Missouri Winter Utility Shutoff Rules

Q: Does Missouri 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. Missouri Public Service Commission, 20 CSR 4240-13.055 is the rule behind it.

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

Missouri runs Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program through Missouri Department of Social Services, Family Support Division. The heating assistance page for Missouri covers the income test and the front door.

Temperature trigger

What the rule runs on

every residential account the rule covers, on the days the forecast qualifies and not on the others

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 Missouri requires of a utility in winter

Temperature trigger

At or below 32F

Under the Cold Weather Rule, from November 1 through March 31 a gas or electric utility may not shut off heat related residential service for nonpayment on any day the forecast for the next 72 hours drops below 32 degrees, and a registered low income elderly or low income disabled customer on a cold weather rule payment plan is protected across the whole period.

What switches it on: Missouri 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 Missouri 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 is required for the cold day protection itself, but the flat November to March shield for a registered low income elderly or low income disabled customer requires registering with the utility, entering a cold weather rule payment plan, making the initial payment and keeping the payments up.

That is Missouri Public Service Commission speaking through its own rule, and the sentence below is the one the summary above was built from. The citation is Missouri Public Service Commission, 20 CSR 4240-13.055.

Weather Provisions. Discontinuance of gas and electric service to all residential users, including all residential tenants of apartment buildings, for nonpayment of bills where gas or electricity is used as the source of space heating or to control or operate the only space-heating equipment at the residence is prohibited (A) On any day when the National Weather Service local forecast between 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., for the following seventy-two (72) hours, predicts that the temperature will drop below thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit (32F)

20 CSR 4240-13, Service and Billing Practices for Residential Customers of Electric, Gas, Sewer, and Water Utilities, Code of State Regulations, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Do this first

The step that switches the protection on in Missouri

Missouri 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 for the cold day protection itself, but the flat November to March shield for a registered low income elderly or low income disabled customer requires registering with the utility, entering a cold weather rule payment plan, making the initial payment and keeping the payments up.

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 Missouri today

Between November 1 and March 31 a household already shut off for nonpayment gets service back without a deposit if it calls the utility, says it cannot pay in full, makes an initial payment and enters a payment agreement, gives the utility the income information it asks for, and the debt is not from tampering or diversion.

Who takes the complaint: Missouri Public Service Commission
By phone: 1-800-392-4211

Missouri Public Service Commission, how to file

Reconnection Provisions. If a utility has discontinued heat-related utility service to a residential customer due to nonpayment of a delinquent account, the utility, from November 1 through March 31, shall reconnect service to that customer without requiring a deposit, provided (A) The customer contacts the utility, requests the utility to reconnect service, and states an inability to pay in full; (B) The utility receives an initial payment and the customer enters into a payment agreement, both of which are in compliance with section (10) of this rule

Missouri 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 Missouri rule cover your utility

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

Missouri pays part of the heating bill through Low Income Home 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. Missouri Department of Social Services, Family Support Division runs it. The income test is at or below the income guidelines on the department's benefit program limit chart for the household size, with no more than 3,000 dollars in bank, retirement or investment accounts.

Energy Assistance - A one-time payment for one fuel type for your heating or cooling costs from October-May.

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Missouri Department of Social Services, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

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

Missouri winter shutoff questions

Can a utility shut off heat in winter in Missouri?

Missouri works off the forecast: the bar applies while the National Weather Service forecast is at or below 32F, and lapses when it is not. Under the Cold Weather Rule, from November 1 through March 31 a gas or electric utility may not shut off heat related residential service for nonpayment on any day the forecast for the next 72 hours drops below 32 degrees, and a registered low income elderly or low income disabled customer on a cold weather rule payment plan is protected across the whole period.

Does Missouri have a winter shutoff moratorium with dates?

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

Nothing is required for the cold day protection itself, but the flat November to March shield for a registered low income elderly or low income disabled customer requires registering with the utility, entering a cold weather rule payment plan, making the initial payment and keeping the payments up. A household that does nothing is outside the protection even during the season, which is what separates Missouri from the states whose rule runs on the calendar alone.

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

What can a household in Missouri already shut off do?

Who handles a winter disconnection dispute in Missouri?

Missouri Public Service Commission takes consumer complaints about regulated utilities, on 1-800-392-4211. Its own words: "Before filing an informal complaint with the Missouri Public Service Commission, first contact your utility company and allow them an opportunity to investigate your complaint. If you are unable to resolve the dispute or inquiry in a manner that is satisfactory, you should then contact the Missouri Public Service Commission's Consumer Services Unit to file an informal complaint."

Is there help with the heating bill in Missouri?

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

Missouri heating assistanceMissouri'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.

Missouri read September 23, 2026 from 20 CSR 4240-13, Service and Billing Practices for Residential Customers of Electric, Gas, Sewer, and Water Utilities, Code of State 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.