New Mexico Winter Utility Shutoff Rules

Q: Does New Mexico 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 15 to Mar 15. New Mexico Public Regulation Commission, 17.5.410.30 NMAC is the rule behind it.

Q: Who handles a winter disconnection dispute in New Mexico?

New Mexico Public Regulation Commission takes consumer complaints about regulated utilities, on 1-888-427-5772. Its own words: "If the situation cannot be resolved, please submit an Informal Complaint so we may mediate on your behalf with the company to provide assistance."

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

New Mexico runs Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) through New Mexico Health Care Authority, Income Support Division. The heating assistance page for New Mexico 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 15 to Mar 15

The winter window

November 15 through March 15

Regulated only

Who the rule reaches

Regulated utilities only

Act first

The household must

the protection is not automatic

The answer

What New Mexico requires of a utility in winter

Protection filed for

Once the household files, Nov 15 to Mar 15

During the heating season of November 15 through March 15 a regulated gas, electric or rural electric cooperative utility may not shut off a residence for nonpayment once it has notice that the household qualifies for LIHEAP and the household is current.

What switches it on: New Mexico's protection is filed for rather than automatic, so a household that has not filed is not covered inside the season.
Utilities named: electric, natural gas and rural electric cooperative
Who it reaches: The rule binds the utilities New Mexico Public Regulation 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 utility has to receive notice that the household meets the qualifications of LIHEAP for the current heating season, and the household has to have no past due charges on November 15 or stay current on a settlement or installment agreement covering what was owed then.

That is New Mexico Public Regulation Commission speaking through its own rule, and the sentence below is the one the summary above was built from. The citation is New Mexico Public Regulation Commission, 17.5.410.30 NMAC.

17.5.410.30 WINTER MORATORIUM PROTECTIONS: A. Unless requested by the residential customer, no utility shall discontinue or disconnect service to a residential customer during heating season for nonpayment of the residential customer's utility bill if the utility receives notice that the residential customer meets the qualifications of LIHEAP as determined by the administering authority for the current heating season and: (1) the residential customer has no past due charges on November 15 of the current heating season; or (2) the residential customer has a settlement agreement or an installment agreement with the utility for amounts other than those owing from the prior heating season, and the residential customer continues to make the agreed-upon payments under the settlement or installment agreement.

17.5.410 NMAC, Residential Customer Service by Gas, Electric and Rural Electric Cooperative Utilities, New Mexico Public Regulation Commission, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Do this first

The step that switches the protection on in New Mexico

New Mexico 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 utility has to receive notice that the household meets the qualifications of LIHEAP for the current heating season, and the household has to have no past due charges on November 15 or stay current on a settlement or installment agreement covering what was owed then.

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 Mexico today

A household already shut off during the heating season gets service back no later than the next working day once the utility receives proof of LIHEAP qualification and the payment conditions are met, and a reconnection fee may not be required up front; a signed medical certification form together with a financial certification form is separately a bar to shutoff for nonpayment.

Who takes the complaint: New Mexico Public Regulation Commission
By phone: 1-888-427-5772

New Mexico Public Regulation Commission, how to file

C. Any residential customer that has had services disconnected or discontinued during the current winter heating season for whom the utility receives, subsequent to the disconnection or discontinuance of service, a proof of qualification issued by the administering authority and has met the payment requirements of Subsection A of 17.5.410.30 NMAC, shall have service reconnected as soon as reasonable but not later than the next working day if otherwise qualified for protection. Immediate payment of a reconnection fee, if any, shall not be a prerequisite to such reconnection.

New Mexico Public Regulation 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 New Mexico rule cover your utility

The rule binds the utilities New Mexico Public Regulation 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 New Mexico answer to their own board or their own city council on this, not to New Mexico Public Regulation 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, natural gas and rural electric cooperative service.

Help with the bill

New Mexico 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. New Mexico Health Care Authority, Income Support Division runs it. The income test is .

LIHEAP assists eligible persons and families with their heating and cooling costs.

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, New Mexico Health Care Authority, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

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

New Mexico winter shutoff questions

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

Does New Mexico have a winter shutoff moratorium with dates?

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

The utility has to receive notice that the household meets the qualifications of LIHEAP for the current heating season, and the household has to have no past due charges on November 15 or stay current on a settlement or installment agreement covering what was owed then. A household that does nothing is outside the protection even during the season, which is what separates New Mexico from the states whose rule runs on the calendar alone.

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

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

A household already shut off during the heating season gets service back no later than the next working day once the utility receives proof of LIHEAP qualification and the payment conditions are met, and a reconnection fee may not be required up front; a signed medical certification form together with a financial certification form is separately a bar to shutoff for nonpayment. New Mexico Public Regulation Commission publishes the path.

Who handles a winter disconnection dispute in New Mexico?

Is there help with the heating bill in New Mexico?

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 Mexico heating assistanceNew Mexico'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 Mexico read September 23, 2026 from 17.5.410 NMAC, Residential Customer Service by Gas, Electric and Rural Electric Cooperative Utilities, New Mexico Public Regulation 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.