New Jersey program
Stopping a shutoff with a doctor's letter
A certified medical emergency can support a utility shutoff hold for up to 90 days.
What it is
A certified medical emergency can support a utility shutoff hold for up to 90 days.
A medical hold can keep essential service running while a family works through the bill. It depends on a valid household medical emergency. It postpones a shutoff rather than paying the debt.
Eligibility rules
- The rule covers regulated electric, gas, water and wastewater utilities.
- A licensed medical professional supplies a letter supporting the medical emergency.
- The hold lasts up to 90 days at a regulated electric, gas or water company when a clinician certifies that losing service would make your child's condition worse. The utility can ask for proof you cannot pay. You can ask for an extension in writing with a fresh letter, and service stays on while that request is reviewed.
What you get
- A medical shutoff hold for up to 90 days at a covered utility.
- Continued service while an extension request is reviewed.
What the help covers
- A safety emergency is an exception to the shutoff protection.
- The utility can extend the period for good cause after a written request with an updated clinician's letter.
If you decide to apply
- You can ask the utility for medical-emergency protection and the certificate requirements for your account.
- You can ask a licensed clinician for the supporting letter. Have the account and any shutoff notice ready.
The utility, under the Board of Public Utilities' rules · Official page ↗
After you ask
- Service continues while the extension request is being reviewed.
- The utility confirms the protected period and its end date.
Good to know
The debt remains due. Telephone service is excluded, and municipal utilities may have different rules.
Other details
- Regulated utilities must ask about life-sustaining equipment quarterly.
Official sources
“If we face a shutoff, could a medical letter protect our service? What paperwork and end date apply, and could you help us arrange the letter and bill assistance?”
Why I’m asking: I want essential service to stay available while our child needs care 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 the day the notice arrives and get the letter that week.
Your social worker
The hospital social worker can get the clinician's letter quickly.
The care team
A licensed clinician writes the letter naming the medical need.
- Who decides
- The utility, under the Board of Public Utilities' rules.
- Ask the agency
- “There is a child in medical treatment in this household. I am asking for the medical emergency protection against shutoff, and the letter is coming this week.”
How to apply
First step: Call the utility the day the notice arrives and ask for the medical emergency protection by name.
- Call the utility the day a notice arrives and ask for the medical protection by name.
- Ask the oncology team for a letter on headed paper that day.
- Use the 90 days to apply for the energy programmes and agree a payment plan.
Official application / program page ↗
Where it starts: Call the utility the day the notice arrives and ask for the medical emergency protection. Get the clinician's letter the same week.
What to gather
The diagnosis letter, the child’s insurance card, and the last two pay stubs cover most applications. The official page lists the rest.
How long: Up to 90 days; BPU can extend for good cause on written request and updated certification. Service continues while the extension request is pending.
What a yes looks like
The utility confirms the account is protected and gives an end date.
What a no looks like, and the next move
A municipal utility saying the rule does not reach it. Ask what its own hardship policy is.
Watch out
- It postpones the shutoff. It does not clear the debt.
- Telephone service is not covered, and municipal utilities may not be.
Dates that change this
2022-08-15: The readable rule is the 2022 adoption. The current certificate requirements, renewal limits and whether municipal utilities are covered were not published. (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
A BPU-regulated utility may grant a medical-emergency hold for up to 90 days with a licensed medical professional’s certification and any required inability-to-pay evidence. BPU can extend for good cause; the debt remains due.
- $90 — Length of the medical protection period
Legal protection: A regulated utility may not cut service where a valid medical emergency exists in the household, except for a safety emergency · The period can be extended for good cause on a written request with an updated clinician's letter · Service continues while an extension request is being reviewed · Regulated utilities must ask about life-sustaining equipment quarterly
What it costs the family: Nothing; the debt still stands.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Utilities
- regulated electric, gas, water and wastewater utilities; telecommunications is excluded and municipal or co-operative applicability was not published
- Documentation
- a letter from a licensed medical professional; the current certificate and signature requirements were not published
The trap: It postpones the shutoff; it does not clear the debt. Use the 90 days to apply for the energy programmes and to agree a payment plan.
Where I read this
- STALE: Utility Customer Bill of Rights — New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, read September 10, 2026
- STALE: BPU rule adoption R.2022 d.102, 54 N.J.R. 1612(a) — New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, read September 10, 2026