Louisiana protects heat by the forecast, not the calendar

Can They Shut Off Your Heat in Winter in Louisiana?

Q: Does Louisiana 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. Louisiana Public Service Commission, General Order R-29706 (Second Amended), Docket No. R-29706, issued October 5, 2007 is the rule behind it.

Q: Who handles a winter disconnection dispute in Louisiana?

Louisiana Public Service Commission takes consumer complaints about regulated utilities, on 800-256-2397. Its own words: "The Louisiana Public Service Commission has jurisdiction over non-municipally owned and/or operated utilities providing electric, water, wastewater, natural gas, and telecommunication services, as well as all the electric cooperatives in Louisiana."

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

Louisiana runs Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) through Louisiana Housing Corporation, with applications opening Dec 15. The heating assistance page for Louisiana covers the income test and the front door.

Louisiana protects by thermometer and not by calendar, and the bar is a high one: the truck stops only on a day the parish stayed at or below freezing yesterday and is forecast to stay there for another twenty four hours, so the practical winter help is the state's LIHEAP heating round from December 15 to March 31 and its year round crisis benefit.

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 Louisiana requires of a utility in winter

Temperature trigger

At or below 32F

An electric or natural gas utility cannot disconnect a residential customer in a parish on a day when that parish is under the Commission's winter cold condition, and a separate summer condition applies when the National Weather Service issues a heat advisory.

What switches it on: Louisiana 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 Louisiana 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: Nothing. Inside the rule it applies on its own.

That is Louisiana Public Service Commission speaking through its own rule, and the sentence below is the one the summary above was built from. The citation is Louisiana Public Service Commission, General Order R-29706 (Second Amended), Docket No. R-29706, issued October 5, 2007.

Disconnection during extreme weather: An electric or natural gas utility shall not disconnect service for a residential customer in a parish on a day when the following extreme weather conditions exist within that parish: 3) Winter: The previous day’s highest temperature did not exceed 32 degrees Fahrenheit, and the temperature is predicted to remain at or below that level for the next 24 hours, according to the nearest National Weather Service (NWS) reports; or 2) Summer: The nearest NWS issues a heat advisory as defined by the NWS.

General Order, Docket No. R-29706 In re: Disconnection of Service: Electric and Gas Utilities, Louisiana Public Service Commission, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Already off, or a notice has come

Who to call in Louisiana today

A utility under Commission jurisdiction cannot refuse new service or cut off current service over an old written off account that has sat closed for three years or more, unless a court has issued a judgment on it.

Who takes the complaint: Louisiana Public Service Commission
By phone: 800-256-2397

Louisiana Public Service Commission, how to file

The utility companies subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission shall not refuse to initiate new service or disconnect existing service due to the refusal of a customer to make payments on a delinquent account that has been closed, with no further services charged or payments made on it, for a period of three years or more unless and except a judgment has been issued by a court of competent jurisdiction on such delinquent account.

Louisiana 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 Louisiana rule cover your utility

The rule binds the utilities Louisiana 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 Louisiana answer to their own board or their own city council on this, not to Louisiana 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

Louisiana 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. Louisiana Housing Corporation runs it, opening December 15 and closing March 31. The income test is 60 percent of the estimated state median income, printed by household size for 2026 and starting at $30,618 a year for a household of one.

Applicant may only receive one LIHEAP benefit each season. Heating: December 15 – March 31 Cooling: April 13 – September 30 Crisis: October 1 - September 30

Energy Assistance, Louisiana Housing Corporation, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

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

Louisiana winter shutoff questions

Can a utility shut off heat in winter in Louisiana?

Louisiana works off the forecast: the bar applies while the National Weather Service forecast is at or below 32F, and lapses when it is not. An electric or natural gas utility cannot disconnect a residential customer in a parish on a day when that parish is under the Commission's winter cold condition, and a separate summer condition applies when the National Weather Service issues a heat advisory.

Does Louisiana have a winter shutoff moratorium with dates?

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

What can a household in Louisiana already shut off do?

Who handles a winter disconnection dispute in Louisiana?

Is there help with the heating bill in Louisiana?

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

Louisiana heating assistanceLouisiana'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.

Louisiana read September 23, 2026 from General Order, Docket No. R-29706 In re: Disconnection of Service: Electric and Gas Utilities, Louisiana 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.