Can Utilities Be Shut Off Right Now in Ohio?

Yes, utilities can be shut off in Ohio for non-payment, but a company regulated by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) has to follow a strict notice process first, and several protections can stop or reverse a disconnection: the winter Special Reconnect Order, a 30-day medical certificate, the income-based PIPP Plus program, and the automatic stay in bankruptcy. These rules apply to investor-owned electric, natural gas, and water companies like AEP Ohio, Duke Energy Ohio, and Dominion Energy Ohio. They do not apply to municipal utilities or rural electric cooperatives, which write their own disconnection policies.¹

Is Your Utility Covered by PUCO Rules

Everything below hinges on this. If your service comes from a city-run utility or a rural co-op, PUCO’s protections aren’t yours to use. Check your bill for a PUCO complaint number, or call PUCO at 1-800-686-7826 to confirm. Municipal utilities and co-ops set their own rules on notice, shutoff timing, and reconnection, so you’ll need to ask them directly what applies.

Notice a Utility Must Give Before Shutting Off Service

A PUCO-regulated utility can’t just show up and pull the meter. The company has to mail you a written disconnection notice at least 14 days before the earliest possible shutoff date. That notice must identify itself clearly as a disconnection warning, state the amount owed, and give the date service could be terminated.¹

After that written warning, the utility has to make a second attempt to reach you or another adult in the home. That contact can happen by phone, in person, or through a hand-delivered notice, and it’s your last window to arrange payment. Disconnection itself can only happen during normal business hours.

If you got a shutoff notice, the calendar matters more than anything else. Payment plans, medical certificates, and assistance applications all take time to process. Waiting until the shutoff date is how people lose service that they could have kept.

The Winter Rule: Pay $175 to Keep or Restore Service

Ohio’s Special Reconnect Order, usually called the Winter Rule, runs each heating season. Under the order issued for the 2025–2026 season, any residential customer of a PUCO-regulated utility can prevent disconnection or restore service by paying no more than $175, no matter how large the total balance is.²

A few points to know:

The protection isn’t income-tested. Every residential customer of a covered utility qualifies.
Any reconnection fee is capped at $36. Amounts above that get billed the following month rather than collected at reconnection.
You can use the Winter Rule once per utility per heating season.
The balance doesn’t go away. The utility will work with you on a payment arrangement for whatever remains after the $175.

To apply the order, call your utility during the heating season and ask to use it.

Medical Certificate for a 30-Day Hold

If someone in the household has a medical condition that a shutoff would worsen, or depends on electrically powered medical equipment, a 30-day medical certificate can block a scheduled disconnection or force reconnection. The certificate is valid for 30 calendar days, and you can use this protection up to three times in any rolling 12-month period.³

How it works: download the form from PUCO’s website or request one from your utility, have a licensed medical professional complete and sign it, and submit it to the utility. If the utility receives the signed form before 3:30 p.m., service must be restored the same day. After 3:30 p.m., reconnection happens on the next business day.³

Two limits people miss. First, a medical certificate only works for reconnection if you’ve been disconnected for 21 days or fewer. Past that, you’ll need to pay toward the balance to get service back. Second, you still owe for the energy you use during the 30-day protection. When it expires, you’ll need a payment plan or PIPP Plus enrollment to stay connected.⁴

PIPP Plus: Ongoing Protection Based on Income

PIPP Plus is Ohio’s year-round program that caps your utility payments at a fixed share of household income instead of billing you for actual usage. As long as you make your PIPP Plus payment on time each month, the utility cannot disconnect you.⁵

To qualify, gross household income must be at or below 175% of the federal poverty guidelines. For 2026 that works out to $27,388 for a single-person household and $56,263 for a family of four.⁶

Monthly payment amounts:

Gas-heated homes pay 5% of gross monthly household income for natural gas and 5% for electric.
All-electric homes pay 10% of gross monthly household income.
The minimum payment is $10 per month, regardless of income.

The state subsidizes whatever your real bill exceeds those percentages. Enrollment goes through your local Community Action Agency. You’ll need a photo ID, recent utility bills, a list of everyone in the household, and proof of income for household members 18 or older.⁵

HEAP for Emergency Bill Help

The federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program funds Ohio’s Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP), administered by the Ohio Department of Development. HEAP typically provides a one-time payment applied to your bill, and HEAP crisis assistance can help stop an imminent shutoff if you don’t qualify for other protections. You apply through your local Community Action Agency, the same office that handles PIPP Plus.⁷

HEAP runs on annual funding cycles, so apply early in the season. Funds do run out.

Bankruptcy and the Automatic Utility Protection

Filing for bankruptcy triggers a federal protection for utility service. A utility cannot cut off, refuse, or change your service solely because you filed or because you owe a pre-bankruptcy bill. There’s a catch: you have to give the utility a deposit or other adequate assurance of payment within 20 days of filing (30 days in a Chapter 11 case). Miss that, and the utility can disconnect.⁸

If a looming shutoff is the main reason you’re considering bankruptcy, talk to a bankruptcy attorney about timing first. The deposit requirement means you still need some cash to keep service on.

If You Rent and the Landlord Controls the Utility

When the utility account is in your landlord’s name, PUCO’s protections attach to that account, not to you as the tenant. But a landlord cannot legally cut off your heat, electricity, or water to push you out. That’s an illegal self-help eviction under Ohio law. Landlords have to use the formal court eviction process.

If your landlord has stopped paying and service is threatened, call the utility directly. Some Ohio utilities will let a tenant open a new account in their own name to maintain service even when there’s an unpaid balance in the landlord’s name. Your local legal aid office and PUCO can also help.

Stopping a Scheduled Shutoff

If you have a disconnection notice in hand, work through the options in this order:

Call the utility today. Ask about a payment plan, an extended due date, or PIPP Plus enrollment. Utilities would rather collect a partial payment than pay to disconnect and reconnect.
Submit a medical certificate if anyone in the household qualifies. That buys 30 days.
Apply for HEAP through your local Community Action Agency if your income is low enough.
Use the Winter Rule during the heating season. Paying up to $175 prevents or reverses the shutoff.

If you think the utility skipped a notice step or ignored a protection you invoked, file a complaint with PUCO at 1-800-686-7826. PUCO staff will contact the utility, which must respond within one business day.¹

Getting Service Back After a Shutoff

Once service is off, you generally have to pay the full past-due balance plus a reconnection fee to get it back. During the heating season, the Special Reconnect Order caps that to a $175 payment and a $36 reconnection fee.²

A medical certificate can also restore service, on the same-day rule if it arrives before 3:30 p.m., but only if you’ve been disconnected for 21 days or fewer.⁴

After reconnection, expect the utility to require a payment arrangement for the remaining balance. It may also require a security deposit going forward. If you’re on PIPP Plus and keep making your income-based payments on time, you won’t face another disconnection over the arrears.

1
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Rule 4901:1-18-06 – Disconnection Procedures for Electric, Gas, and Natural Gas Utilities
2
Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. PUCO Issues Special Reconnect Order for 2025-2026 Heating Season
3
Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. 30-Day Medical Certificate
4
Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel. 30-Day Medical Certificate
5
Ohio Department of Development. Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP)
6
The LIHEAP Clearinghouse. Federal Poverty Guidelines for FFY 2026
7
USAGov. Help with Energy Bills
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 366 – Utility Service