@Anonymous wrote:
How could the bill be $4000? Unreal!
In California, very easily 😖
Due to the 'Rona, utilities here have been forced to continue service regardless of payment for the last year and a half. With PG&Es highest price gouging rate being around $0.65/kWh, running A/C on the average home can cost about $4/HOUR unless you're on a medical or low income rate. Even then it's only a 20% discount. SCE, SDG&E, LADWP are marginally less while municipal electric providers tend to offer more sane rates. (SMUD, SVE, City of Anaheim, Glendale, etc.)
Don't pay someone else's bill. Tell the poco to end whatever service contract that is currently in effect and start a new contract with yourself. Make certain they clear the account address, otherwise that old bill may get tied to you mysteriously. I've seen it happen more than once in SCE territory.
@Anonymous wrote:Hey @SoCalGardener
I learned a lot from you today and your posts give good advice and or CONCERNS. Enough said, you are one smard dude or dudet whichever the case may be.
Thanks for your postings
Why, thank you, Mark! That's very nice of you to say. 
@EAJuggalo wrote:
@SoCalGardener wrote:Definitely. And I've been wondering since reading the OP, where on earth do you get a 5-bedroom house that rents for only $2,000 a month?! The 2-bedroom house next door to me rents for $4,500.
All depends on where you're at. I pay $1050 for my 4BR in WI. My cousin only pays $700 for her 3BR in IN.
Having the time frame listed in OP, many if not all utilities were refusing to shut off customers due to the pandemic.
Yes, believe me I'm very aware that housing prices vary by region. The 4-bedroom house I owned in Carrollton (a far North Dallas suburb) could be bought TEN TIMES OVER just by selling my current (and final), 2-bedroom house in Arcadia (a Los Angeles suburb)! No joke.
As for the utilities and the pandemic, sure, that's a good point, but the rest of the scenario makes no sense, i.e., a utility bill with *NO NAME* on it?! I've never heard of that, and I was in data processing for many years, and saw millions of bills--not one had no account holder.
As noted upthread, *if* the original account holder told the electric company he was moving, at that point they only had two choices: shut off the power *or* insist on getting the new responsible party's information, from them, not from someone else. In other words, the new account holder would have to provide all the standard information required for opening a utility account--their name, proof of ID, phone numbers, etc., and they may be required to pay a deposit (depending on various factors).
If he didn't tell them, how did they know?
And what kind of rudimentary software is the electric company using that would allow a BLANK name field on an account?! 
@brk1971 wrote:The utility simply has an account that is the property owner's responsibility and could not disconnect service during the pandemic.
The fact that the property owner did not establish an owner's account in-between leases doesn't change that the utility can put a lien on the property for the unpaid amount (once that becomes permited post pandemic in the specific area). If you are a new renter, you cannot be held responsible. However, the owner can, and the utility can certainly decline to service the property until it's paid once they can identify the owner. Which puts you in the bind you described... Do you pay it or lose the property because the landlord cannot legally rent it...? I would take the latter option.
It has never worked that way in my life/experience. And I've had a lot of both!
If a property owner provides utilities, THEN they're his responsibility. If the rental agreement requires that the TENANT provides utilities, then it's in THEIR name, and they're responsible for the bill--even after moving out. Just like a credit card. You don't stop being responsible for its bill just because you move. If the tenant doesn't tell the utility to shut off service, they continue providing it, until it passes whatever their termination of service criteria are (days past due, amount due, whatever).
Things did change due to the pandemic, but not any of the above. It's ONLY the landlord's responsibility *if* the utility was in his name. But it wasn't. It was in the tenant's name. It is and will continue to be that person's responsibility, not the building owner's, just like the building owner wouldn't be responsible for the tenant's unpaid credit cards. They're the legal responsibility of the person who signed up for the account and committed to making its payments.
@brk1971 wrote:Perhaps this is a region or location based thing, but my experience is the opposite. (Interesting!)
My experience = in connecting the utilities to the property (the main connection / meter / water main, etc.), the property owner selects whether to continue service between tenants or have it shut off when a tenant leaves...
Not really regional, more of a personal thing and also what type of building it is. In a large apartment complex, utilities may be included, while in a single-family home or in a commercial building, they're typically not. The owner of a building always has the option of choosing whether they want to pay the utility bills (and have the accounts in their names) or have the tenants pay--in the latter case, the owner simply has no involvement/responsibility for the utility account. Of course, there's a middle ground, too--where the tenants pay the owner and the owner pays the utility companies, but that means the owner is the account holder and legally responsible, even if the tenants skip out on a bill. But that isn't the case for the OP.