New Hampshire program
A doctor's note that stops a utility shutoff
A medical certificate can protect your home’s utility supply while you keep a payment arrangement.
What it is
A medical certificate can protect your home’s utility supply while you keep a payment arrangement.
A shutoff can put a child’s health at risk. A qualified clinician can certify the medical emergency for a covered utility. The certificate protects service while the payment arrangement is kept, but the debt remains.
Eligibility rules
- The service must be at the primary home. Deregulated rural electric cooperatives are included; some municipal utilities are exempt.
- A physician, advanced practice registered nurse, physician assistant or qualifying mental health practitioner can sign.
What you get
- Protection from shutoff for a covered electric, gas or water service.
- Certificates run from 90 days to one year and can be renewed without limit.
What the help covers
- Sewer service falls outside the rule. The certificate does not cancel charges already owed.
If you decide to apply
- Ask the clinic for a medical emergency certificate, including any medically necessary equipment at home.
- Send the signed certificate to your utility and discuss a payment arrangement you can keep.
The utility, under the state energy rules · Official page ↗
After you apply
- The utility records the certificate and the payment arrangement. The protection depends on keeping that arrangement.
Good to know
If the utility is notified by phone first, the signed certificate must follow within 15 days.
Other details
- The certificate protects electric, gas and water at your child's main home, or at both homes when parents share custody. It lasts 90 days to a year and can be renewed. The utility cannot cut you off while you are certified and making a good-faith effort to pay; it does not cover heating oil or propane deliveries, and the bill stays owed.
- The cited En 1205 rules took effect May 30, 2024. If the utility seeks permission to disconnect, the customer has notice and an opportunity to respond to the Department of Energy.
Official sources
“Would a medical certificate protect our utility service? Could the team help with it and with an affordable payment arrangement?”
Why I’m asking: I want to understand how to protect the services our child needs 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
Get the certification signed, send it in, and keep to the payment arrangement.
Your social worker
The clinic signs the certification and lists any equipment in the home.
The care team
A doctor, nurse practitioner or physician's assistant signs and names the life support equipment.
- Who decides
- The utility, under the state energy rules.
- Ask your social worker
- “Can the team sign a medical emergency certification for our electricity supplier, and list the equipment at home?”
How to apply
First step: Ask the clinic to sign a medical emergency certification and send it to the utility today.
- Ask the clinic for a medical emergency certification and name any equipment at home.
- Send it to the utility and set up a payment arrangement the same day.
- Diarise the renewal date before the certification runs out.
Official application / program page ↗
Where it starts: Ask the oncology team to sign the certification and send it to the utility; if you call first, the paper has to follow within 15 days.
What to gather
- The shutoff notice
- The account number
- A list of medical equipment at home
How long: A certification lasts between 90 days and a year and can be renewed without limit.
What a yes looks like
The utility confirms the certification is on file and sets a payment arrangement.
What a no looks like, and the next move
The utility is a municipal one outside the rule, or the arrangement was missed. Ask which, and ask for a new arrangement.
Watch out
- It protects the supply; it does not cancel the debt.
- It holds only while the payment arrangement is kept.
- If you phone first, the signed paper has to reach the utility within 15 days.
- Sewer service is outside this rule.
If they say no, quote this: Medical emergency certification: New Hampshire Code of Administrative Rules En 1205.
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.
What it is worth
No disconnection of electric, gas or water while a current certification is on file and a payment arrangement is kept. Each certification lasts between 90 days and a year, renewable without limit.
- $90 — Shortest a certification can run
- $12 — Longest a certification can run
- $15 — Days to get the signed certification in after a phone call
Legal protection: A utility shall not disconnect a customer who has given current verification of a medical emergency and is keeping a payment arrangement · There is no limit on the number of renewals · The certification records medically necessary life support equipment in the home
What it costs the family: None. The debt still has to be paid under the arrangement.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Utilities
- electric, gas and water at the primary residence, including deregulated rural electric cooperatives; some municipal utilities are exempt
- Signers
- a licensed physician, advanced practice registered nurse, physician's assistant or qualifying mental health practitioner
- Duration
- no less than 90 days and no more than one year, renewable without limit
- Condition
- the household has to keep to a payment arrangement
The trap: The certification protects the supply, it does not cancel the debt, and it only holds while the payment arrangement is kept. If you phone first, the signed certification has to reach the utility within 15 days.
Where I read this
- New Hampshire Code of Administrative Rules, En 1200, Uniform Administration of Utility Customer Relations — NH Department of Energy, read September 10, 2026