Ohio gas and electric customers who fall behind on a bill between Nov. 1 and April 15 get extra protection before a utility can shut them off for nonpayment. The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) requires a second warning at least 10 days before the disconnection date, and the utility must offer a payment plan that spreads the overdue balance into one-third installments each month. The rules also give households with a serious health risk a medical certificate that holds off a shutoff for 30 days at a time.
Ohio does not ban winter shutoffs outright, and the rules contain no age-based shield for customers 65 or older. What they do is add steps the utility must complete first. Each step buys a household time, and each one only works if the customer responds.
The extra 10-day warning, in the commission’s own words
The winter step sits in PUCO’s disconnection rule, Ohio Administrative Code 4901:1-18-06. For any shutoff date that falls from November first through April fifteenth, the utility must reach the customer or another adult at the home 10 days ahead, by personal contact, phone or a hand-delivered written notice. Regular mail is allowed, but it has to allow three calendar days for delivery.
The Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, the state office that represents residential customers, summarizes the result as an additional 10-day notice on top of the 14 days’ notice a utility must give before disconnecting for an unpaid bill. A letter that arrives in mid-January therefore does not mean the meter will be shut off the next week.
The notice has to carry more than a date. The rule requires the utility to tell the customer that federal, state and local aid for utility bills and home weatherization exists, with enough information to pursue it. It must also state the customer’s right to a payment plan or to enroll in the Percentage of Income Payment Plan Plus, known as PIPP Plus.
Retirement deadlines, in your inbox: Miss an enrollment or claim deadline and the money can be gone. Join the Retirement Money Brief and we’ll send you our Property Tax & Utility Relief Finder as a welcome gift.
Get the Brief + the relief finder →
We may earn a commission from links on this page.
What the one-third plan costs each month
The plans are set out in the commission’s payment plan rule, 4901:1-18-05. During the heating season, a utility must offer the one-third winter heating plan to customers who are not already on a plan, covering bills for usage from November first to April fifteenth. The customer pays one-third of the balance due each month, counting the past-due amount and the current bill.
That is a steep catch-up. A household that owes $900 across past-due and current charges would owe $300 in the first month, and the balance is recalculated as new bills arrive. The rule also lists a one-sixth plan, with six equal payments on the past-due amount plus the full current bill, and a one-ninth plan, with nine payments plus a budget billing amount for projected monthly use.
A household that cannot manage any of those can ask for PIPP Plus, the income-based plan. According to the Consumers’ Counsel, it is a year-round arrangement for households at or below 175 percent of the federal income guidelines. For a retiree on Social Security alone, that threshold is the number to check first.
Missing the first payment has consequences. Under the rule, if a customer refuses a plan, does not respond, or misses the initial payment, the utility may disconnect service once the 10-day notice runs out. Utilities also cannot charge late fees to a customer who is current on a plan.
Who has to act before the 10 days run out
Anyone behind on a heating bill who gets a disconnection notice this winter has a short list of things to do. The call goes to the utility named on the notice, not to a third party, and the answer to give is a plan: the one-third plan if the budget can take it, the one-sixth or one-ninth plan if it cannot, or PIPP Plus for a lower-income household. Agreeing and then missing the first payment returns the account to the shutoff track.
The commission can be reached at 1-800-686-7826, the number listed on the Consumers’ Counsel’s reconnect page, for complaints about a utility that skips a required step. Callers should have the notice in hand, because the dates on it show whether the utility gave the full warning period.
Medical certificates and the 90-day cap
The rule protects a household where disconnection would be especially dangerous to the health of a permanent resident, or where it would make medical or life-supporting equipment impossible or impractical to use. A licensed physician, physician assistant, clinical nurse specialist, nurse practitioner, certified nurse-midwife or local board of health physician can certify. The statement must name the patient, the certifying provider and the need.
A certificate can be given by phone first, as long as written proof reaches the utility within seven calendar days. Each one stops a shutoff for 30 calendar days. A household can renew twice more, but the total cannot pass 90 days in any 12-month period, per the same rule.
The certificate is not a pass on the bill. The customer has to enter an extended payment plan before the certification period ends, though the first payment is not due until the period is over. If service was cut within the previous 21 days, the utility must restore it once the certificate arrives and the customer agrees to the plan; one that arrives before 3:30 p.m. is restored the same day.
The Consumers’ Counsel adds that a medical certificate can be used up to three times each for electric and for natural gas service in a 12-month period, a count that applies separately to each fuel.
When service is already off
Ohio’s separate Special Reconnect Order covers customers already cut off or about to be. Per the Consumers’ Counsel, it runs from Oct. 12, 2026 through April 16, 2027 and lets electric and natural gas customers of PUCO-regulated utilities pay $175 to keep or restore service, even when the balance is higher. The upfront reconnection fee is capped at $36, and there is no income limit.
The disconnection-notice rules and the reconnect order work in sequence. The notice rules slow the shutoff down; the $175 payment is the fallback if the meter is already off. A separate Winter Crisis Program, running November 1 through March 31, includes a 30-day disconnection hold that can be used once a year.
Utilities may disconnect only during normal business hours, and not after 12:30 p.m. on the day before a day when reconnection services are not regularly performed. In practice, a household that learns of a shutoff on a Friday afternoon should call the utility at once, not wait for Monday.
Behind on a heating bill in Ohio?
The 10-day warning is the only stretch of the winter when a late bill can still be negotiated before the lights or heat go off. Households that let the notice sit usually find out the deadline was shorter than they thought, and a missed first payment sends the account back to disconnection.
The Senior Property Tax & Home-Cost Relief Kit pulls together heating, cooling and home-repair help for older homeowners in one place, alongside an application log and renewal calendar so no program lapses without notice. It treats the utility bill as one piece of what a house costs to keep, not a separate emergency.
Part 5 of the kit, Utilities and Home Costs, covers the help available with heat and power bills, and Part 8 adds worksheets and contacts for tracking each call and application.
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
