North Dakota sets no winter window, and has other rules that hold

Can They Shut Off Your Heat in Winter in North Dakota?

Q: Does North Dakota have a winter shutoff moratorium with dates?

Not in the form the question usually assumes. The state sets no winter specific rule. What a household has instead is the payment plan rule and the commission complaint line. The short form of it is: No winter window. North Dakota Public Service Commission, N.D. Admin. Code 69-09-01-18 (natural gas service) and 69-09-02-05.1 (electric service) is the rule behind it.

Q: Is there help with the heating bill in North Dakota?

North Dakota runs Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program through North Dakota Health and Human Services. The heating assistance page for North Dakota covers the income test and the front door.

North Dakota has no winter shutoff season at all: the Commission says in so many words that its rules do not prohibit a disconnection in winter, so what stands between a household and a cold house is the 10 day notice, the 30 day postponement for age, disability or a dangerous health condition, a payment plan, and an energy assistance program that now runs year round.

No winter rule

What the rule runs on

nobody by season; the protections that exist are the year round ones

None

Dates published

North Dakota sets no winter window

Regulated only

Who the rule reaches

Regulated utilities only

Do nothing

The household must

it applies on its own inside the rule

The answer

What North Dakota requires of a utility in winter

No winter rule

No winter window

North Dakota sets no winter shutoff season: Commission rules say plainly that they do not prohibit disconnection during the winter months so long as the other protections are followed, and what a household has instead is 10 days written notice, a postponement of up to 30 days on dangerous health conditions or age 65 or a disability, advance registration for the same reasons, and a right to a payment plan.

What switches it on: North Dakota sets no winter specific bar on disconnection, which makes the payment plan rule and North Dakota Public Service Commission's complaint line the protections that exist.
Utilities named: electric and natural gas
Who it reaches: The rule binds the utilities North Dakota 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. Inside the rule it applies on its own.

That is North Dakota Public Service Commission speaking through its own rule, and the sentence below is the one the summary above was built from. The citation is North Dakota Public Service Commission, N.D. Admin. Code 69-09-01-18 (natural gas service) and 69-09-02-05.1 (electric service).

DO NOT PROHIBIT disconnect during winter months, as long as the other protections are followed.

Protection from Electric and Natural Gas Disconnections, North Dakota Public Service Commission, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Already off, or a notice has come

Who to call in North Dakota today

A household shut off for nonpayment has to pay a reconnection fee set in the utility's rate schedule, a deposit if the old one went toward the unpaid bill, and a satisfactory settlement of the delinquent bill plus the service used since the last meter reading.

Who takes the complaint: North Dakota Public Service Commission
By phone: 701-328-2400

North Dakota Public Service Commission, how to file

If your service is disconnected for nonpayment of a bill, you must pay the following in order to reconnect service: A reconnection fee, as established in the utility's rate schedules; A deposit, if all or part of the previous deposit was used in settlement of the delinquent bill; A satisfactory settlement for the delinquent bill and for service rendered between the last meter reading date and the date service was disconnected.

North Dakota 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 North Dakota rule cover your utility

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

North Dakota 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. North Dakota Health and Human Services runs it. The income test is at or below 60 percent of North Dakota's median income, within the published table for the household size.

LIHEAP applications are accepted year-round. Heating benefits will now be issued year-round. LIHEAP benefits are no longer tied to the traditional heating season of Oct. 1 - May 31. Instead of benefits ending on May 31, assistance will continue until the household's review date at which time continued eligibility will be redetermined.

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), North Dakota Health and Human Services, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

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

North Dakota winter shutoff questions

Can a utility shut off heat in winter in North Dakota?

North Dakota sets no winter specific bar on disconnection, which makes the payment plan rule and North Dakota Public Service Commission's complaint line the protections that exist. North Dakota sets no winter shutoff season: Commission rules say plainly that they do not prohibit disconnection during the winter months so long as the other protections are followed, and what a household has instead is 10 days written notice, a postponement of up to 30 days on dangerous health conditions or age 65 or a disability, advance registration for the same reasons, and a right to a payment plan.

Does North Dakota have a winter shutoff moratorium with dates?

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

What can a household in North Dakota already shut off do?

Who handles a winter disconnection dispute in North Dakota?

North Dakota Public Service Commission takes consumer complaints about regulated utilities, on 701-328-2400. Its own words: "If you have a complaint about mining activities, utility services, weights and measures, or any of the other areas regulated by the Public Service Commission (PSC), you should first take the issue up with the company involved. If the problem is not resolved, you can file an informal complaint with the PSC by calling 701-328-2400 or by sending us a letter or e-mail with the complaint details."

Is there help with the heating bill in North Dakota?

A cast-iron steam radiator under a window in a room with wooden floorboards — Where it ends up. Delivered fuels, including the oil and the propane that feed a great many radiators like this one, sit outside almost every state moratorium, because the rules reach regulated utilities and a fuel dealer is not one. “Steam Radiator”, sunfishtommy, CC BY-SA 3.0

Winter shutoff rules in other states

North Dakota heating assistanceNorth Dakota'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.

North Dakota read September 23, 2026 from Protection from Electric and Natural Gas Disconnections, North Dakota 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.