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

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North Carolina program

Prevent a medically dangerous utility shutoff

Rules for regulated electric and gas utilities offer notice, payment plans and conditional health protections.

What it is

Rules for regulated electric and gas utilities offer notice, payment plans and conditional health protections.

Medical equipment or serious illness can make losing power or gas dangerous. Regulated utilities must try to identify vulnerable accounts. Extensions and winter protection depend on separate conditions.

Eligibility rules
  • These rules cover Duke Energy, Dominion and the other regulated companies. A city utility or electric co-op has its own policy; ask for it in writing.
What you get
  • Notice before a covered residential electric or gas shutoff.
  • A serious-illness or life-support account code.
  • Possible deadline extensions when disconnection endangers health.
What the help covers
  • From November to March, a household that the county certifies for energy assistance and that cannot pay cannot be cut off without the Utilities Commission's approval. The county certificate, not the doctor's note, is what triggers this.
  • A reasonable installment arrangement can run up to six months alongside current charges. A qualifying informal Commission complaint before disconnection has its own protection. The utility confirms its clinical-documentation and extension process.
If you decide to apply
  1. Ask the electric or gas utility about its serious-illness account code and a health-related extension.
  2. Have the shutoff notice and the child’s equipment or care information ready.
  3. Ask county social services about crisis help and any winter certificate.

Your electric or gas utility, and county social services for the winter certificate · Official page ↗

If you decide to apply
  • The utility decides whether to extend or waive its deadline where health is endangered. An illness code alone does not guarantee continued service.
  • The regulated-utility rules generally require at least ten days’ notice of proposed disconnection. Your utility confirms the notice date and applicable protections.
Good to know

A doctor's note does not stop a shutoff by itself. Ask the utility to code the account for serious illness now, before any notice, and ask for a payment plan; the county's winter certificate is a separate step.

Other details
  • These NCUC rules cover regulated electric and natural-gas utilities. Municipal utilities and electric cooperatives have their own rules. Serious-illness coding can help the utility identify a vulnerable household, but it does not create an automatic fixed-length shutoff ban or cancel the bill.
Official sources
Ask your social worker

“If our electricity or gas is at risk, which health protections and payment arrangements might apply? Could you help us check the utility’s rules and any county certificate?”

Why I’m asking: I want to know which protection is real before relying on power for 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 before the notice runs out and ask for the code and an extension by name.

Your social worker

The county worker signs the certificate for the winter safeguard.

The care team

The oncology team writes what equipment needs power at home.

Who decides
The electric utility; the county certifies for the winter safeguard.
Ask your social worker
“Can you help me ask the power company for the serious-illness account code and an extension, and apply for crisis energy help?”

How to apply

First step: Call the electric company and ask for the serious-illness or life-support account code.

  1. Call the utility and ask for the serious-illness or life-support account code by name.
  2. Ask for an extension while treatment continues.
  3. Call the county about crisis energy help the same week.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: Call the utility, ask for the serious-illness or life-support account code, and ask the county about the Crisis Intervention Program in the same week.

What to gather

  • The bill and any disconnection notice
  • A letter from the team listing equipment that needs power

How long: Ten days’ written notice before a cut-off. Extensions are at the utility’s discretion.

What a yes looks like

The account is coded and a new date is agreed in writing.

What a no looks like, and the next move

Call the county about crisis energy help and ask the Public Staff consumer services office about the supplier.

Watch out

  • The "30-day doctor’s note" people describe is not a North Carolina rule.
  • City systems and co-operatives sit outside these rules. Ask yours what it does.
  • The winter safeguard needs an elderly or disabled household and a social-services certificate.

The numbers and the rules

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

What it is worth

Ten days’ written notice, a serious-illness account code, and discretion to extend the deadline.

  • $10 — Days of written notice before a covered residential gas or electric disconnection

Legal protection: A special account code the utility must try to apply to a serious-illness or life-support home · Discretion to waive or extend the deadlines where a cut-off would endanger health · For qualifying November 1–March 31 bills, a household meeting the specified age/disability, inability-to-pay and DSS certification conditions cannot be disconnected without Commission approval.

What it costs the family: No cost to ask.

The eligibility facts, as published

Scope
Residential customers of gas utilities regulated under R12-10 and electric utilities regulated under R12-11; municipal and cooperative suppliers have separate policies.
Winter
For qualifying November 1–March 31 bills, a household meeting the specified age/disability, inability-to-pay and DSS certification conditions cannot be disconnected without Commission approval.

The trap: A doctor’s note does not create an automatic 30-day hold. For qualifying November 1–March 31 bills, a household meeting the specified age/disability, inability-to-pay and DSS certification conditions cannot be disconnected without Commission approval. Serious-illness coding, payment arrangements and a qualifying Commission complaint have separate requirements.

Where I read this

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