Arizona Winter Utility Shutoff Rules

Q: Does Arizona have a winter shutoff moratorium with dates?

Not in the form the question usually assumes. There is no season. The protection turns on when the forecast crosses a stated temperature and lapses when the forecast passes. The short form of it is: At or below 32F. Arizona Corporation Commission, A.A.C. R14-2-211(A)(11) (electric) and R14-2-311(A)(12) (gas) is the rule behind it.

Q: Is there help with the heating bill in Arizona?

Arizona runs Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) through Arizona Department of Economic Security. The heating assistance page for Arizona covers the income test and the front door.

Temperature trigger

What the rule runs on

every residential account the rule covers, on the days the forecast qualifies and not on the others

32°F

The temperature bar

read off the forecast, not the calendar

Regulated only

Who the rule reaches

Regulated utilities only

Do nothing

The household must

it applies on its own inside the rule

The answer

What Arizona requires of a utility in winter

Temperature trigger

At or below 32F

Arizona sets no winter calendar window; instead each regulated utility must adopt one no termination condition from a short list in its tariff, and the winter option stops disconnection whenever the National Weather Service forecast for the service address includes temperatures that do not exceed 32F. Electric utilities may instead adopt the June 1 through October 15 summer window, in which case the 32F trigger does not apply to that utility.

What switches it on: Arizona works off the forecast: the bar applies while the National Weather Service forecast is at or below 32F, and lapses when it is not.
Utilities named: electric and natural gas
Who it reaches: The rule binds the utilities Arizona Corporation Commission regulates. A household on a municipal system or a rural cooperative is covered by that system's own policy instead.
What the household must do: Nothing. Inside the rule it applies on its own.

That is Arizona Corporation Commission speaking through its own rule, and the sentence below is the one the summary above was built from. The citation is Arizona Corporation Commission, A.A.C. R14-2-211(A)(11) (electric) and R14-2-311(A)(12) (gas).

A utility shall adopt only one of the following conditions under which it shall not terminate residential service: a. During any period of time for which the local weather forecast, as predicted by the National Weather Service, indicates that the weather in the area of the customer's service address: i. Will include temperatures that do not exceed 32° F; ii. Will include temperatures that exceed 95° F; or iii. Will include other weather conditions that the Commission has determined, by order, are especially dangerous to health; or b. During the calendar days of June 1 through October 15 of each year, which shall be specified as non-termination dates in a utility's tariffs.

Arizona Administrative Code, Title 14, Chapter 2, Corporation Commission Fixed Utilities (Supp. 26-2), Arizona Secretary of State, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Already off, or a notice has come

Who to call in Arizona today

The rules let a utility offer a qualifying residential customer a deferred payment plan before termination, with a down payment, payment of future bills as billed, and the rest in installments over no more than six months, and a utility may require a customer whose service was held on by a weather condition to enter a deferred payment agreement afterward.

Who takes the complaint: Arizona Corporation Commission, Utilities Division Consumer Services
By phone: 1 (800) 222-7000

Arizona Corporation Commission, Utilities Division Consumer Services, how to file

Each utility may, prior to termination, offer to qualifying residential customers a deferred payment plan for the customer to retire unpaid bills for utility service. Each deferred payment plan entered into by the utility and the customer shall provide that service will not be discontinued if: Customer agrees to pay a reasonable amount of the outstanding bill at the time the parties enter into the deferred payment agreement.

Arizona Corporation Commission, Utilities Division, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

A commission’s consumer division is not a courtesy line. In most states a company must hold a disconnection while a formal complaint about that account is open, which is a different and stronger thing than asking the company to reconsider. Ring the utility first, then the commission if the answer is no.

The corner of a shingled house showing the mast and weatherhead where overhead lines land on the roof, and the round electric meter mounted on the wall below — The mast on the roof and the meter under it, on an ordinary house in Washington State. This is where an electric disconnection physically happens, and it is also why the rules are written by a public utility commission rather than a legislature in a good many states: the commission regulates the company that owns this wire. “Residence service drop”, Chetvorno, CC0

Who it covers

Does the Arizona rule cover your utility

The rule binds the utilities Arizona Corporation Commission regulates. A household on a municipal system or a rural cooperative is covered by that system's own policy instead.

That means a rural electric cooperative and a municipal light or gas department in Arizona answer to their own board or their own city council on this, not to Arizona Corporation Commission. Many adopt a winter policy of their own that is as protective or more so, and the place to find it is the cooperative's or the town's own tariff.

The rule names electric and natural gas service.

Help with the bill

Arizona pays part of the heating bill through Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)

A shutoff rule and a heating grant are separate things, and in several states an approved grant application is itself what satisfies the filing the shutoff rule asks for. Arizona Department of Economic Security runs it. The income test is A monthly gross income limit by household size published by DES, with households already receiving DES Nutrition Assistance or DES Cash Assistance treated as categorically eligible.

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is a federally funded program that helps low income households pay their heating/cooling bills, minimize energy-related crises, and make energy costs more affordable.

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Arizona Department of Economic Security, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

The full Arizona page, with the season, the income test and how to apply, is at heating assistance in Arizona.

Arizona winter shutoff questions

Can a utility shut off heat in winter in Arizona?

Arizona works off the forecast: the bar applies while the National Weather Service forecast is at or below 32F, and lapses when it is not. Arizona sets no winter calendar window; instead each regulated utility must adopt one no termination condition from a short list in its tariff, and the winter option stops disconnection whenever the National Weather Service forecast for the service address includes temperatures that do not exceed 32F. Electric utilities may instead adopt the June 1 through October 15 summer window, in which case the 32F trigger does not apply to that utility.

Does Arizona have a winter shutoff moratorium with dates?

Does the rule cover rural co-ops and city utilities in Arizona?

What can a household in Arizona already shut off do?

The rules let a utility offer a qualifying residential customer a deferred payment plan before termination, with a down payment, payment of future bills as billed, and the rest in installments over no more than six months, and a utility may require a customer whose service was held on by a weather condition to enter a deferred payment agreement afterward. Arizona Corporation Commission, Utilities Division publishes the path.

Who handles a winter disconnection dispute in Arizona?

Arizona Corporation Commission, Utilities Division Consumer Services takes consumer complaints about regulated utilities, on 1 (800) 222-7000. Its own words: "Staff can investigate your inquiry or dispute if it concerns: Rates or changes Installations or disconnections Responsibility for a bill A request for a deposit Refusal of service by a utility The quality and type of utility service A utility's policies and procedures"

Is there help with the heating bill in Arizona?

A residential natural gas meter with its regulator and shutoff valve, mounted against pale house siding — A gas meter, which is the other half of the question and frequently the other half of the answer. A state rule can reach a regulated gas company and not reach the electric cooperative next door, or the reverse, so the protection you have often depends on which company sends which bill. “Gas meter”, RadRafe, Public domain

Winter shutoff rules in other states

Arizona heating assistanceArizona's energy assistance program, its season and its income test.Heating assistance by stateWhen each state opens applications, the income test, and where to apply.Heating oil and propane pricesWhat the fuel costs this week in the states that report it.Frozen pipe riskThe forecast that puts pipes at risk, by ZIP.Winter shutoff rules in every stateHow the fifty states differ on whether a window, a forecast or a filing decides it.

Arizona read September 23, 2026 from Arizona Administrative Code, Title 14, Chapter 2, Corporation Commission Fixed Utilities (Supp. 26-2), Arizona Secretary of State, linked above. A commission can order a company to do something its published rule does not require, and rules change between seasons, so the agency page is the one that governs. Every state is on the winter shutoff hub.