New Jersey’s Department of Community Affairs bars electric, water and sewer shutoffs by local authorities, municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives from November 15 through March 15 for households that show they are on HEAP, SSI or Lifeline, among other programs, and those vendors cannot demand a security deposit from an eligible household seeking protection. The protection is conditional: a household has to demonstrate it qualifies when a shutoff is threatened.
It is also a pause, not forgiveness. Bills left unpaid during the winter are still owed, and service can be cut after March 15.
Who is covered, and by which utilities
The state’s Winter Termination Program page says the Department of Community Affairs created the program to prevent service discontinuation for eligible residential customers who receive electric, sewer and water service from a local authority, municipal utility or rural electric cooperative. Service cannot be disconnected from November 15th through March 15th to customers who demonstrate, at the time of the intended termination, that they fall into one of the listed groups.
The list is long. It covers households receiving HEAP, the Home Energy Assistance Program, or certified eligible under Department of Human Services standards, and those receiving TANF, federal SSI, PAAD, General Assistance, the Universal Service Fund, the Low-income Household Water Assistance Program or the Lifeline Credit Program. PAAD is the Pharmaceutical Assistance to the Aged and Disabled program.
Two more categories are not tied to a program. One is inability to pay because of circumstances beyond the customer’s control, such as unemployment, illness, medical expenses or the recent death of an immediate family member. The other is participation in any other state or local bill-assistance program.
The page states no income test and no age requirement. It names programs and hardship situations, and it describes no separate enrollment process for the winter protection itself.
What a household has to do to be protected
The working question for a household facing a shutoff notice is what proof the utility needs. A letter from the Department of Community Affairs to vendors, signed by Commissioner Jacquelyn A. Suarez and posted as the official program letter, says protection can be obtained by verbally advising the utility or by submitting a Self-Certification form.
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The same letter requires vendors to post a notice on their websites with a program summary, eligibility requirements, a phone number, email and mailing address for customers to communicate eligibility, and links to the state’s program page and the self-certification form. A household that gets a shutoff warning from one of these vendors can look for that notice first.
The state’s page lists a self-certification form in Spanish and links several documents: a program flyer, the vendor sample letter, a complaint process and the regulations. The complaint process document is on the same page.
The letter also says vendors must restore service during the period if a customer applies for utility bill payment assistance under N.J.S.A. 40A:5A-29.b(3). That requirement applies while the program is running.
No deposit, but the bills still come due
The deposit rule is the part many households do not know about. During the protection period, a vendor may not request a security deposit, or an increase to an existing deposit, from an eligible customer seeking protection. That rule applies to the electric, sewer and water vendors the program covers.
The program is not a free pass. The letter asks customers to make good-faith payments during the period if able, notes that bills left unpaid are still owed and may lead to disconnection after the period ends, and tells customers to forward any electric, water or wastewater financial assistance they receive to the vendor.
Customers in arrears are pointed to DCAid, the state’s eligibility screener, and to 2-1-1. DCAid lists the Universal Service Fund and Home Energy Assistance, labeled LIHEAP, and gives a Utility Assistance Program number of 1-800-510-3102. Because HEAP and USF are on the qualifying list, an application through those programs can also be the proof the winter protection asks for.
The Board of Public Utilities has its own summary
The Department of Community Affairs program is written for service from local authorities, municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives. The Board of Public Utilities carries its own summary in its customer rights page, revised March 16, 2023. It also gives November 15 to March 15 and says a customer “must notify your utility company of your eligibility under this protection.”
That page does not define eligibility, and it points to the state’s rules at N.J.A.C. 14:3 for the full criteria. It lists 1-800-624-0241 for the BPU Division of Customer Assistance and 2-1-1 for utility payment assistance programs. A household unsure which page applies to its utility can call either number and ask.
The common thread on both pages is notification. The protection exists on paper from November 15, but the utility acts on it when it hears that a household is covered. Telling the utility before a shutoff date, is the step the state’s own documents describe.
The window also shapes the bill. March 15 is the date the protection ends, not the date the account resets. A household that has been paying nothing through the winter faces the accumulated balance in the spring, which is why the state asks for good-faith payments and for assistance to be forwarded to the vendor.
Are you enrolled in time for November 15?
The winter protection reaches a household only when the household is in a listed program or can show hardship, and the utility has been told. A household that waits until the shutoff notice arrives has little room to find the paperwork, and the arrears left from the winter come due after March 15.
The Senior Property Tax & Home-Cost Relief Kit is a 64-page guide that covers heating, cooling and home-repair help for older homeowners. It includes a shutoff protection checklist and the program enrollment steps, so a household can see which assistance programs lead to winter shutoff protection.
Get the shutoff protection checklist and program enrollment steps →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
