Update at the bottom
Location: Minnesota, US
Hello.
I am in a cluster-fuck of a situation.
I recently moved back into a family home. This home had been in my mother's name since 1993, even though she was only 17. My grandmother put it in her name and since she's gone, I can't ask why. This is less relevant, but I'm worried they're going to use this against me.
So, back in 2022, I moved out of the family home in July. My mother moved out the same year but in June. We were both gone. The only resident of the home was my brother, his wife, and children. He had a couple people sleep on the couch, but the most important part is the fact that I wasn't living there.
He moved out mid-2025. The house was vacant for a few months, and my mother moved back into the home in November of 2025. My brother started a new rental lease for a different home in December of 2025.
Now, I moved in with my long-term partner at the end of March 2026. This was supposed to be our fresh start. My bf and I were finally going to save money and start living better since my mother wouldn't be charging us rent. We would only be helping pay parts of utilities.
I'm sitting in my room. May 1st. A wonderful day off. I was enjoying life. I'm playing games, my boyfriend is playing games. Everything is wonderful.
Then everything shut off. Everything is quiet. Immediately, I'm making phone calls. I'm digging through mail. I'm searching for anything. I open a letter addressed to my brother from the electric company and that's when I see it. "Disconnection Notice" "Amount Due: $11,234.94"
I can't even begin to describe the pit in my stomach. The panic in my soul. I genuinely fell to my knees. I started sobbing. How am I going to fix this?
Every time I call them, they give me one reason after another as to why they can't give me an account because of the past due balance. I don't know what to do. They're saying that because I was listed as a resident, I'm screwed.
The last worker I spoke to, said that the address had been flagged because my mom (with my last name) had an account, then my ex-sister-in-law (who has my last name) had an account, then my brother (who has my last name) also had an account, and now I'm trying to have an account with my cursed last name.
How can they actually make me pay other people's bills? How? I don't have the money for legal council. I don't have the money to pay it. I'm so, so desperate.
I'm going to be posting this in other subs. I need as much advice as possible. Please, I am begging for anything that may show me the tiniest glimmer of hope. I'm sinking into an abyss and all the weights tied to me are not meant for me.
Thanks in advance,
A desperate 27y/o who can't catch a break.
tl:dr : Xcel energy is trying to make me responsible for almost $12,000 of debt occurred by other people. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated and desperately needed.
Edit: We're scared to open an account in my partner's name. Excel is being extremely predetory and we're terrified they're going to stick it on him
Edit 2: Thank you all for your help!! I was able to get someone to help from the Attorney Generals office and we are getting power back tomorrow! I love all of you!!
Update!
Thank you all for your help! The lights are on and we're not being held responsible for the whole debt!
Because of your suggestions, I filed a report with Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. I mediator contacted me and that individual reached out to Xcel on my behalf. He agreed with a lot of the thing that were stated here. Things like how I shouldn't have to pay it in order to get utilities. A few hours after that I got a call from Xcel and we worked out a deal.
Xcel is opening a new account in my mother's name. Not mine, not my partner's. We will be responsible for all utility cost from her move in date of Nov 2025. Those costs amount to roughly $2000. Not great, but way more managable. They turned on our connection in good faith as we will call to set up payment arrangements for the 2k we're claiming responsibility for. My mother is also using her work benefits to seek legal council as well. She originally made the appointment to argue the unjust shut-off, but now she's using them to possibly get all the payments she had made over the last few months to be actually credited to our account. That will be separate beyond me.
Notes I'm taking from this whole thing:
-Keep all records of payments in a form that I can access anytime.
-Gain access to all accounts related to bills and utilities so I can ensure payments (I don't have to worry about water, gas, or trash collections since our city adds those costs to the property taxes)
-Don't ever trust anybody with anything I cannot verify. It hurts because even though Xcel was the enemy I was facing directly, it was my family who gave them the weapons to hurt me the deepest.
You all have been wonderful. Thank you so much. I was lost before, stuck in cycles of anxiety and despair. ❤️