Ohio Winter Utility Shutoff Rules

Q: Who handles a winter disconnection dispute in Ohio?

Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, PUCO Call Center takes consumer complaints about regulated utilities, on (800) 686-7826. Its own words: "Complete this form to begin an informal complaint with the PUCO Call Center, or file a comment regarding a pending PUCO proceeding."

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

Ohio runs Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) through Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, with applications opening Jul 1. The heating assistance page for Ohio 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 Apr 15

The winter window

November 1 through April 15

Regulated only

Who the rule reaches

Regulated utilities only

Act first

The household must

the protection is not automatic

The answer

What Ohio requires of a utility in winter

Protection filed for

Once the household files, Nov 1 to Apr 15

Ohio sets no blanket winter shutoff ban, and instead defines a winter heating season of November 1 through April 15 in which a regulated electric or gas utility must offer a one third payment plan, alongside a Special Reconnect Order the Commission issues each year that lets any residential customer, at any income, restore or keep service once per season by paying no more than 175 dollars plus a reconnection charge capped at 36 dollars.

What switches it on: Ohio's protection is filed for rather than automatic, so a household that has not filed is not covered inside the season.
Utilities named: electric and natural gas
Who it reaches: The rule binds the utilities Public Utilities Commission of Ohio 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 happens on its own: the household has to contact its utility and ask to use the Special Reconnect Order, pay up to 175 dollars plus a reconnection charge of no more than 36 dollars, and go onto an extended payment plan for whatever is still owed, or else ask for the winter one third payment plan.

That is Public Utilities Commission of Ohio speaking through its own rule, and the sentence below is the one the summary above was built from. The citation is Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Ohio Admin. Code 4901:1-18-01(V) and 4901:1-18-05(B)(3); the Special Reconnect Order is issued annually by the Commission.

The Special Reconnect Order has been issued by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) on an annual basis. The order allows residential customers who are disconnected or are threatened with disconnection to pay a maximum amount of $175 to have their service restored or maintained.

Special Reconnect Order: Maintain electric and natural gas service, Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Do this first

The step that switches the protection on in Ohio

Ohio 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 happens on its own: the household has to contact its utility and ask to use the Special Reconnect Order, pay up to 175 dollars plus a reconnection charge of no more than 36 dollars, and go onto an extended payment plan for whatever is still owed, or else ask for the winter one third payment plan.

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 Ohio today

A household already shut off gets service back under the Special Reconnect Order by calling the utility, paying up to 175 dollars plus a reconnection charge of no more than 36 dollars, and enrolling in an extended payment plan, and it may use the order once per heating season per utility.

Who takes the complaint: Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, PUCO Call Center
By phone: (800) 686-7826

Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, PUCO Call Center, how to file

Regardless of how much a consumer may owe a utility, if they make the $175 payment, plus a reconnection fee of no more than $36, the utility must restore or maintain their service. Customers who utilize the Special Reconnect Order are required to enroll on an extended payment plan.

Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, 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 Ohio rule cover your utility

The rule binds the utilities Public Utilities Commission of Ohio 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 Ohio answer to their own board or their own city council on this, not to Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. 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

Ohio pays part of the heating bill through Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP)

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. Ohio Department of Job and Family Services runs it, opening July 1 and closing May 31. The income test is 175 percent of the federal poverty guidelines for households of eight or fewer, and 60 percent of state median income for households of nine or more.

The Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) is a federally funded program that provides eligible Ohioans assistance with their home energy bills. This one-time benefit is applied directly to the customer's utility bill or bulk fuel bill.

Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP), Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

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

Ohio winter shutoff questions

Can a utility shut off heat in winter in Ohio?

Ohio's protection is filed for rather than automatic, so a household that has not filed is not covered inside the season. Ohio sets no blanket winter shutoff ban, and instead defines a winter heating season of November 1 through April 15 in which a regulated electric or gas utility must offer a one third payment plan, alongside a Special Reconnect Order the Commission issues each year that lets any residential customer, at any income, restore or keep service once per season by paying no more than 175 dollars plus a reconnection charge capped at 36 dollars.

Does Ohio 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 Apr 15. Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Ohio Admin. Code 4901:1-18-01(V) and 4901:1-18-05(B)(3); the Special Reconnect Order is issued annually by the Commission is the rule behind it.

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

Nothing happens on its own: the household has to contact its utility and ask to use the Special Reconnect Order, pay up to 175 dollars plus a reconnection charge of no more than 36 dollars, and go onto an extended payment plan for whatever is still owed, or else ask for the winter one third payment plan. A household that does nothing is outside the protection even during the season, which is what separates Ohio from the states whose rule runs on the calendar alone.

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

What can a household in Ohio already shut off do?

Who handles a winter disconnection dispute in Ohio?

Is there help with the heating bill in Ohio?

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

Ohio heating assistanceOhio'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.

Ohio read September 23, 2026 from Special Reconnect Order: Maintain electric and natural gas service, Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, 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.