Written by a parent, not a doctor. Nothing here is medical advice.

Childhood Cancer Lantern
Search Saved

Alabama program

Before the power goes off

If losing power would endanger your child, a regulated utility must have a medical-hold process, and it must give five days' written notice before any shutoff. The bill stays owed.

What it is

If losing power would endanger your child, a regulated utility must have a medical-hold process, and it must give five days' written notice before any shutoff. The bill stays owed.

Loss of power can affect equipment or medicines at home. A regulated utility must have rules for accounts where shutoff threatens life or health. The utility’s own policy determines what help it can offer.

Eligibility rules
  • The Public Service Commission’s coverage excludes cooperatives, municipal utilities, most water companies and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
  • The notice rule has no income test.
What you get
  • At least five days’ written notice before a covered shutoff.
  • A review under the utility’s health-related account rules.
What the help includes
  • For utilities covered by the Public Service Commission rule, five calendar days is the minimum written notice, not a medical hold. Covered residential gas or electric service cannot be disconnected for nonpayment on a day forecast by the National Weather Service to be 32°F or below. Ask the utility about any medical hold, certification, renewal and payment terms.
  • Alabama Power advertises a $14.50 monthly credit for customers receiving SSI or Medicaid for Low Income Families. The utility must confirm whether a child’s SSI qualifies the parent’s account and whether the Medicaid category fits. It is not automatic for every Medicaid family.
If you decide to apply
  1. Ask your utility for its health-related shutoff policy and payment-plan options.
  2. Have ready: the notice, account number and a clinic letter explaining any medicine or equipment that needs power.

Your utility, under the regulator's rules · Official page ↗

After you ask
  • Any offered hold or payment arrangement needs its own written terms and dates.
Good to know

Five days is a notice period, not a guaranteed hold. The state rule does not reach every utility.

Other details
  • A clinic letter explains the health need but does not by itself guarantee continued service. Energy assistance is a separate application.
Official sources
Ask your social worker

“If power service is at risk, what protection does our utility actually offer, and what would we still owe? Could you help us request the health review and compare bill help?”

Why I’m asking: I need to understand how we could keep essential medicines or equipment working at home.

More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules

Who does what

The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.

You

Call early, name the health need, and ask for the rule in writing.

Your social worker

The oncology social worker can write a letter about the medical equipment at home.

The care team

A letter naming the equipment or medicine that needs power helps.

Who decides
The utility, under its own tariff rules.
Ask the agency
“My child is in cancer treatment and needs refrigerated medicine. What is your rule for accounts where health could be threatened?”

How to apply

First step: Call the utility the day the notice arrives and ask for its rule for accounts where health could be threatened.

  1. Call the utility the day a notice arrives, not the day before it expires.
  2. Ask for the tariff rule for accounts where health could be threatened, by name.
  3. Apply for energy assistance in the same week.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: Call the utility, say a child in the home depends on power for health, and ask for its rules for such accounts and for a payment plan.

What to gather

  • The shutoff notice
  • A letter naming the medicine or equipment that needs power
  • Your account number

How long: At least five days' written notice before disconnection.

What a yes looks like

A hold or a payment plan noted on the account, in writing.

What a no looks like, and the next move

If your utility is a cooperative or a city utility, the state rule does not reach it. Ask what its own board policy is, and apply for energy assistance the same day.

Watch out

  • Five days is a notice period, not a hold; Alabama publishes no standard doctor's certificate that stops a shutoff.
  • The regulator does not cover cooperatives, municipal utilities, most water companies or the Tennessee Valley Authority.
  • Alabama Power advertises a $14.50 monthly credit for customers receiving SSI or Medicaid for Low Income Families. The utility must confirm whether a child’s SSI qualifies the account and whether the Medicaid category fits.

Dates that change this

2026-09-10: No Alabama medical-certificate rule with a signer, a duration and renewals was found. That the rule exists is unknown, not disproved. (not yet confirmed against the final rule)

The numbers and the rules

The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.

What it is worth

At least five days' written notice before a shutoff, and a requirement that the utility have rules for when health is at stake.

Legal protection: At least five days' written notice before service is discontinued for non-payment · Each regulated utility must adopt and follow rules for termination when life or health may be threatened · Alabama Power advertises a $14.50 monthly credit for customers receiving SSI or Medicaid for Low Income Families. The utility must confirm whether a child’s SSI qualifies the account and whether the Medicaid category fits.

What it costs the family: None.

The eligibility facts, as published

Residency
Alabama, and a utility the state regulator covers
Income
none for the notice rules

The trap: The five days is a notice period, not a medical hold. Alabama does not publish a standard doctor's certificate that stops a shutoff for a set number of days, so what you actually get depends on the utility's own tariff.

Where I read this

← Back to your options