Minnesota program
Medical protection against a utility shutoff
A medical certification can keep heat or electricity on when a shutoff would threaten someone’s health.
What it is
A medical certification can keep heat or electricity on when a shutoff would threaten someone’s health.
A serious medical need or life-sustaining equipment can change the shutoff rules. The clinic documents the need and the utility handles the protection. A payment arrangement still matters because the balance does not disappear.
Who can qualify
- Someone in the household must have a certified medical need or life-sustaining equipment.
- The medical protection covers public, municipal and cooperative gas and electric utilities. It is not a general rule for water, telephone or delivered fuel.
What you get
- Medical protection from shutoff for up to six months, with renewal possible.
- Additional protection during the October 1–April 30 cold-weather season.
What the help includes
- A qualifying medical certification can protect gas or electric service from a public, municipal or cooperative utility for up to six months, with renewal when needed; the utility may allow up to 12 months. Oral certification needs written confirmation within five business days. The bill remains owed, and the utility can explain the payment arrangement and renewal dates.
- During the cold-weather season, qualifying public-utility households at or below 50% of state median income can limit required heating payments to 10% of income.
If you decide to apply
- Ask your social worker to help the clinic document the medical risk from losing gas or electric service.
- Send the certification to the utility and discuss a payment agreement for the balance.
Your child’s clinician and your utility’s customer service office. · Official page ↗
After you ask
- A physician, physician assistant or advanced practice registered nurse can certify. A registered nurse can verify the current diagnosis or prescriptions. The account number and notice identify the service at risk.
- The utility handles the medical protection and payment arrangement.
Good to know
A telephone certification needs written confirmation within five business days. Protection from shutoff does not cancel arrears.
Other details
- Cold-weather protection and medical certification are separate routes. Neither makes an outstanding bill vanish.
- A refusal can go to the state utility regulator or, for a city or cooperative utility, its own board.
Official sources
“Would a utility shutoff put our child at medical risk, and could the clinic certify that? What protection and payment obligations would follow, and could you help us understand them?”
Why I’m asking: I want to know how to keep necessary power and heat 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 the clinic for the certification and send it in, then set up a payment agreement.
Your social worker
The clinic writes the certification; a registered nurse can verify the doctor's diagnosis.
The care team
The clinician signs the certification naming the medical need.
- Who decides
- The utility, under state law.
- Ask the care team
- “Can you write a medical certification for our utility, saying a shutoff would put my child at risk?”
How to apply
First step: Ask the oncology team for the medical certification and send it to the utility.
- Ask the oncology team for the medical certification.
- Send it to the utility and ask for a payment agreement in the same call.
- Between October and April, ask about the cold weather rule by name.
Official application / program page ↗
Where it starts: Ask the clinician for the certification and send it to the utility; a telephone certification has to be confirmed in writing within five business days.
What to gather
- The shutoff notice
- The account number
- The clinician certification
How long: A certification normally lasts up to six months and can be renewed.
What a yes looks like
The utility confirms the account is protected and offers a payment agreement.
What a no looks like, and the next move
Take a refusal to the state utility regulator or, for a co-op or city utility, its own board.
Watch out
- The note holds the shutoff off; it does not clear what is owed.
- A certification given by telephone has to be confirmed in writing within five business days.
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.
What it is worth
A clinician certification holds the supply on for up to six months, and the cold weather rule runs from October 1 to April 30.
- $6 — Months a certification normally lasts
- $5 — Business days to put a telephone certification in writing
Legal protection: Medical gas/electric protection for up to six months with renewal, or up to twelve months at utility discretion. · Oral certification requires written confirmation within five business days; bills and payment arrangements remain.
What it costs the family: None.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Household
- someone in the home with a certified medical need or life-sustaining equipment
- Utilities
- public, municipal and cooperative utilities
The trap: The certification holds the shutoff off; it does not clear the arrears. A payment agreement is still needed. A certification taken by telephone has to be confirmed in writing within five business days.
Where I read this
- Minnesota Statutes 216B.098 — residential customer protections — Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, read September 10, 2026
- Minnesota Statutes 216B.096 and 216B.097 — cold weather rule — Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, read September 10, 2026