Can They Shut Off Your Heat in Winter in Delaware?
Delaware protects a household by the thermometer rather than by the calendar: no gas or electric shutoff on a morning the county airport reads 35 degrees or colder, none at all over the Christmas and New Year stretch, and a doctor's signed statement buys 120 days.
What Delaware requires of a utility in winter
At or below 35F
Delaware sets no winter date window; instead a gas or electric utility may not shut a home off for nonpayment on any morning the county airport reading is 35 degrees Fahrenheit or below, and no utility may shut off at all between December 21 and January 1.
- What switches it on
- Delaware works off the forecast: the bar applies while the National Weather Service forecast is at or below 35F, and lapses when it is not.
- Utilities named
- electric and gas
- Who it reaches
- Delaware Public Service Commission does not state on the page the rule was read from whether municipal systems and cooperatives fall under the rule.
- What the household must do
- Nothing. Inside the rule it applies on its own.
That is Delaware Public Service Commission speaking through its own rule, and the sentence below is the one the summary above was built from. The citation is Delaware Public Service Commission, 26 Del. C. Section 117(c)(2) and Section 117(e)(1).
A gas or electric utility may not terminate service to a dwelling unit for nonpayment of past charges on a day when the National Weather Service reports that the 8:00 a.m. temperature measured at an airport in the same county as the subject dwelling unit is 35 degrees Fahrenheit or below on the morning of the date when the service is scheduled for termination.Title 26, Chapter 1, Section 117, Termination of service or sale to a dwelling unit, Delaware Code Online, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Who to call in Delaware today
A signed statement from a doctor, physician associate or advanced nurse practitioner that a shutoff would harm an occupant's health or recovery stops the termination for 120 days and can be renewed, and while a dispute over that statement is before the Commission the utility has to keep the service on.
- Who takes the complaint
- Delaware Division of the Public Advocate
- By phone
- 1-888-607-2427
Delaware Division of the Public Advocate, how to file
In no event may such termination occur if an occupant of a dwelling unit is so ill that the termination of such sale or service will adversely affect the occupant's health or recovery, which has been so certified by a signed statement from a licensed physician, physician associate, or advanced nurse practitioner, of this State or of a state with similar accreditation and received by any employee or officer of such person engaging in the distribution or sale of gas, water, or electricity.Delaware 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.
Does the Delaware rule cover your utility
Delaware Public Service Commission does not state on the page the rule was read from whether municipal systems and cooperatives fall under the rule.
That means a rural electric cooperative and a municipal light or gas department in Delaware answer to their own board or their own city council on this, not to Delaware 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.
Delaware pays part of the heating bill through Delaware Energy Assistance Program (DEAP)
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. Division of Social Services, Delaware Health and Social Services runs it, opening October 1 and closing March 31. The income test is household income at or below 60 percent of Delaware's state median income, counted after federal and local taxes.
Low-income Delaware households may be eligible for help with energy costs to warm or cool their homes, especially during extreme weather, through the Delaware Energy Assistance Program (DEAP).Utility Assistance, Division of Social Services, Delaware Health and Social Services, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
The full Delaware page, with the season, the income test and how to apply, is at heating assistance in Delaware.
Delaware winter shutoff questions
Winter shutoff rules in other states
Delaware read September 23, 2026 from Title 26, Chapter 1, Section 117, Termination of service or sale to a dwelling unit, Delaware Code Online, 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.