Georgia protects heat by the forecast, not the calendar

Can They Shut Off Your Heat in Winter in Georgia?

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

Georgia runs Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) through Georgia Department of Human Services, Division of Family & Children Services, with applications opening Dec (first workday). The heating assistance page for Georgia covers the income test and the front door.

Georgia's protection is a cold weather trigger rather than a flat moratorium: between November 15 and March 15 a regulated electric or gas utility may not cut off a residence when the forecast low is below 32 degrees Fahrenheit and the household has signed an installment agreement, and heating help runs through Community Action Agencies starting the first workday of December for residents 65 and older or medically homebound and the first workday of January for everyone else.

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 15 to Mar 15

The winter window

November 15 through March 15

Regulated only

Who the rule reaches

Regulated utilities only

Act first

The household must

the protection is not automatic

The answer

What Georgia requires of a utility in winter

Temperature trigger

At or below 32F, Nov 15 to Mar 15

Between November 15 and March 15 the Commission's seasonal restriction bars disconnection of a residential customer for an unpaid bill when the forecast low is below 32 degrees Fahrenheit and the customer has agreed in writing to an installment plan for the arrears and to pay current bills on time.

What switches it on: Georgia 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 Georgia 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 rule also names a written agreement to pay the past due balance in equal installments starting after March 15 and to pay current bills by their due date.

That is Georgia Public Service Commission speaking through its own rule, and the sentence below is the one the summary above was built from. The citation is Georgia Public Service Commission, Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 515-3-2-.04 (electric, 24 hour forecast) and 515-3-3-.04 (residential gas, 48 hour forecast).

Other rules notwithstanding, a utility shall not discontinue service to a residential customer for an unpaid bill between November 15 and March 15 if: (a) The customer agrees in writing to pay the past-due balance including customer charges in equal installments for a maximum duration beginning with the first billing period after March 15 and concluding prior to the following October 15, unless the customer fails to comply with such agreement; (b) In addition, the customer agrees in writing to pay all bills by their due date for current service received after said agreement unless the customer fails to comply with such agreement; (c) The forecasted local low temperature for a 24-hour period beginning at 8:00 A.M. on the date of the proposed disconnection is below 32° F.

Rule 515-3-2-.04 Seasonal Restrictions, Georgia Public Service Commission, Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Do this first

The step that switches the protection on in Georgia

Georgia 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 rule also names a written agreement to pay the past due balance in equal installments starting after March 15 and to pay current bills by their due date.

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 Georgia today

A customer whose health would be seriously affected may have a disconnection held in abeyance by giving the utility written notice and, within ten days, a written statement from a physician, the county board of health, a hospital or a clinic.

Who takes the complaint: Georgia Public Service Commission
By phone: (404) 656-4501 and toll-free 1-800-282-5813

Georgia Public Service Commission, how to file

A utility shall not discontinue service to a residential customer when it has been notified in writing that a person residing in the household is seriously ill and that discontinuance of service would aggravate the illness, provided that within ten days of said notice the customer provides a written statement from a physician, county board of health, hospital or clinic.

Georgia 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 Georgia rule cover your utility

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

Help with the bill

Georgia 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. Georgia Department of Human Services, Division of Family & Children Services runs it, opening Dec (first workday). The income test is gross annual household income at or below 60 percent of the state median income.

The LIHEAP Heating Program typically begins the first workday of December each year for residents aged 65 and older or medically homebound. All other eligible residents may apply for assistance beginning the first workday in January of the following year.

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Georgia Division of Family & Children Services, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

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

Georgia winter shutoff questions

Can a utility shut off heat in winter in Georgia?

Georgia works off the forecast: the bar applies while the National Weather Service forecast is at or below 32F, and lapses when it is not. Between November 15 and March 15 the Commission's seasonal restriction bars disconnection of a residential customer for an unpaid bill when the forecast low is below 32 degrees Fahrenheit and the customer has agreed in writing to an installment plan for the arrears and to pay current bills on time.

Does Georgia 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, Nov 15 to Mar 15. Georgia Public Service Commission, Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 515-3-2-.04 (electric, 24 hour forecast) and 515-3-3-.04 (residential gas, 48 hour forecast) is the rule behind it.

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

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

What can a household in Georgia already shut off do?

Who handles a winter disconnection dispute in Georgia?

Georgia Public Service Commission takes consumer complaints about regulated utilities, on (404) 656-4501 and toll-free 1-800-282-5813. Its own words: "The PSC assists telephone, natural gas and electric utility customers with service quality issues. The Consumer Affairs staff answers consumer's questions about high utility bills, service disconnections and deceptive marketing. They work with consumers to resolve complaints, investigate violations, and educate consumers about their rights under the law."

Is there help with the heating bill in Georgia?

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

Georgia heating assistanceGeorgia'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.

Georgia read September 23, 2026 from Rule 515-3-2-.04 Seasonal Restrictions, Georgia Public Service Commission, Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, 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.