I Am Being Held Responsible For Another Person's Debt. I Can't Pay $12,000 To Get The Electricity Turned Back On.

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