West Virginia protects heat by the forecast, not the calendar

Can They Shut Off Your Heat in Winter in West Virginia?

Q: Who handles a winter disconnection dispute in West Virginia?

Public Service Commission of West Virginia takes consumer complaints about regulated utilities, on 1-800-642-8544. Its own words: "If you do not hear from the utility within a reasonable amount of time or you are not satisfied with the utility's response, you may initiate an informal complaint with the Public Service Commission."

Q: Is there help with the heating bill in West Virginia?

West Virginia runs Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIEAP) through West Virginia Department of Human Services, Bureau for Family Assistance, Division of Family Assistance Policy. The heating assistance page for West Virginia covers the income test and the front door.

West Virginia protects a household by the thermometer rather than by the calendar: no regulated electric or gas utility may cut off service on a day the National Weather Service predicts 32 degrees or colder nearby, or on a Friday through Sunday or a holiday, while November 1 through March 31 is a Seasonal Time Period that forces three attempts at personal contact before any shutoff, and LIEAP opens for a short stretch each winter through county offices, Community Action sites and WV PATH.

Temperature trigger

What the rule runs on

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

32°F

The temperature bar

read off the forecast, not the calendar

Regulated only

Who the rule reaches

Not stated

Do nothing

The household must

it applies on its own inside the rule

The answer

What West Virginia requires of a utility in winter

Temperature trigger

At or below 32F

The Commission bars a utility from shutting off service on a day the National Weather Service predicts 32 degrees or colder near the service address, and separately defines November 1 through March 31 as a Seasonal Time Period that raises the notice and personal contact a utility must complete first without itself forbidding a disconnection.

What switches it on: West Virginia works off the forecast: the bar applies while the National Weather Service forecast is at or below 32F, and lapses when it is not.
Utilities named: electric and natural gas
Who it reaches: Public Service Commission of West Virginia 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. Inside the rule it applies on its own.

That is Public Service Commission of West Virginia speaking through its own rule, and the sentence below is the one the summary above was built from. The citation is Public Service Commission of West Virginia, W. Va. Code St. R. 150-3-4.8 (Government of Electric Utilities, effective 7/11/2018) and 150-4-4.8 (Government of Gas Utilities and Gas Pipeline Safety, effective 7/11/2018).

4.8.2.b.9. Service shall not be discontinued on a day: 4.8.2.b.9.A. on which the utility or its designated agent is unable to accept payment and to negotiate a deferred payment agreement; 4.8.2.b.9.B. preceding a day on which the utility or its designated agent is unable to accept payment and to negotiate a deferred payment agreement; 4.8.2.b.9.C. that the National Weather Service predicts the temperature to be thirty-two (32) degrees or colder at or near the customer's service location. 4.8.2.b.9.D. that is a Friday, Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday.

150-03 Government of Electric Utilities, Public Service Commission, West Virginia Code of State Rules, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Already off, or a notice has come

Who to call in West Virginia today

A household already shut off is reconnected once it pays at least half the delinquency plus any tariff deposit and signs a deferred payment agreement spreading the rest over six months, and service must be restored within eight hours of payment.

Who takes the complaint: Public Service Commission of West Virginia
By phone: 1-800-642-8544

Public Service Commission of West Virginia, how to file

If a customer fails to respond to a termination notice and the utility terminates service, the utility is not required to reconnect that customer unless the customer (i) pays up-front a minimum of one-half of the total delinquency or other amount ordered by the Commission, (ii) pays the deposit as provided in the utility tariff, and (iii) enters into a deferred payment agreement under which the remaining balance of the unpaid bills, plus a two (2) percent service fee on the remaining balance, is paid over six months.

Public Service Commission of West Virginia, 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 West Virginia rule cover your utility

Public Service Commission of West Virginia 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 West Virginia answer to their own board or their own city council on this, not to Public Service Commission of West Virginia. 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

West Virginia pays part of the heating bill through Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIEAP)

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. West Virginia Department of Human Services, Bureau for Family Assistance, Division of Family Assistance Policy runs it. The income test is countable monthly household income at or below the LIEAP guideline for the household size published by the Bureau for Family Assistance for the current fiscal year.

LIEAP assists eligible households with the cost of home heating through direct cash payments or payments to utility companies on their behalf. A crisis component is available for households without resources facing the loss of a heating source. Eligibility for both program components is based on a combination of factors, including income, type of heating payment, and total heating costs. The BFA Division of Family Assistance Policy (DFAP) operates LIEAP in each of the West Virginia Department of Human Services (DoHS) field offices for a short time each winter, usually beginning with a mail-out to targeted households.

Utility Assistance/LIEAP, West Virginia Bureau for Family Assistance, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

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

West Virginia winter shutoff questions

Can a utility shut off heat in winter in West Virginia?

West Virginia works off the forecast: the bar applies while the National Weather Service forecast is at or below 32F, and lapses when it is not. The Commission bars a utility from shutting off service on a day the National Weather Service predicts 32 degrees or colder near the service address, and separately defines November 1 through March 31 as a Seasonal Time Period that raises the notice and personal contact a utility must complete first without itself forbidding a disconnection.

Does West Virginia 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 32F. Public Service Commission of West Virginia, W. Va. Code St. R. 150-3-4.8 (Government of Electric Utilities, effective 7/11/2018) and 150-4-4.8 (Government of Gas Utilities and Gas Pipeline Safety, effective 7/11/2018) is the rule behind it.

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

What can a household in West Virginia already shut off do?

Who handles a winter disconnection dispute in West Virginia?

Is there help with the heating bill in West Virginia?

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

West Virginia heating assistanceWest Virginia'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.

West Virginia read September 23, 2026 from 150-03 Government of Electric Utilities, Public Service Commission, West Virginia Code of State 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.