Nebraska Winter Utility Shutoff Rules

Q: Does Nebraska 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. Nebraska Public Service Commission, Nebraska Administrative Code Title 291, Chapter 9, Section 013.05 is the rule behind it.

Q: Who handles a winter disconnection dispute in Nebraska?

Nebraska Public Service Commission takes consumer complaints about regulated utilities. Its own words: "Customers of jurisdictional natural gas utilities who have issues with their service, including service quality and billing, are able to contact the Commission who will work with the involved parties to reach a resolution."

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

Nebraska runs Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) through Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, with applications opening Oct 1. The heating assistance page for Nebraska 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 Nebraska requires of a utility in winter

Protection filed for

Once the household files, Nov 1 to Mar 31

Between November 1 and March 31 a jurisdictional natural gas utility must add 30 days to the payment deadline before it can shut anyone off, and it may not disconnect at all a residential customer who has certified LIHEAP eligibility to the utility.

What switches it on: Nebraska'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
Who it reaches: The rule binds the utilities Nebraska 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 has to be certified eligible for low income home energy assistance, tell the gas utility, and give the utility acceptable documentation of that eligibility within a reasonable time.

That is Nebraska Public Service Commission speaking through its own rule, and the sentence below is the one the summary above was built from. The citation is Nebraska Public Service Commission, Nebraska Administrative Code Title 291, Chapter 9, Section 013.05.

013.05 RESIDENTIAL WINTER DISCONNECTION. In addition to the notice provisions before disconnection of service to a residential customer in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 70-1605, no Utility may disconnect residential customer service from November 1 to March 31 without adding to the time for payment of a bill an additional thirty (30) days before disconnecting that service, and it shall notify the residential customer before the normal disconnection date that the residential customer has such additional thirty (30) days until disconnection. ... 013.05(B). If a residential customer has been certified as eligible for low-income home energy assistance, has communicated such eligibility to the Utility, and has provided acceptable documentation of such eligibility to the Utility within a reasonable time, then no disconnection may take place from November 1 through March 31;

Title 291, Chapter 9, Natural Gas and Pipeline Rules and Regulations, effective June 23, 2025, Nebraska Public Service Commission, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Do this first

The step that switches the protection on in Nebraska

Nebraska 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 be certified eligible for low income home energy assistance, tell the gas utility, and give the utility acceptable documentation of that eligibility within a reasonable time.

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 Nebraska today

During the November 1 to March 31 cold weather period service is restored on payment of 25 percent of the outstanding balance plus the most recent bill, together with a payment plan of at least three monthly installments, and a physician, physician assistant or advanced practice registered nurse certificate of an immediate and serious health hazard postpones a shut off for at least 30 days.

Who takes the complaint: Nebraska Public Service Commission

Nebraska Public Service Commission, how to file

013.05(C). To have service restored during the cold weather period between November 1 and March 31, the following shall apply: 013.05(C)(i). A residential customer must pay 25% of the outstanding account balance in addition to the bill for the most recent billing period for which service was provided. The residential customer shall also enter a payment plan for the current outstanding balance and future consumption consisting of a minimum of three (3) monthly installments or longer as agreed between the residential customer and the Utility.

Nebraska 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 Nebraska rule cover your utility

The rule binds the utilities Nebraska 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 Nebraska answer to their own board or their own city council on this, not to Nebraska 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 natural gas service.

Help with the bill

Nebraska pays part of the heating bill through Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)

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. Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services runs it, opening October 1 and closing March 31. The income test is 150 percent of the federal poverty level.

LIHEAP helps low-income households stay safe and healthy by providing financial assistance to offset the costs of heating and cooling. ... Heating Assistance The heating season is from October 1st through March 31st. Payments are made one time per heating season to utility providers.

Low Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP), Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

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

Nebraska winter shutoff questions

Can a utility shut off heat in winter in Nebraska?

Does Nebraska have a winter shutoff moratorium with dates?

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

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

What can a household in Nebraska already shut off do?

During the November 1 to March 31 cold weather period service is restored on payment of 25 percent of the outstanding balance plus the most recent bill, together with a payment plan of at least three monthly installments, and a physician, physician assistant or advanced practice registered nurse certificate of an immediate and serious health hazard postpones a shut off for at least 30 days. Nebraska Public Service Commission publishes the path.

Who handles a winter disconnection dispute in Nebraska?

Is there help with the heating bill in Nebraska?

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

Nebraska heating assistanceNebraska'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.

Nebraska read September 23, 2026 from Title 291, Chapter 9, Natural Gas and Pipeline Rules and Regulations, effective June 23, 2025, Nebraska 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.