Utilities Clause
in Your Lease
What it actually means, what Arizona law says, what's specific to Phoenix - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- A.R.S. § 33-1367 bars a landlord from willfully interrupting electric, gas, water or other essential service.
- After a shutoff you may recover possession and stay, or terminate the rental agreement.
- Damages run up to two months' rent or twice your actual damages, whichever is greater.
- If you terminate, the landlord must return all recoverable security deposits.
- Our record of Phoenix law shows no separate shutoff rule; Arizona's Residential Landlord and Tenant Act supplies the remedy statewide.
Understanding the Utilities Clause
This page is for Phoenix renters reading the utilities paragraph of a lease, or sitting without power or water right now. In a typical Phoenix lease you set up your own APS or SRP account for power, the landlord bills water, sewer and trash back to you, and Southwest Gas is its own line if the unit has gas.
The clause can split those bills. It cannot give your landlord permission to shut anything off.
What renters assume
If the utility account is in my landlord's name, my landlord decides when it stays on, especially once rent is late.
What is actually true
Arizona bans a willful interruption of essential service no matter whose name is on the account (A.R.S. § 33-1367). Late rent does not change that.
Arizona's statute sets no flat dollar penalty, so there's no bar to plot here - the figure is two months' rent or twice your losses. That beats Atlanta's $500, which is a criminal fine the renter never sees, and falls well short of Denver's $5,000 or three times rent.
Arizona's number is also a ceiling, while Miami's three months' rent is a floor.
Utilities Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Phoenix, AZ
The sample clause below is real lease language - a court quoted it word for word, and then ruled on it. What the judge decided is at the bottom of this block.
Find the equivalent paragraph in your own lease and read the two side by side. The wording will differ; the moving parts rarely do.
[t]enant shall be responsible for all utilities and services incurred in connection with the Premises.
Quoted from the published opinion in Dinh v. Raines, No. S-18262 (Alaska Feb. 23, 2024). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
What the 4 highlighted phrases mean
“[t]enant”
The lowercase letter in brackets is the court's alteration - not a typo, and not the lease's own spelling. The word itself matters here because Arizona's protection runs to the tenant under the rental agreement, and the remedy is measured in your money: two months' periodic rent, or twice your actual damages, whichever is greater.
“shall be responsible”
Responsibility for the bill, not ownership of the meter. In Dinh these same words did not stop the tenants recovering when the landlord's restaurant staff, living in unpermitted garage units, drew electricity and heating fuel through the tenants' own meter and fuel tank. Arizona reaches that conduct from the other end: a landlord who willfully diminishes services by interrupting an essential one is liable whatever the lease says about who pays.
See the example
“all utilities”
“All” is doing less than it appears to. Arizona's statute names what it protects - electric, gas, water, or other essential service - and Dinh is the case that shows where that line falls: the Alaska court affirmed the finding on heat, hot water and electricity and reversed on internet and cable: under the Uniform Act those are not essential services at all. A broad lease phrase does not turn a non-essential service into a protected one, or the reverse.
“in connection with the Premises”
The reach of the clause, and the phrase to test against your meter. Service in connection with the Premises is service to your unit - not to a garage, a second structure or somebody else's business, however the wiring happens to run. That was the whole of the dispute in Dinh. Arizona's remedy is aimed at the landlord who willfully diminishes an essential service, so the Phoenix question is not who signed for the meter but whose load it is carrying.
See the example
The clause survived. The landlord did not. The Alaska Supreme Court held that a “tenant pays all utilities” clause does not let a landlord shift the cost of utilities he diverts. He had housed his restaurant employees in unpermitted garage units and let them draw electricity and heating fuel through the tenants' meter and fuel tank. That was a willful diminution of essential services under AS 34.03.210, which exposes a landlord to exemplary damages of up to one and one-half times actual damages. The court affirmed that finding as to heat, hot water and electricity, and reversed as to internet and cable, which are not “essential services” under the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. The same utilities clause still carried the day on ordinary contract grounds: the tenants recovered $1,050 under AS 34.03.160 for the internet and cable, once they had given notice. Two things a renter should take from it - a broad “all utilities” clause is normal and enforceable, and it still does not make you the landlord's utility company.
How this state's law treats this clause
One court, one lease, one state. That answer is not automatically yours, and your lease may be worded to land differently. Use this to know what to look for and what to ask - your state's tenant hotline or a local tenant attorney can answer it for your document.
Arizona Law on Utilities Clause
- A landlord may not willfully diminish services by interrupting electric, gas, water, or other essential service.
- The tenant may recover possession or terminate the rental agreement.
- Damages are not more than two months' periodic rent or twice the actual damages sustained, whichever is greater.
- If the rental agreement is terminated, the landlord must return all recoverable security deposits.
Sources include A.R.S. § 33-1367 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Copy and send: As soon as service stops and the utility tells you the account was closed or cut
Ask for your service back
Fill in the brackets and keep a copy of what you send.
Arizona's rule on utility shutoffs is A.R.S. § 33-1367, part of the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. It has four parts:
- The ban. A landlord may not willfully diminish services by interrupting electric, gas, water or other essential service.
- Stay or go. You may recover possession, or terminate the rental agreement.
- Damages. Not more than two months' periodic rent or twice the actual damages you sustained, whichever is greater.
- Deposits. If the rental agreement is terminated, the landlord must return all recoverable security deposits.
The two-month figure lands the same on day one of an outage as on day thirty. Doubling well-documented actual losses, such as hotel nights, a spoiled fridge or a lost week of remote work, is the way past it.
What's Specific to Phoenix
Figures are the state rule, or the stronger city ordinance where one exists. Verify the current law for your own situation before relying on it.
Our record of Phoenix law shows no separate city rule on utility shutoffs. Arizona's Residential Landlord and Tenant Act supplies the remedy statewide, from Maryvale to Arcadia.
The local difference is billing. Power comes from APS or SRP depending on where your building sits, water and trash come from the city, and big complexes often split the building's bill across units instead of metering each one.
In an older master-metered building, your service depends on the owner paying the building's bill.
Power, water, sewer, trash and gas should each have a line. Blanket "tenant pays utilities" wording is where a surprise allocation hides.
Flat fee, submeter and occupancy splits produce very different summer bills. A fair lease names the method and lets you see the master bill.
Strike it before signing. A.R.S. § 33-1367 bars a willful interruption of essential service, whatever the lease says.
Push back. A waiver tries to give up the right to terminate and the damages § 33-1367 provides.
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
- A.R.S. § 33-1367 on azleg.gov, Arizona's own publication of its statutes.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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Shutoff threatened over late rent
A lease line or a text saying the power goes off if rent is late. A.R.S. § 33-1367 bars a willful interruption of essential service.
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Master-metered bill in the landlord's name
You pay rent, the owner pays the utility, and nothing in the lease promises the bill gets paid. A lapsed account still leaves you without water.
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Shared utilities with no source bill
Your charge is a share of the building's total, with no cap and no right to see the master bill. Ask for that right in writing.
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Cooling called an amenity
Wording that treats air conditioning as a perk the landlord can pause. The electric service that runs it is named in § 33-1367.
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Waiver of your rights under the Act
Any clause giving up your rights under Arizona's Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. Ask for it struck before you sign.
Your Rights as a Phoenix Tenant
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No willful interruption
Your landlord may not willfully interrupt electric, gas, water or any other essential service, whatever the lease or the rent ledger says (§ 33-1367).
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Stay or end the lease
After a shutoff you choose: recover possession and stay, or terminate the rental agreement.
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Two months' rent or double damages
Up to two months' periodic rent or twice your actual damages, whichever is greater, so receipts can carry you past the flat figure.
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Your deposit comes back
If you terminate over the shutoff, the landlord must return all recoverable security deposits.
What To Do - Step by Step
Document the outage
Photograph the dark unit, the thermostat, the meter and the time. In a Phoenix summer the thermostat photo helps show your damages.
Call the utility first
Ask APS, SRP, Southwest Gas or City of Phoenix Water Services whether the account was closed, went unpaid, or is a general outage.
Ask for service back in writing
Email or text your landlord the date and time service stopped and ask for it back. Name A.R.S. § 33-1367 and keep a copy.
Keep every receipt
Hotel nights, meals out, spoiled food. Twice your actual damages counts when it is more than two months' rent.
Decide: stay or terminate
You can recover possession and stay, or terminate and get your recoverable deposits back. Decide before you sign anything the landlord hands you.
Get free help
Community Legal Services helps income-eligible Phoenix renters at no cost, and the Arizona Attorney General publishes a free landlord-tenant guide.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Utilities rules near Arizona
The same clause in the nearest states we cover.
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