A few questions and you will know where you stand today. Arizona, Texas, California and Florida all handle this completely differently, and one of them barely protects you at all, which is exactly why almost nobody knows their own rule. Here is what each state actually says.
The Arizona Corporation Commission enforces a summer utility shutoff moratorium from June 1, 2026 through October 15, 2026. During that window, most regulated electric utilities will not disconnect residential customers for late payment, non-payment, or accumulated debt.
Regulated utilities get to pick one of two ways to comply. They can either use the June 1 to October 15 window, or they can suspend disconnections whenever the National Weather Service forecast exceeds 95 degrees, or whenever conditions occur that the Commission has determined by order are especially dangerous to health.
In April 2026, APS reached a $7 million settlement with the Arizona Attorney General after an investigation into its disconnection practices during extreme heat. Under that agreement APS must reinstate a 95 degree hold year round, halting disconnections whenever temperatures are forecast to reach 95 or above the following day, outside the June to October window. It must also maintain a 32 degree cold weather hold, and add text message alerts for past due and disconnection notices.
That settlement exists because an 82 year old woman named Katherine Korman died in 2024, days after APS disconnected her service in May. An earlier death, Stephanie Pullman's, prompted the Commission's 2019 overhaul that created the moratorium in the first place. Maricopa County recorded 430 confirmed heat related deaths last year, down from 608 the year before. This rule is written in consequences.
This is the part worth understanding even if you do not live in either state, because it shows why a single fifty state chart is worthless.
Texas has no summer moratorium. It has no winter moratorium. It has no dates at all. Under 16 Texas Administrative Code 25.483(j), protection turns entirely on the weather, county by county, day by day. The rule defines an extreme weather emergency as a day when either:
During an extreme weather emergency, the PUCT prohibits electric providers from disconnecting any customer for nonpayment. Transmission and distribution utilities have to notify the Commission every day an emergency applies in their territory.
Everything above is about electricity, regulated by the Public Utility Commission of Texas. Natural gas in Texas is regulated by a different agency entirely, the Railroad Commission of Texas, under its own rule (16 Texas Administrative Code 7.460). Different agency, different rule. Do not assume your gas is covered because your electricity is.
If Arizona is a calendar and Texas is a weather alert, California is a thermometer plus a registry.
The California Public Utilities Commission bans the four large investor owned utilities, PG&E, Southern California Edison, SDG&E and SoCalGas, from disconnecting residential customers when extreme temperatures are forecast. The rules came out of SB 598 and CPUC Decision 18-12-013.
Under Decision 18-12-013, the large utilities are banned from disconnecting customers who are on medical baseline. Not delayed. Banned.
Medical baseline is for households where someone depends on electrically powered medical equipment: oxygen, dialysis, a nebulizer, refrigerated medication. It takes a doctor certification, it is free, and it also gives you extra electricity at the lowest rate. Most people who qualify have never heard of it, and it is the single strongest protection in the state because it does not care what the weather is doing.
Arizona has a calendar. Texas has a weather alert. California has a thermometer. Florida has none of them.
What Florida gives you instead is process. Rule 25-6.105 of the Florida Administrative Code is about how they have to do it, not about when they cannot. And four of those process protections are worth real money, because almost nobody claims them.
A utility may discontinue for nonpayment only after a diligent attempt to have the customer comply, including at least 5 working days' written notice, and that notice must be separate and apart from any bill for service. A past due stamp on a bill is not a notice.
Read the definition carefully, because it buys you time: a "working day" means any day on which the utility's business office is open AND the U.S. Mail is delivered. Weekends do not count. Federal holidays do not count. Five working days is very often more than a week.
The rule names them: New Year's Day, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. The prohibition does not apply if you asked for the disconnection, if there is a hazardous condition, if the meter was tampered with, or if service is being obtained fraudulently.
This is the one nobody knows. The rule says customers who so desire may designate a third party in the company's service area to receive a copy of such delinquent notice. A daughter. A neighbor. A church. Free, and you just have to ask.
If you are elderly, if your mail is unreliable, if you travel for work, or if you are the person who worries about a parent, this is the single most useful sentence on this page. Call and ask for third party notification.
Rule 25-6.105(11) requires every utility to file a procedure for discontinuance when service is medically essential. Florida Power & Light's own tariff shows what that looks like: a limited extension of up to 30 days beyond the normal disconnection date, written notice of the new date, and this part matters most:
No later than 12 noon one day before the scheduled disconnection, the company must attempt to reach you by telephone. If it cannot reach an adult member of the household, it must send a representative to the residence no later than 4 p.m.
It requires certification by a doctor of medicine licensed to practice in Florida. Note the limit honestly: it is an extension, not a ban. California bans disconnecting medical baseline customers outright. Florida buys you 30 days and a phone call. Use them.
Your power bill is only one kind of help. If what is really squeezing you is a medical bill, credit cards, or your internet bill, the free way out is completely different and I will point you at the right one. Two minutes, no signup to see your answer.
Take the free 2-minute checkup →If APS, Tucson Electric Power, or UNS Electric sends your bill, no. The Corporation Commission's summer moratorium runs June 1 through October 15, 2026, and all three opted into it. SRP is not Commission regulated and has its own policy.
June 1, 2026 through October 15, 2026. Utilities may instead choose to suspend disconnections whenever the forecast exceeds 95 degrees. APS, TEP and UNS chose the date window.
No. It stops disconnection only. Billing continues, the balance grows, and on October 15 the full past due amount is still owed and disconnection becomes possible again.
No. SRP is not regulated by the Corporation Commission. Reporting on SRP's own policy says it does not disconnect during an NWS excessive heat warning or if you owe under $300, and that it will not cut off power in July and August. Confirm with SRP directly.
Regulated electric cooperatives in Arizona have company-specific disconnection tariffs, according to the Commission. Call your co-op and ask what their tariff says.
The summer protection ends. APS separately agreed under its April 2026 settlement to hold disconnections whenever temperatures are forecast to reach 95 or above the next day, year round, and to maintain a 32 degree cold hold. Mid October through spring is when Arizona households are most exposed.
No. Texas has no date-based moratorium at all, summer or winter. Under 16 Texas Administrative Code 25.483(j), protection exists only during an extreme weather emergency, which is triggered by a National Weather Service heat advisory for your county, or by the previous day's high not exceeding 32 degrees with the forecast staying there 24 hours.
The rule covers the day the National Weather Service issues a heat advisory for your county, and also applies when such an advisory was issued on either of the two preceding calendar days. In practice that means protection extends two days past the advisory.
PUCT consumer protection rules require retail electric providers in the ERCOT region to offer a deferred payment plan upon request for any customer bills that become due during an extreme weather emergency. It is on request, so you have to ask for it by name.
Not by the four large investor owned utilities. The CPUC bans PG&E, SCE, SDG&E and SoCalGas from disconnecting residential customers when extreme temperatures are forecast. On July 16, 2026 the Commission lowered the heat threshold from 100 degrees to 90 and required utilities to use CalHeatScore. City utilities such as LADWP and SMUD are not CPUC regulated and set their own policies.
It is a program for households where someone depends on electrically powered medical equipment. Under CPUC Decision 18-12-013, the large investor owned utilities are banned from disconnecting customers who are on medical baseline. It requires a doctor certification, it is free, and it also provides additional electricity at the lowest rate. Call your utility and ask to apply.
Yes. The CPUC ordered the four largest investor owned utilities to proactively offer customers at least three months, and up to twelve months, to pay off past utility debt before disconnecting service. The utilities were also directed to stop requiring deposits to re-establish service regardless of payment history.
Yes. Florida has no temperature-based disconnection protection. The Florida Public Service Commission's rule, 25-6.105, contains no heat or cold moratorium. What it requires instead is process: at least 5 working days written notice separate from your bill, no disconnection on named holidays, optional third party notification, and a medically essential service procedure filed by each utility.
At least 5 working days written notice, separate and apart from any bill for service, and only after a diligent attempt to have the customer comply. Under the rule a working day means any day the utility's business office is open and the U.S. Mail is delivered, so weekends and holidays do not count toward the five.
No. The rule names New Year's Day, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. The prohibition does not apply if you requested or agreed to the disconnection, if a hazardous condition exists, if utility facilities were tampered with, or if service is being obtained fraudulently or used unlawfully.
Rule 25-6.105(11) requires each utility to file a procedure for discontinuance when service is medically essential. Florida Power and Light's tariff provides a limited extension of up to 30 days beyond the normal disconnection date, requires certification by a doctor of medicine licensed to practice in Florida, and requires the company to attempt telephone contact no later than 12 noon one day before disconnection, and to send a representative to the residence no later than 4 p.m. if it cannot reach an adult in the household. It is an extension, not a ban.
Yes. Rule 25-6.105 says customers who so desire may designate a third party in the company's service area to receive a copy of a delinquent notice. It is free and you only have to ask. This is one of the least known protections in the rule and it is particularly useful for elderly customers or anyone whose mail is unreliable.
BillRelief Check is an independent educational publisher. We are not a government agency, we are not the Arizona Corporation Commission, and we are not affiliated with APS, SRP, Tucson Electric Power, UNS Electric, or any utility or cooperative. This tool is educational information only, not legal advice, and it cannot see your account. It does not know your balance, your payment history, your utility's specific tariff, or whether your service is residential or commercial. It cannot guarantee that you will not be disconnected. Utility tariffs, Commission rules, and settlement terms change. Only your utility can tell you the status of your account, and only the Arizona Corporation Commission can tell you what the current rule is. Always confirm with them before you rely on anything here. If you have a shutoff notice, call your utility today and call 1-866-674-6327 for energy assistance.
© 2026 Andine's Place LLC · 2760 W Peoria Ave #1260, Phoenix, AZ 85029 ·
About · Editorial Standards · Privacy · Terms · Help with your light bill · More guides