Massachusetts program
A doctor’s note that stops a utility shutoff
Protection from a gas or electric shutoff when serious illness and financial hardship affect the home.
What it is
Protection from a gas or electric shutoff when serious illness and financial hardship affect the home.
Heat and power can be essential during treatment. Eligible households can receive serious-illness shutoff protection with certification and hardship information. An authorized clinician or local board of health can start by telephone.
Eligibility rules
- Financial hardship and a qualifying serious illness are separate requirements. A physician, physician assistant, nurse practitioner or local board-of-health official can certify illness.
- The clinic can phone the utility to certify serious illness, then send it in writing within seven days with your hardship information. Renew the certificate every six months for a long illness, and the hardship information every three. Town-owned utilities are covered too.
What you get
- Gas or electric service protected from shutoff or refusal to restore service when the legal conditions are met.
- A separate winter protection for qualifying hardship households.
What the help covers
- The November 15–March 15 winter rule is limited to qualifying hardship households’ heat or electricity needed to operate heat, with additional conditions. Delivered heating oil and propane are outside this gas-and-electric shutoff rule.
- Fuel-assistance eligibility can also open a utility discount rate under the state rules.
If you decide to apply
- Ask the social worker and oncology team about illness certification, including an initial telephone certification where needed.
- Have the utility account number, any shutoff notice and household income information ready.
- Ask the utility to confirm receipt, the written follow-up due within seven days, and renewal requirements.
The gas or electric company, under state law · Official page ↗
After you ask
- Written confirmation should identify what protection applies and when another certificate is due.
- A refusal can be raised with the state utilities department. The notice and certificate dates help explain the case.
Good to know
Protection is not automatic after diagnosis. The utility needs illness and hardship information; a shutoff hold does not forgive the balance.
Other details
- A payment plan and the utility discount are separate questions from a medical shutoff hold.
Official sources
“Would the serious-illness protection apply to our utility account, and what would we still need to pay or renew? Could you help with the certificate and the utility contact if appropriate?”
Why I’m asking: I want to understand how to keep essential heat and power available during treatment.
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
Ask for the certificate, send it in, and get written confirmation.
Your social worker
The oncology team or the local board of health writes the certificate.
The care team
A written certificate naming the serious illness in the home.
- Who decides
- The utility applies the law; the state utilities department enforces it.
- Ask the care team
- “Our gas and electric account is behind and my child is on treatment at home. Can you write the serious-illness certificate the utility needs so the service cannot be shut off?”
How to apply
First step: Ask the oncology team or the local board of health for the serious-illness certificate and send it to the utility today.
- Ask the oncology team or the local board of health for the written certificate today.
- Send it to the utility and ask for written confirmation that the account is protected.
- Ask about the discount rate and a payment plan in the same call.
Official application / program page ↗
Where it starts: The social worker can help an authorized clinician or local board of health certify the illness to the utility, initially by telephone if needed, with written certification and hardship information within seven days. The utility confirms protection and renewal dates.
What to gather
- The account number and any shutoff notice
- The certificate
- A note of the household’s income
How long: Ask the company in writing how long the certificate holds and what it needs to renew it.
What a yes looks like
Written confirmation from the company that service is protected, and ideally a payment plan alongside it.
What a no looks like, and the next move
If the company refuses, ask for that in writing and take it to the state utilities department.
Watch out
- It is not automatic: the certificate has to reach the company in writing.
- The renewal rules were not published, so ask the company how long it holds and diary the date.
- Whether municipal light plants and co-operatives are covered was not confirmed; ask your provider directly.
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.
What it is worth
Serious illness and financial hardship can protect qualifying gas or electric service. An authorized certifier may start by telephone, with required written follow-up within seven days. Separate heat-related winter protection runs November 15 to March 15.
Legal protection: No gas or electric shutoff or refusal to restore where there is a serious illness certified in writing by a physician or the local board of health · No shutoff between November 15 and March 15 for a residential customer who cannot pay an overdue charge because of financial hardship · Where fuel assistance reaches above twice the poverty line, an income-eligible household can be eligible for the discount rate
What it costs the family: None.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Medical
- a serious illness in the home, certified in writing by a registered physician or the local board of health
- Financial
- financial hardship
- Utility
- gas and electric companies; whether municipal plants and co-operatives are covered was not confirmed
- Residency
- Massachusetts
The trap: Protection is not automatic from a diagnosis. Certification can begin by telephone with written follow-up within seven days; illness certification is generally quarterly or every six months for chronic illness, while hardship information remains quarterly. The balance is not forgiven.
Where I read this
- M.G.L. c. 164 §§ 1F, 124A, 124F — utility protections — Massachusetts General Court, read September 10, 2026