Can They Shut Off Your Heat in Winter in Maine?
A Maine household behind on a regulated electric or gas bill cannot be shut off between November 15 and April 15 unless the Public Utilities Commission's Consumer Assistance and Safety Division first authorizes it, and the same household can apply to HEAP through a Community Action Agency from August 3 through May 29.
What Maine requires of a utility in winter
November 15 to April 15
Between November 15 and April 15 a regulated electric or gas utility may not disconnect a residential customer or occupant without first getting authorization from the Commission's Consumer Assistance and Safety Division, and may not send a notice naming a disconnection date during that period.
- What switches it on
- Maine Public Utilities Commission's rule runs from November 15 to April 15 and applies inside those dates on its own, without the household filing anything.
- Utilities named
- electric transmission and distribution and natural gas
- Who it reaches
- Maine Public Utilities 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
- Contact the utility and enter a payment arrangement; the Commission's Consumer Assistance and Safety Division weighs the household's cooperation and ability to pay when a utility asks permission to disconnect.
That is Maine Public Utilities Commission speaking through its own rule, and the sentence below is the one the summary above was built from. The citation is Maine Public Utilities Commission, 65-407 C.M.R. ch. 815, Sections 2(OO) and 10(M).
Winter Disconnection Period. "Winter Disconnection Period" means the period beginning November 15 of each year and continuing through April 15 of the following year.Chapter 815: Consumer Protection Standards for Gas Utilities and Electric Transmission and Distribution Utilities, Maine Public Utilities Commission, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
The step that switches the protection on in Maine
Maine 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.
Contact the utility and enter a payment arrangement; the Commission's Consumer Assistance and Safety Division weighs the household's cooperation and ability to pay when a utility asks permission to disconnect.
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.
Who to call in Maine today
The utility must reconnect once the cause of disconnection is remedied, and must offer a reasonable payment arrangement on the balance when the disconnection was for nonpayment; a household already off before winter gets a mailed rights packet by November 15 and can call the Consumer Assistance Hotline.
- Who takes the complaint
- Maine Public Utilities Commission, Consumer Assistance Division
- By phone
- 1-800-452-4699
Maine Public Utilities Commission, Consumer Assistance Division, how to file
If service has been disconnected, the Utility must reconnect service pursuant to this Section when the cause of Disconnection has been remedied.Maine Public Utilities Commission, Consumer Assistance and Safety 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.
Does the Maine rule cover your utility
Maine Public Utilities 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 Maine answer to their own board or their own city council on this, not to Maine Public Utilities 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 transmission and distribution and natural gas service.
Maine pays part of the heating bill through Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP)
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. MaineHousing (Maine State Housing Authority), delivered by local Community Action Agencies and ProsperityME runs it, opening August 3 and closing May 29. The income test is A maximum gross household income set by household size, published by MaineHousing; households over the limit may deduct part of what they paid in medical expenses..
Applications for the 2026 - 2027 HEAP Program season will start on August 3, 2026 and continue until funds are exhausted or May 29, 2027.Home Energy Assistance Program, MaineHousing, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
The full Maine page, with the season, the income test and how to apply, is at heating assistance in Maine.
Maine winter shutoff questions
Winter shutoff rules in other states
Maine read September 23, 2026 from Chapter 815: Consumer Protection Standards for Gas Utilities and Electric Transmission and Distribution Utilities, Maine Public Utilities 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.