Maryland Winter Utility Shutoff Rules

Q: Does Maryland have a winter shutoff moratorium with dates?

Not in the form the question usually assumes. The commission sets no window and instead requires a winter disconnection to be reviewed before it happens. The short form of it is: Reviewed one household at a time. Maryland Public Service Commission, COMAR 20.31.03.03 and COMAR 20.31.03.04 is the rule behind it.

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

Maryland runs Maryland Energy Assistance Program (MEAP), run with the Electric Universal Service Program (EUSP) by the Office of Home Energy Programs through Office of Home Energy Programs, Maryland Department of Human Services, with applications opening Jul 1. The heating assistance page for Maryland covers the income test and the front door.

Reviewed case by case

What the rule runs on

any household whose disconnection reaches the commission first

Nov 1 to Mar 31

The winter window

November 1 through March 31

Regulated only

Who the rule reaches

Not stated

Act first

The household must

the protection is not automatic

The answer

What Maryland requires of a utility in winter

Reviewed case by case

Reviewed one household at a time

From November 1 through March 31 a gas or electric utility may not shut a home off for nonpayment unless it first files an affidavit with the Commission, at least 24 hours ahead, certifying that the shutoff is no threat to the life or health of the people living there, and on top of that no shutoff may happen where the 6 a.m. forecast is 32 degrees Fahrenheit or below.

What switches it on: Maryland sets no season and instead puts a winter disconnection in front of Maryland Public Service Commission before it happens.
Utilities named: electric and gas
Who it reaches: Maryland 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 is required to get the November to March review, but a MEAP eligible household that signs up for the Utility Service Protection Program gets a stronger protection: budget billing all year, no winter turn off while the payments are made, and reconnection without a fee or deposit between November 1 and March 31.

That is Maryland Public Service Commission speaking through its own rule, and the sentence below is the one the summary above was built from. The citation is Maryland Public Service Commission, COMAR 20.31.03.03 and COMAR 20.31.03.04.

An electric, gas, or electric and gas utility may not terminate gas or electric service to occupants of residential buildings for nonpayment of bills during the period November 1 through and including March 31 of the immediately succeeding calendar year unless the utility first certifies to the Commission by an affidavit filed at least 24 hours before the termination, that the termination does not constitute a threat to the life or health of the residential occupants.

COMAR 20.31.03.03, Winter Restrictions, Code of Maryland Regulations, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Do this first

The step that switches the protection on in Maryland

Maryland 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.

Nothing is required to get the November to March review, but a MEAP eligible household that signs up for the Utility Service Protection Program gets a stronger protection: budget billing all year, no winter turn off while the payments are made, and reconnection without a fee or deposit between November 1 and March 31.

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 Maryland today

A household already shut off and eligible for the Maryland Energy Assistance Program gets its gas or electric service turned back on to join the Utility Service Protection Program once it pays its arrears down to 400 dollars, and the energy assistance grant itself may be applied to that balance.

Who takes the complaint: Consumer Affairs Division, Maryland Public Service Commission
By phone: 1-800-492-0474

Consumer Affairs Division, Maryland Public Service Commission, how to file

A customer eligible for participation in the Utility Service Protection Program who is not receiving utility service shall have his utility service reconnected for the purpose of participation in the Utility Service Protection Program, provided that the customer: (1) Is certified eligible for MEAP assistance; (2) Complies with the application procedures in Regulation .05; and (3) Makes the designated payment for outstanding arrearages as described in §B.

Maryland 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 Maryland rule cover your utility

Maryland 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 Maryland answer to their own board or their own city council on this, not to Maryland 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

Maryland pays part of the heating bill through Maryland Energy Assistance Program (MEAP), run with the Electric Universal Service Program (EUSP) by the Office of Home Energy Programs

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. Office of Home Energy Programs, Maryland Department of Human Services runs it, opening July 1 and closing June 30. The income test is gross household income over the last 30 days at or below the monthly limit published for the household size in fiscal year 2027.

The Office of Home Energy Programs (OHEP) provides bill assistance to low-income households in the State of Maryland to make their energy costs more affordable and help with the prevention of loss and the restoration of home energy service.

About Energy Assistance, Office of Home Energy Programs, Maryland Department of Human Services, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

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

Maryland winter shutoff questions

Can a utility shut off heat in winter in Maryland?

Maryland sets no season and instead puts a winter disconnection in front of Maryland Public Service Commission before it happens. From November 1 through March 31 a gas or electric utility may not shut a home off for nonpayment unless it first files an affidavit with the Commission, at least 24 hours ahead, certifying that the shutoff is no threat to the life or health of the people living there, and on top of that no shutoff may happen where the 6 a.m. forecast is 32 degrees Fahrenheit or below.

Does Maryland have a winter shutoff moratorium with dates?

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

Nothing is required to get the November to March review, but a MEAP eligible household that signs up for the Utility Service Protection Program gets a stronger protection: budget billing all year, no winter turn off while the payments are made, and reconnection without a fee or deposit between November 1 and March 31. A household that does nothing is outside the protection even during the season, which is what separates Maryland from the states whose rule runs on the calendar alone.

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

What can a household in Maryland already shut off do?

Who handles a winter disconnection dispute in Maryland?

Is there help with the heating bill in Maryland?

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

Maryland heating assistanceMaryland'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.

Maryland read September 23, 2026 from COMAR 20.31.03.03, Winter Restrictions, Code of Maryland Regulations, 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.