauler arranged by building management, which is also not your problem.
The only thing you need is your pickup day. Punch your address into pgh.st and it’ll tell you. Trash goes out after 6 p.m. the night before — a tradition you’ll learn by watching your entire street do it at once.
Checking off the to-do list before you move in
For most student apartments in Oakland and the surrounding neighborhoods, your to-do list is: Duquesne Light (almost always), Peoples Natural Gas (if your unit uses gas and the lease says so), Pittsburgh Water (rarely — check your lease), trash (already handled), and Internet (always you).
Make the calls a week before move-in, and the only thing left to figure out is how to get that couch up the stairs.
Curious if Green Light Wireless serves your address? Check your address
