Arkansas Winter Utility Shutoff Rules

Q: Does Arkansas 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. Arkansas Public Service Commission, 23 CAR § 455-615 (Cold weather rule), Arkansas Public Service Commission General Service Rules is the rule behind it.

Q: Who handles a winter disconnection dispute in Arkansas?

Arkansas Public Service Commission takes consumer complaints about regulated utilities, on 1-800-482-1164. Its own words: "The APSC has the authority to investigate utility service, safety, billing, and rates. We handle complaints about service outages, connection and suspension of service, billing problems, payment arrangements, and disputed charges."

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

Arkansas runs Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) through Arkansas Energy Office, Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment. The heating assistance page for Arkansas 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

Nov 1 to Mar 31

The winter window

November 1 through March 31

Regulated only

Who the rule reaches

Regulated utilities only

Act first

The household must

the protection is not automatic

The answer

What Arkansas requires of a utility in winter

Temperature trigger

At or below 32F

Electric and gas utilities cannot suspend residential service on a day the National Weather Service forecasts 32F or lower within the next 24 hours, and gas utilities separately cannot suspend a low-income customer from November 1 to March 31 once that customer certifies and signs a payment agreement.

What switches it on: Arkansas 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 gas
Who it reaches: The rule binds the utilities Arkansas Public Service 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: The 32 degree bar is automatic, but the November to March gas moratorium is not: the customer must tell the gas utility before the shutoff date that they are approved for SNAP, WIC, the Transitional Employment Assistance Program, Medicaid or LIHEAP, send written proof within fourteen days, sign a Suspension Moratorium Agreement with a minimum monthly payment, and sign a delayed payment agreement repaying the deferred amount in seven installments from April through October.

That is Arkansas Public Service Commission speaking through its own rule, and the sentence below is the one the summary above was built from. The citation is Arkansas Public Service Commission, 23 CAR § 455-615 (Cold weather rule), Arkansas Public Service Commission General Service Rules.

Electric and gas utilities may not suspend residential service on a day when the National Weather Service forecasts that a temperature of thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit (32° F) or lower will occur at any time during the following twenty-four-hour period.

General Service Rules, Arkansas Public Service Commission, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Do this first

The step that switches the protection on in Arkansas

Arkansas is one of the states where the rule does not arrive on its own. Households who assume the season protects them find out otherwise in the middle of it, and the difference between the two outcomes is the paragraph below.

The 32 degree bar is automatic, but the November to March gas moratorium is not: the customer must tell the gas utility before the shutoff date that they are approved for SNAP, WIC, the Transitional Employment Assistance Program, Medicaid or LIHEAP, send written proof within fourteen days, sign a Suspension Moratorium Agreement with a minimum monthly payment, and sign a delayed payment agreement repaying the deferred amount in seven installments from April through October.

Do it before the disconnection date on the notice rather than after. Several states word the protection so that it stops a shutoff that has not happened yet and says nothing about restoring service that has.

Already off, or a notice has come

Who to call in Arkansas today

The utility reconnects on request once the reason for suspension is gone, in the normal course of business when the shutoff was the customer's fault and immediately when it was the utility's, and it cannot demand payment for usage that is not yet overdue.

Who takes the complaint: Arkansas Public Service Commission
By phone: 1-800-482-1164

Arkansas Public Service Commission, how to file

A utility shall not require a customer to pay for usage that has not been billed, or that has been billed but is not yet overdue, before reconnecting suspended service.

Arkansas Public Service Commission, 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 Arkansas rule cover your utility

The rule binds the utilities Arkansas Public Service 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 Arkansas answer to their own board or their own city council on this, not to Arkansas Public Service 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 gas service.

Help with the bill

Arkansas 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. Arkansas Energy Office, Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment runs it and closing April 30. The income test is a maximum monthly countable income set by household size on the Energy Office's own chart, drawn from the state median income for households of one to seven and from the federal poverty guidelines for eight or more.

LIHEAP applications are accepted through the CBOs on a first-come, first served basis typically from January to April 30 and from July to September 30 of each year.

Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Arkansas Energy Office, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

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

Arkansas winter shutoff questions

Can a utility shut off heat in winter in Arkansas?

Arkansas works off the forecast: the bar applies while the National Weather Service forecast is at or below 32F, and lapses when it is not. Electric and gas utilities cannot suspend residential service on a day the National Weather Service forecasts 32F or lower within the next 24 hours, and gas utilities separately cannot suspend a low-income customer from November 1 to March 31 once that customer certifies and signs a payment agreement.

Does Arkansas have a winter shutoff moratorium with dates?

What does a household in Arkansas have to do to be covered?

The 32 degree bar is automatic, but the November to March gas moratorium is not: the customer must tell the gas utility before the shutoff date that they are approved for SNAP, WIC, the Transitional Employment Assistance Program, Medicaid or LIHEAP, send written proof within fourteen days, sign a Suspension Moratorium Agreement with a minimum monthly payment, and sign a delayed payment agreement repaying the deferred amount in seven installments from April through October. A household that does nothing is outside the protection even during the season, which is what separates Arkansas from the states whose rule runs on the calendar alone.

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

What can a household in Arkansas already shut off do?

Who handles a winter disconnection dispute in Arkansas?

Is there help with the heating bill in Arkansas?

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

Arkansas heating assistanceArkansas'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.

Arkansas read September 23, 2026 from General Service Rules, Arkansas Public Service Commission, 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.