Vermont Winter Utility Shutoff Rules

Q: Does Vermont have a winter shutoff moratorium with dates?

Not in the form the question usually assumes. There is no season. The protection turns on when the forecast crosses a stated temperature and lapses when the forecast passes. The short form of it is: At or below 10F, Nov 1 to Mar 31. Vermont Public Utility Commission, Vermont Public Utility Commission Rule 3.304 (effective 10/04/2024) is the rule behind it.

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

Vermont runs Seasonal Fuel Assistance through Vermont Department for Children and Families, Economic Services Division. The heating assistance page for Vermont covers the income test and the front door.

Temperature trigger

What the rule runs on

every residential account the rule covers, on the days the forecast qualifies and not on the others

Nov 1 to Mar 31

The winter window

November 1 through March 31

Regulated only

Who the rule reaches

Not stated

Act first

The household must

the protection is not automatic

The answer

What Vermont requires of a utility in winter

Temperature trigger

At or below 10F, Nov 1 to Mar 31

Between November 1 and March 31 a Vermont gas or electric utility may not disconnect a residential customer without extra oral and electronic contact attempts, a report to the Department of Public Service when it cannot reach the customer, and a forecast check that bars any shutoff when temperatures are predicted to fall below 10 degrees Fahrenheit, or below 32 degrees Fahrenheit for a household with a member 62 or older.

What switches it on: Vermont works off the forecast: the bar applies while the National Weather Service forecast is at or below 10F, and lapses when it is not.
Utilities named: natural gas and electric
Who it reaches: Vermont Public Utility Commission does not state on the page the rule was read from whether municipal systems and cooperatives fall under the rule.
What the household must do: Nothing is required for the 10 degree rule, but the 32 degree rule for a household with a member 62 or older applies only if the account holder gives the utility advance written notice and, if asked, reasonable proof.

That is Vermont Public Utility Commission speaking through its own rule, and the sentence below is the one the summary above was built from. The citation is Vermont Public Utility Commission, Vermont Public Utility Commission Rule 3.304 (effective 10/04/2024).

Prior to disconnection during the winter period, the utility must confirm that outdoor temperatures, as predicted by a current National Weather Service (phone 802-862-2475 or on the internet at https://www.weather.gov/btv/) forecast for the Burlington, Vermont, area, or by another weather service approved by the Public Utility Commission, will not drop below 10 degrees Fahrenheit during a 48-hour period beginning between 7 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. on the anticipated date of disconnection.

Rule 3.300, Disconnection of Residential Gas, Electric, and Water Service, Vermont Public Utility Commission, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Do this first

The step that switches the protection on in Vermont

Vermont 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 is required for the 10 degree rule, but the 32 degree rule for a household with a member 62 or older applies only if the account holder gives the utility advance written notice and, if asked, reasonable proof.

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 Vermont today

A utility must restore service within 24 hours once the cause is removed or the dispute is settled, must restore it when the customer pays half the delinquent bill or a smaller negotiated amount and enters a repayment plan of at least three months, and must reconnect within 24 hours on a physician's certificate that a household member faces an immediate and serious health hazard.

Who takes the complaint: Vermont Department of Public Service, Consumer Affairs and Public Information Division
By phone: 800-622-4496

Vermont Department of Public Service, Consumer Affairs and Public Information Division, how to file

The company must restore service if the disconnected customer pays one-half of the delinquent bill, or a lesser negotiated amount, before restoration and enters into a repayment plan to pay the balance over a minimum period of three months, except that the utility is not obligated to enter into more than two plans of this type with a particular customer within a calendar year.

Vermont Public Utility 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 Vermont rule cover your utility

Vermont Public Utility Commission does not state on the page the rule was read from whether municipal systems and cooperatives fall under the rule.

That means a rural electric cooperative and a municipal light or gas department in Vermont answer to their own board or their own city council on this, not to Vermont Public Utility 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 and electric service.

Help with the bill

Vermont pays part of the heating bill through Seasonal Fuel Assistance

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. Vermont Department for Children and Families, Economic Services Division runs it. The income test is Gross household income at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty level, by household size..

Helps pay part of your home heating bills — whether you own your home or rent, pay for heat directly or as part of rent.

Fuel Assistance, Vermont Department for Children and Families, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

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

Vermont winter shutoff questions

Can a utility shut off heat in winter in Vermont?

Vermont works off the forecast: the bar applies while the National Weather Service forecast is at or below 10F, and lapses when it is not. Between November 1 and March 31 a Vermont gas or electric utility may not disconnect a residential customer without extra oral and electronic contact attempts, a report to the Department of Public Service when it cannot reach the customer, and a forecast check that bars any shutoff when temperatures are predicted to fall below 10 degrees Fahrenheit, or below 32 degrees Fahrenheit for a household with a member 62 or older.

Does Vermont have a winter shutoff moratorium with dates?

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

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

What can a household in Vermont already shut off do?

A utility must restore service within 24 hours once the cause is removed or the dispute is settled, must restore it when the customer pays half the delinquent bill or a smaller negotiated amount and enters a repayment plan of at least three months, and must reconnect within 24 hours on a physician's certificate that a household member faces an immediate and serious health hazard. Vermont Public Utility Commission publishes the path.

Who handles a winter disconnection dispute in Vermont?

Vermont Department of Public Service, Consumer Affairs and Public Information Division takes consumer complaints about regulated utilities, on 800-622-4496. Its own words: "The Consumer Affairs & Public Information (CAPI) Division advocates for policies that protect consumer interests, educates consumers about utility issues, and helps people and businesses reach an informal resolution of their disputes with regulated utilities."

Is there help with the heating bill in Vermont?

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

Vermont heating assistanceVermont'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.

Vermont read September 23, 2026 from Rule 3.300, Disconnection of Residential Gas, Electric, and Water Service, Vermont Public Utility 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.