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

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Delaware program

A medical note to pause a utility shutoff

A clinician’s statement can protect gas, water or electricity when a shutoff would harm someone’s health or recovery.

What it is

A clinician’s statement can protect gas, water or electricity when a shutoff would harm someone’s health or recovery.

Delaware’s serious-illness protection concerns the health risk of losing service. A qualifying clinician signs the statement for the utility. Renewal requires another statement and a good-faith effort to pay.

Eligibility rules
  • Someone in the home must be so ill that losing service would adversely affect health or recovery.
  • A physician, physician associate or advanced nurse practitioner can certify, if licensed in Delaware or a state with similar accreditation.
What you get
  • A 120-day pause on a qualifying gas, water or electricity shutoff.
What the help includes
  • The statute sets no numerical cap on renewals with a new statement and the required payment effort.
  • The medical-statement rule concerns gas, water and electric service to a dwelling, including an electric cooperative that opted out of regulation. It is not a general hold on every household bill; the appropriate complaint office also depends on the provider.
If you decide to apply
  1. Ask the oncology team whether the illness meets the utility statement’s health test.
  2. If the clinician agrees and you want the protection, send the statement with your account number and shutoff notice; keep a dated copy.

Utility customer service; oncology team · Official page ↗

What happens next
  • The utility flags the account after receiving the qualifying statement. A written refusal helps the Public Service Commission review a regulated utility’s response.
Good to know

The certificate delays shutoff; it does not erase the bill. Renewal includes a good-faith payment requirement.

Other details
  • The current statute controls where an older regulation lists different certifiers or heating-season dates.
Official sources
Ask your social worker

“If losing utilities would harm our child, could a medical statement help? What are the limits, and could you help arrange it if the clinician agrees?”

Why I’m asking: I want to understand a shutoff pause and what we would still owe.

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

Get the statement signed, hand it in, keep a dated copy and keep paying something.

Your social worker

The clinic signs the statement; a nurse practitioner or physician associate can sign it too.

The care team

Any of the three clinician types named in the statute can sign.

Who decides
The utility, once the signed statement is received.
Ask your social worker
“We have a shutoff notice. Can someone sign the Delaware serious-illness statement for the utility today?”

How to apply

First step: Ask the clinic for the signed serious-illness statement, then hand it to the utility and keep a dated copy.

  1. Ask the clinic for the signed serious-illness statement the day a notice arrives.
  2. Deliver it to the utility, keep a dated copy, and diary the 120-day date.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: Ask the oncology team for the statement, then deliver it to the utility and keep a copy.

What to gather

  • The shutoff notice
  • The account number
  • The clinician’s signed statement

How long: It takes effect when the utility receives it, and holds for 120 days.

What a yes looks like

The shutoff is stopped and the account is flagged.

What a no looks like, and the next move

If the utility refuses, ask for it in writing and raise it with the Public Service Commission if that utility is regulated.

Watch out

  • It delays, it does not forgive. Keep paying something, because renewal needs a good-faith effort.
  • A cooperative that opted out of regulation still has to follow this section. Do not accept being told otherwise.
  • An older regulation names different certifiers and a later heating-season start. The current statute is what governs.

If they say no, quote this: 26 Del. C. §117(d): signed statements "are effective for 120 days", and under §224(5) an exempt cooperative "shall remain subject to § 117 of this title".

The numbers and the rules

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

What it is worth

A signed clinician’s statement stops a gas, water or electricity shutoff for 120 days, renewable.

  • $120 — How long one signed statement holds

Legal protection: No termination while an occupant is so ill that it would affect their health or recovery, once a signed statement is received · A physician, physician associate or advanced nurse practitioner can sign · Service continues while a dispute is pending before the Public Service Commission · An electric cooperative that opted out of regulation remains subject to this section

What it costs the family: None.

The eligibility facts, as published

Condition
an occupant of the dwelling is so ill that termination would adversely affect health or recovery
Certifier
a licensed physician, physician associate or advanced nurse practitioner of Delaware or of a state with similar accreditation
Utilities
gas, water and electricity
Renewal
a new signed statement plus a good-faith effort to make payments; the quoted law sets no numerical renewal cap

The trap: It is not forgiveness. Renewal needs a new signed statement and a good-faith effort to pay something towards the bill.

Where I read this

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