Florida Electricity Shut-Off Laws: Notice, Bans, and Restoration

Florida electricity shut-off laws give residential customers at least five working days of written notice before a utility can cut power for non-payment, block disconnections on weekends and around major holidays, add extra warning steps for households with medical equipment, and prohibit landlords from interrupting a tenant’s service. The rules sit in Florida Administrative Code Rule 25-6.105 and Florida Statutes Chapter 366 and 83, and the Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC) enforces them.

When a Utility Can Legally Cut Your Power

Non-payment is the usual trigger, but not the only one. Under Rule 25-6.105, a utility can also disconnect you for violating state or municipal electric service regulations, failing to correct deficient wiring or equipment after being notified, using electricity for a purpose not described in your service application, refusing to provide meter access, or failing to post a required deposit.¹

Three situations let the utility skip advance notice entirely: a known hazardous condition at the property, tampering with the meter or utility-owned equipment, and unauthorized or fraudulent use of service. In those cases, the power can go off immediately.¹

For every other reason, the utility must first try to bring you into compliance and then follow the written notice rules.

The Five-Working-Day Notice Rule

When the reason is non-payment or a rule violation, the utility must give you at least five working days of written notice before shutting service off. That notice cannot be tucked into your regular bill. It has to be a separate document that tells you service will end unless you correct the problem, reach a mutual agreement with the utility, or successfully dispute the action. It must also give you the utility’s customer relations contact and the FPSC’s toll-free complaint line, 1-800-342-3552.¹

A “working day” is any day the utility’s business office is open and U.S. Mail is delivered. Weekends and postal holidays do not count toward the five-day window, so the real calendar gap between notice and shutoff is often longer than five days.

Weekend and Holiday Shutoff Bans

Florida utilities cannot disconnect residential customers between noon on a Friday and 8:00 a.m. the following Monday. The same block applies from noon on the day before a listed holiday until 8:00 a.m. the next working day. The holidays are New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.¹

That protection disappears if you asked to have service turned off, if there is a hazardous condition, if the meter has been tampered with, or if service is being used fraudulently.

Florida has no rule prohibiting shutoffs during heat waves or cold snaps. The weekend and holiday windows are the only calendar-based timing protections in current law.

Extra Protection for Medically Essential Households

If someone in your home depends on electrically powered medical equipment, Florida Statute 366.15 gives you additional warning before a shutoff. The law defines “medically essential” as a medical dependence on electric equipment that must run continuously or as a physician specifies.²

How to Get Certified

You fill out forms from your utility and submit a separate form completed by a Florida-licensed physician explaining, in both medical and plain language, why the electric service is medically essential. Every utility must send its customers a written explanation of this process once a year, so the paperwork should arrive without you having to ask.²

Certification lasts 12 months. The utility will mail recertification materials at least 30 days before expiration, and you have 30 days after expiration to submit the renewal. Miss that window and the utility can terminate your certified status.²

What Certification Changes

Before disconnecting a medically certified customer for non-payment, the utility must try to reach you by phone no later than 24 hours before the scheduled shutoff. If the utility cannot reach you or another adult at the home by phone, it must send a representative to your residence by 4:00 p.m. the day before disconnection. If the representative still cannot make contact, they can leave a written notice, and the shutoff can proceed on the scheduled date.²

Certification also blocks the utility from requiring any additional deposit to continue or restore medically essential service. What certification does not do is erase the bill. You still have to make “satisfactory arrangements” to keep your account current, consistent with the utility’s tariff. You are also solely responsible for backup power and an outage plan, and the utility can still disconnect during an emergency that threatens health, safety, or the distribution system.²

Landlords Cannot Cut Off a Tenant’s Utilities

A separate protection covers renters. Florida Statute 83.67 prohibits a landlord from causing, directly or indirectly, the termination or interruption of any utility service furnished to a tenant, whether or not the landlord controls or pays for that service.³

A landlord who violates the rule is liable for actual and consequential damages or three months’ rent, whichever is greater, plus court costs and attorney’s fees. Each separate or repeated violation that is not simultaneous with the initial one triggers its own damages award. The statute also declares that a violation constitutes irreparable harm, which lets a court order the landlord to restore service immediately by injunction without requiring you to prove damages money cannot fix.³

These remedies are not exclusive. You can bring other claims, including constructive eviction if the loss of utilities makes the home uninhabitable.

Getting Service Restored: Fees and Deposits

Once the reason for the shutoff has been “satisfactorily adjusted,” the utility has to restore service. That usually means paying the overdue balance or setting up a payment arrangement, plus a reconnection fee. Each utility sets the fee in its filed tariff. Florida Power & Light, the state’s largest electric provider, charges $4.00 to reconnect service after non-payment.⁴ Other utilities may charge more, so check your provider’s schedule.

The utility can also require a deposit to guarantee future payment. Florida law caps that deposit at two months of average actual charges for an existing account, calculated from the previous 12 months of billing. For new service, the cap is two months of projected charges. After 12 months of continuous service as a new customer, the utility has to recalculate the deposit against actual usage and refund any excess.⁵

Help Paying Before a Shutoff

The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is a federally funded program that helps income-qualified Florida households with heating and cooling costs. Payments go directly to your utility. LIHEAP also prioritizes urgent situations, including households already disconnected and those with elderly or disabled members.⁶

Florida’s LIHEAP eligibility threshold for federal fiscal year 2026 is the greater of 150 percent of the federal poverty level or 60 percent of the state median income.⁷ Under the federal poverty guidelines for 2026, 150 percent of the poverty level for a household of four is $48,225.⁸ If 60 percent of the state median income for your household size is higher, that figure applies instead. Contact your local community action agency or call 211 to apply.

Many Florida utilities also run their own hardship funds, offer budget billing that levels seasonal spikes into equal monthly payments, and give energy efficiency rebates. Programs vary, so call your utility to ask what is available.

Bankruptcy Can Pause a Shutoff

Filing for bankruptcy triggers 11 U.S.C. § 366, which prevents a utility from cutting off or altering service solely because you filed or because you owe a pre-filing balance. This applies in Chapter 7 and Chapter 11.⁹

The pause is not permanent. In a standard Chapter 7 case, you have to give the utility adequate assurance of future payment within 20 days of filing. Accepted forms include a cash deposit, a letter of credit, a certificate of deposit, a surety bond, or a prepayment arrangement. In Chapter 11, the window is 30 days, and the utility can demand assurance it finds satisfactory. Miss the deadline and the utility can disconnect. Having administrative expense priority in the case is not enough on its own; you have to put up money or security. The bankruptcy court can adjust the deposit amount after a hearing.⁹

How to File a Complaint With the FPSC

Start with the utility’s own customer relations department. Every disconnection notice must include contact information for both the utility and the FPSC.¹ If the utility does not resolve the issue, escalate to the Florida Public Service Commission by phone at 1-800-342-3552 or through its online complaint form.¹⁰

The FPSC investigates complaints, mediates disputes between customers and utilities, and can order a utility to comply. Filing is free and does not require an attorney, though one can help if the dispute involves significant money or repeated violations.

1
Cornell Law School. Florida Admin Code Ann R 25-6.105 – Refusal or Discontinuance of Service by Utility
2
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes Title XXVII Chapter 366 – Section 366.15
3
Justia. Florida Statutes Title VI Chapter 83 Part II – Section 83.67 Prohibited Practices
4
FPL. Rates – Service Charges
5
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes Chapter 366 Section 05 – Public Utilities
6
Department of Commerce. Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program
7
Florida Department of Commerce. LIHEAP FFY 2026 State Plan
8
The LIHEAP Clearinghouse. Federal Poverty Guidelines for FFY 2026
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 US Code 366 – Utility Service
10
Florida Public Service Commission. FPSC Consumer Assistance Portal