Michigan Winter Utility Shutoff Rules

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

Not in the form the question usually assumes. The protection is granted to a household that files for it, so the filing, not the calendar, is what switches it on. The short form of it is: Once the household files, Nov 1 to Mar 31. Michigan Public Service Commission is the rule behind it.

Q: Who handles a winter disconnection dispute in Michigan?

Michigan Public Service Commission takes consumer complaints about regulated utilities, on 800-292-9555. Its own words: "Call your Gas, Electric, Video/Cable or Telephone complaints in at: 1-800-292-9555"

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

Michigan runs State Emergency Relief through Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. The heating assistance page for Michigan covers the income test and the front door.

Protection filed for

What the rule runs on

the households that filed, and no one else

Nov 1 to Mar 31

The winter window

November 1 through March 31

Regulated only

Who the rule reaches

Regulated utilities only

Act first

The household must

the protection is not automatic

The answer

What Michigan requires of a utility in winter

Protection filed for

Once the household files, Nov 1 to Mar 31

Michigan sets no blanket winter moratorium; the Low Income Winter Protection Plan holds off shutoff from November 1 to March 31 for income qualified customers who sign up with their utility and stay on a payment plan, and a separate Senior Citizen Shutoff Protection covers customers 65 and older over the same months.

What switches it on: Michigan's protection is filed for rather than automatic, so a household that has not filed is not covered inside the season.
Utilities named: electric and natural gas
Who it reaches: The rule binds the utilities Michigan 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 household enrolls with its own utility company, provides proof that it meets the income test or receives a qualifying benefit, shows it applied for state or federal heating assistance, and keeps paying at least 7 percent of the estimated annual bill each month during the protection period.

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

In addition to energy assistance, customers may qualify for utility shut off protections. Some protections require that a customer sign up for a payment plan with their utility. These protections are established through state law and Commission rules. Some of these protections may not be offered by municipal electric utilities or electric co-operative utilities.

Utility Customers, Michigan Public Service Commission, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Do this first

The step that switches the protection on in Michigan

Michigan 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 household enrolls with its own utility company, provides proof that it meets the income test or receives a qualifying benefit, shows it applied for state or federal heating assistance, and keeps paying at least 7 percent of the estimated annual bill each month during the protection period.

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 Michigan today

A household already shut off, or holding a shutoff notice, can apply to State Emergency Relief through MI Bridges for a payment that restores or continues service for at least 30 days, and the Commission publishes separate medical emergency, critical care and active duty military holds on shutoff.

Who takes the complaint: Michigan Public Service Commission
By phone: 800-292-9555

Michigan Public Service Commission, how to file

Payments may include the amount needed to restore or continue the service for at least 30 days. Assistance may also be available to provide payment for necessary charges to deliver a 30-day supply of a deliverable fuel.

Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, 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 Michigan rule cover your utility

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

Michigan pays part of the heating bill through State Emergency Relief

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. Michigan Department of Health and Human Services runs it. The income test is The department states eligibility on income and assets together with an immediate need such as a past due or shutoff notice, and does not print a percentage figure for State Emergency Relief on this page..

Temporary heat and utility assistance may be available for eligible low-income families and individuals when heating or electric service has been or will be shut off.

Energy & Weatherization, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

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

Michigan winter shutoff questions

Can a utility shut off heat in winter in Michigan?

Michigan's protection is filed for rather than automatic, so a household that has not filed is not covered inside the season. Michigan sets no blanket winter moratorium; the Low Income Winter Protection Plan holds off shutoff from November 1 to March 31 for income qualified customers who sign up with their utility and stay on a payment plan, and a separate Senior Citizen Shutoff Protection covers customers 65 and older over the same months.

Does Michigan have a winter shutoff moratorium with dates?

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

The household enrolls with its own utility company, provides proof that it meets the income test or receives a qualifying benefit, shows it applied for state or federal heating assistance, and keeps paying at least 7 percent of the estimated annual bill each month during the protection period. A household that does nothing is outside the protection even during the season, which is what separates Michigan from the states whose rule runs on the calendar alone.

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

What can a household in Michigan already shut off do?

Who handles a winter disconnection dispute in Michigan?

Is there help with the heating bill in Michigan?

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

Michigan heating assistanceMichigan'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.

Michigan read September 23, 2026 from Utility Customers, Michigan 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.