New Hampshire Winter Utility Shutoff Rules

Q: Is there help with the heating bill in New Hampshire?

New Hampshire runs Fuel Assistance Program (FAP) through New Hampshire Department of Energy, delivered under contract by local Community Action Agencies. The heating assistance page for New Hampshire covers the income test and the front door.

Calendar window

What the rule runs on

every residential account the rule covers, for as long as the window is open

Nov 15 to Mar 31

The winter window

November 15 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 New Hampshire requires of a utility in winter

Calendar window

November 15 to March 31

During the winter period of November 15 through March 31 a gas or electric utility cannot send a residential disconnection notice until the arrearage passes a set dollar floor, cannot disconnect for an unpaid deposit, must get Department of Energy approval before shutting off a customer known to be 65 or older or one it could not reach in person, and the Department cannot approve a shutoff of a household in financial hardship that has made a good faith effort to pay.

What switches it on: New Hampshire Department of Energy's rule runs from November 15 to March 31 and applies inside those dates on its own, without the household filing anything.
Utilities named: electric and natural gas
Who it reaches: The rule binds the utilities New Hampshire Department of Energy 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: A household claiming financial hardship must give the utility evidence of that hardship once a year, and the winter payment arrangement terms then apply.

That is New Hampshire Department of Energy speaking through its own rule, and the sentence below is the one the summary above was built from. The citation is New Hampshire Department of Energy, N.H. Code Admin. R. En 1202.20 and En 1204 (Document #13986, effective 5-30-24).

"Winter period" means the period beginning November 15th and extending up to and including March 31st.

Chapter En 1200, Uniform Administration of Utility Customer Relations, New Hampshire Department of Energy (NH General Court administrative rules), read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Do this first

The step that switches the protection on in New Hampshire

New Hampshire 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.

A household claiming financial hardship must give the utility evidence of that hardship once a year, and the winter payment arrangement terms then apply.

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 New Hampshire today

A utility must write by November 7 to every customer it cut off for nonpayment between April 15 and October 15 whose account is still inactive on November 1, telling them to call to have service restored, and must offer a payment arrangement under which 10 percent of the outstanding balance is enough to restore service once the household shows a financial hardship.

Who takes the complaint: New Hampshire Department of Energy, Consumer Services Division
By phone: 1-800-852-3793

New Hampshire Department of Energy, Consumer Services Division, how to file

Under which 10% of the outstanding balance shall be sufficient to restore service when the customer provides evidence that a financial hardship exists.

New Hampshire Department of Energy, 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 New Hampshire rule cover your utility

The rule binds the utilities New Hampshire Department of Energy 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 New Hampshire answer to their own board or their own city council on this, not to New Hampshire Department of Energy. 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

New Hampshire pays part of the heating bill through Fuel Assistance Program (FAP)

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. New Hampshire Department of Energy, delivered under contract by local Community Action Agencies runs it. The income test is Gross household income at or below 60 percent of the New Hampshire state median income, with the applicant's primary residence in New Hampshire..

The Fuel Assistance Program is New Hampshire's arm of the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) which is funded through the US Department of Health and Human Services. While the Department of Energy administers the program, the on-the-ground work is done by local Community Action Agencies with whom the Department contracts.

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

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

New Hampshire winter shutoff questions

Can a utility shut off heat in winter in New Hampshire?

New Hampshire Department of Energy's rule runs from November 15 to March 31 and applies inside those dates on its own, without the household filing anything. During the winter period of November 15 through March 31 a gas or electric utility cannot send a residential disconnection notice until the arrearage passes a set dollar floor, cannot disconnect for an unpaid deposit, must get Department of Energy approval before shutting off a customer known to be 65 or older or one it could not reach in person, and the Department cannot approve a shutoff of a household in financial hardship that has made a good faith effort to pay.

When does New Hampshire's winter shutoff moratorium start and end?

New Hampshire Department of Energy sets the window from November 15 to March 31. New Hampshire Department of Energy, N.H. Code Admin. R. En 1202.20 and En 1204 (Document #13986, effective 5-30-24) is the rule it comes from, and Chapter En 1200, Uniform Administration of Utility Customer Relations, New Hampshire Department of Energy (NH General Court administrative rules) is the document it is printed in.

What does a household in New Hampshire have to do to be covered?

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

What can a household in New Hampshire already shut off do?

A utility must write by November 7 to every customer it cut off for nonpayment between April 15 and October 15 whose account is still inactive on November 1, telling them to call to have service restored, and must offer a payment arrangement under which 10 percent of the outstanding balance is enough to restore service once the household shows a financial hardship. New Hampshire Department of Energy publishes the path.

Who handles a winter disconnection dispute in New Hampshire?

Is there help with the heating bill in New Hampshire?

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

New Hampshire heating assistanceNew Hampshire'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.

New Hampshire read September 23, 2026 from Chapter En 1200, Uniform Administration of Utility Customer Relations, New Hampshire Department of Energy (NH General Court administrative rules), 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.