Resources
Turning the utilities on
Two weeks before closing this becomes the most annoying job on the list, mostly because nobody tells you who your providers actually are. Here they are, by area, with what it costs to start and how far ahead to call.
Read this first
In Middle Tennessee the utility follows the address, not the city or the subdivision. Two houses on the same street can be on different water districts. Before you call anybody, have the exact address in front of you, and if you can, the closing disclosure or the seller’s last bill.
Davidson County
Nashville and Davidson County
The most straightforward of the areas, with one caveat at the bottom about trash that catches people out.
Electric
Nashville Electric Service
To start $250 security deposit, waivable with a credit check, plus a $20 connection fee on the first bill
Start online any time. Call at least one business day ahead. Bring two forms of identification.
Water and sewer
Metro Water Services
To start $35 to start the same day, $25 for any day after that. No residential deposit.
Their page lists a phone number only, so plan on calling rather than doing it online.
Gas
Spire, formerly Piedmont Natural Gas
Spire bought the Tennessee business in March 2026, but billing and service still run on the Piedmont platform into 2027. Call the same number you always would.
Trash
Metro Nashville Waste Services
To start One trash cart free, a second is $65. Up to two recycling carts free.
Curbside pickup only serves single-family homes in the Urban Services District. If the house is in the General Services District you arrange a private hauler. Trash weekly, recycling every other week.
Williamson County
Franklin, Brentwood and Nolensville
Williamson is where the address rule bites hardest. Franklin alone has four possible water providers, and Brentwood and Nolensville do not provide trash at all.
Electric
Middle Tennessee Electric, for most addresses
To start Deposit decided by a soft credit check, plus a $40 connection fee and a $5 membership fee
Open 24 hours. Some Williamson addresses are on Nashville Electric instead, so confirm by address.
Water and sewer
City of Franklin, Milcrofton, H.B. & T.S., or Mallory Valley
This is the one to check first. City of Franklin is $50 to apply, 615-791-3217. Milcrofton is $100 and fully online, 615-794-5947. H.B. & T.S. is $100 for new customers or $20 if you have had service before, 615-794-7796, and needs 30 days notice to close an account. Mallory Valley is 615-377-3374.
Water and sewer
Brentwood: City of Brentwood
Check your address on the city service map first. They do not publish deposit amounts, so call.
Water and sewer
Nolensville: Nolensville College Grove Utility District
Sewer in Nolensville often comes from Metro Water Services instead, on a separate bill. Deposit not published.
Gas
Atmos Energy
Not Piedmont or Spire out here. Atmos serves Franklin and Nolensville. Emergencies 866-322-8667.
Trash
City of Franklin, or a private hauler in Brentwood and Nolensville
Franklin includes trash with city utilities. Brentwood and Nolensville do not provide it at all, so you contract privately. Williamson County runs convenience centers for both.
Rutherford County
Murfreesboro, Smyrna and La Vergne
Two water utilities split this county, and the electric company changed name years ago in a way that still confuses people.
Electric
Middle Tennessee Electric
To start Deposit decided by a soft credit check, plus $40 connection and $5 membership
Murfreesboro Electric merged into MTE in 2020 and no longer exists as a separate utility, whatever an old search result tells you.
Water and sewer
Murfreesboro Water Resources, or Consolidated Utility District
Murfreesboro Water is $40 to start, 615-848-3209. Consolidated is $50, 615-893-7225, and applies online. Some addresses inside the city limits are on Consolidated, so check the city map before you call either one.
Gas
Atmos Energy
Trash
City of Murfreesboro Solid Waste
To start Cart free, $13.50 a week
Inside the city limits only. One pickup a week, Monday to Thursday.
Sumner County
Hendersonville and Gallatin
Electric in Sumner County genuinely splits four ways, and Middle Tennessee Electric is not one of them. If a website tells you MTE serves Hendersonville, that website is wrong.
Electric
Nashville Electric, Gallatin Department of Electricity, Cumberland Electric, or Tri-County Electric
Four providers across one county, entirely by address. Nashville Electric 615-736-6900. Gallatin Department of Electricity 615-452-5152. Cumberland Electric 1-800-987-2362. Tri-County 615-644-2221. Confirm these numbers when you call, they come from a county list that has not been refreshed recently.
Water and sewer
Hendersonville Utility District, or Gallatin Public Utilities
Hendersonville is 615-824-3717 with a new service portal online. Gallatin is 615-451-5922 and also supplies natural gas, though not electric. Neither publishes a deposit amount.
Gas
Spire, or Gallatin Public Utilities in Gallatin
Trash
City of Gallatin, and privately elsewhere
To start Gallatin is $16 a month per container, billed on the utility bill
Hendersonville arrangements are not published clearly, so ask at closing.
Wilson County
Mt. Juliet and Lebanon
Water out here is the one that surprises people, because it is not a same-day online signup.
Electric
Middle Tennessee Electric, for most addresses
Nashville Electric serves parts of Wilson County too. Confirm by address.
Water and sewer
West Wilson Utility District
To start $40 connection fee. A new residential tap is $2,200 including the meter.
Apply in person or by email with a notarized contract, not through a web form, and come in at least 24 hours before you need it on. Sewer in Mt. Juliet is billed separately by the city.
Gas
Confirm at closing
The city does not publish this clearly and the directory listings disagree. Ask your title company who serves the specific address.
Trash
Confirm at closing
Not published on the city site. Ask at closing or check with a neighbor.
A few things worth knowing
- Do not start service before you close. One utility says this outright on their own signup page. If closing moves, you are paying for a house you do not own yet.
- Fall and winter are the slow season for gas connections. If you are closing between October and February, call earlier than you think you need to.
- A deposit is usually about credit, not about you. Most providers waive it on a soft check. Ask, rather than assuming you owe it.
- Trash is the one nobody warns you about. In Brentwood and Nolensville the city does not collect at all, and in Nashville it depends which services district the house is in.
Every figure here came from the provider’s own site or the city’s own page, and it was all checked in August 2026. Fees drift and districts get redrawn, so treat this as the right place to start rather than the last word. Where a provider does not publish a deposit, this page says so instead of guessing.
Not sure who serves your address
Send me the address and I will find out. It usually takes one phone call from my end and saves you three from yours.