Minnesota Winter Utility Shutoff Rules

Q: Does Minnesota 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, Oct 1 to Apr 30. Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, Minn. Stat. 216B.096 (public utilities); Minn. Stat. 216B.097 (cooperative or municipal utility) is the rule behind it.

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

Minnesota runs Energy Assistance Program through Minnesota Department of Commerce, with applications opening Oct 1. The heating assistance page for Minnesota covers the income test and the front door.

Protection filed for

What the rule runs on

the households that filed, and no one else

Oct 1 to Apr 30

The winter window

October 1 through April 30

Co-ops too

Who the rule reaches

Municipal systems and co-ops too

Act first

The household must

the protection is not automatic

The answer

What Minnesota requires of a utility in winter

Protection filed for

Once the household files, Oct 1 to Apr 30

Between October 1 and April 30 a utility may not disconnect, and must reconnect, heating service for a residential customer whose household income is at or below 50 percent of the state median income once that customer enters into and makes reasonably timely payments under a mutually acceptable payment agreement, and a customer above that income line still has the right to a payment agreement that keeps service on.

What switches it on: Minnesota's protection is filed for rather than automatic, so a household that has not filed is not covered inside the season.
Utilities named: natural gas and electric
Who it reaches: Minnesota Public Utilities Commission's rule reaches municipal systems and cooperatives as well as the utilities it regulates.
What the household must do: The household has to show the utility that its income is at or below 50 percent of the state median income, by signed statement, by documents, or automatically by receiving energy assistance, and then enter into and keep up reasonably timely payments under a payment agreement with the utility.

That is Minnesota Public Utilities Commission speaking through its own rule, and the sentence below is the one the summary above was built from. The citation is Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, Minn. Stat. 216B.096 (public utilities); Minn. Stat. 216B.097 (cooperative or municipal utility).

During the cold weather period, a utility may not disconnect and must reconnect utility heating service of a customer whose household income is at or below 50 percent of the state median income if the customer enters into and makes reasonably timely payments under a mutually acceptable payment agreement with the utility that is based on the financial resources and circumstances of the household; provided that, a utility may not require a customer to pay more than ten percent of the household income toward current and past utility bills for utility heating service.

216B.096 Cold Weather Rule; Public Utility, Minnesota Statutes, Office of the Revisor of Statutes, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Do this first

The step that switches the protection on in Minnesota

Minnesota 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 has to show the utility that its income is at or below 50 percent of the state median income, by signed statement, by documents, or automatically by receiving energy assistance, and then enter into and keep up reasonably timely payments under a payment agreement with the utility.

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 Minnesota today

A household already shut off gets service back by agreeing to a payment agreement, or by appealing to the Commission when the utility and the customer cannot agree on one, and the utility has to try to restore service within 24 hours of an accepted agreement.

Who takes the complaint: Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, Consumer Affairs Office
By phone: 651.296.0406 or 800.657.3782

Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, Consumer Affairs Office, how to file

Each utility must reconnect utility service if, following disconnection, the dwelling is found to be occupied and the customer agrees to enter into a payment agreement or appeals to the commission because the customer and the utility are unable to agree on a payment agreement.

Minnesota Public Utilities 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 Minnesota rule cover your utility

Minnesota Public Utilities Commission's rule reaches municipal systems and cooperatives as well as the utilities it regulates.

Because Minnesota writes the rule wider than the companies its commission regulates, a rural electric cooperative and a municipal light department are inside it too. Check the name on the bill anyway: the rule names classes of company rather than every company.

The rule names natural gas and electric service.

Help with the bill

Minnesota pays part of the heating bill through Energy Assistance Program

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. Minnesota Department of Commerce runs it, opening October 1 and closing May 31. The income test is 50 percent of state median income for households of 1 to 18 people, and 110 percent of the federal poverty guidelines for households of 19 or 20.

The deadline to apply for Energy Assistance for the winter of 2026-2027 is May 31, 2027.

Energy Assistance Program, Minnesota Department of Commerce, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

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

Minnesota winter shutoff questions

Can a utility shut off heat in winter in Minnesota?

Minnesota's protection is filed for rather than automatic, so a household that has not filed is not covered inside the season. Between October 1 and April 30 a utility may not disconnect, and must reconnect, heating service for a residential customer whose household income is at or below 50 percent of the state median income once that customer enters into and makes reasonably timely payments under a mutually acceptable payment agreement, and a customer above that income line still has the right to a payment agreement that keeps service on.

Does Minnesota have a winter shutoff moratorium with dates?

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

The household has to show the utility that its income is at or below 50 percent of the state median income, by signed statement, by documents, or automatically by receiving energy assistance, and then enter into and keep up reasonably timely payments under a payment agreement with the utility. A household that does nothing is outside the protection even during the season, which is what separates Minnesota from the states whose rule runs on the calendar alone.

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

What can a household in Minnesota already shut off do?

Who handles a winter disconnection dispute in Minnesota?

Is there help with the heating bill in Minnesota?

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

Minnesota heating assistanceMinnesota'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.

Minnesota read September 23, 2026 from 216B.096 Cold Weather Rule; Public Utility, Minnesota Statutes, Office of the Revisor of Statutes, 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.