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

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Washington program

Prevent a medically dangerous utility shutoff

Protection depends on your utility. Puget Sound Energy follows the state rule; Seattle City Light and public utility districts have their own policies. The bill stays owed.

What it is

Protection depends on your utility. Puget Sound Energy follows the state rule; Seattle City Light and public utility districts have their own policies. The bill stays owed.

Under the state rule (Puget Sound Energy and other regulated companies), telling the utility about a medical danger gives you five business days to provide a clinician’s certificate and arrange payment, usually 10% of the overdue amount plus a plan for the rest within 120 days; the certificate covers up to 60 days and can be renewed. Seattle City Light and public utility districts are outside that rule and have their own policies. Check now which utility serves you.

Rules
  • A disconnection would endanger the life or health of a resident; the diagnosis alone is not the test.
  • Written certification normally follows within five business days of the call.
  • Payment conditions can include 10% of the overdue amount and a plan for the rest.
What you get
  • Under the state rule, a certified medical hold of up to 60 days, renewable, with a payment arrangement.
  • Time to arrange energy assistance and a payment plan.
What it is not
  • It does not erase the bill.
If you decide to apply
  1. Find out whether your utility is Puget Sound Energy or Seattle City Light, then call it the day the danger is known and ask for its medical-emergency process, deadline and payment terms.
  2. Ask the clinical team for the required certificate.
  3. Confirm the hold’s end date, any payment due and how to renew if the danger continues.

Utilities and Transportation Commission · Official page ↗

Municipal and PUD customers
  • Ask the utility for its own medical-emergency policy in writing.
Good to know

Energy assistance (above) and this hold are separate: one is an application, the other is a phone call to the utility.

Other details
  • The clinician should describe the actual need, such as powered equipment or refrigerated medicine.
Official sources
Ask your social worker

“If we ever get a shutoff notice, could the care team document the medical danger quickly, and does our utility follow the state rule?”

Why I’m asking: We want to know the steps before it is urgent.

More background and detailed requirements

How this could help

Call the utility as soon as you know there is a danger. Explain the medical risk and ask what certification is required. A physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant can document why losing service would threaten health.

Do not assume a diagnosis alone proves the risk. The clinician should explain the actual need, such as essential powered equipment or safe storage of medicine. Get the hold period and payment arrangement in writing.

What to know before you apply

  • The state commission’s rule applies to utilities it regulates. City utilities and public utility districts have their own policies.
  • Written medical certification normally must follow within five business days.
  • Payment conditions can include paying 10% of the overdue amount and a plan for the remaining balance; ask exactly what is required and when.

Your next steps

  1. Call the utility today and ask for its medical-emergency disconnection process.
  2. Ask the clinical team for the required certificate.
  3. Confirm the hold’s end date, any payment due and how to request renewal if the medical danger continues.

a disconnection would endanger the life or health of a resident

a licensed physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant

companies under the state commission's jurisdiction; city-owned and public utility district systems are outside it

Additional program information and published rules

Who does what

The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.

You

Phone the day the notice arrives and get the certificate in within five business days.

Your social worker

The company holds the service and sets up the payment arrangement.

The care team

A doctor, nurse practitioner or physician assistant signs the certificate.

Who decides
The utility company.
Ask your social worker
“Could the care team document why losing electricity or heat would be dangerous for my child?”

How to apply

First step: Call the utility today and ask for its medical-emergency disconnection process.

  1. Phone the company the day the notice arrives and say the words medical emergency.
  2. Ask the oncology team for the written certificate the same week.
  3. Diary the renewal before the sixty days run out.
  4. If your power comes from a city or public utility district, ask them for their own medical hold instead.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: Phone the company the day the notice arrives, say it is a medical emergency, and send the written certificate within five business days.

What to gather

  • The shutoff notice
  • The name of a clinician who can sign

How long: Immediate on the phone call; the written certificate follows within five business days.

Clock: Give notice at once and send the written medical certificate within five business days.

What a yes looks like

The shutoff cancelled or the supply restored, and a payment arrangement in writing.

What a no looks like, and the next move

If the company says the rule does not apply, ask whether it is a city or public utility district supplier and what its own medical policy is.

Watch out

  • It holds the shutoff; it does not clear the debt.
  • A city or public utility district supplier is outside this rule and has its own policy.
  • Diary the renewal: one certificate runs at most sixty days.

Dates that change this

2026-09-10: City-owned and public utility district suppliers are outside this rule. Whether electric cooperatives are covered was not settled; ask your supplier what its own medical hold is.

The numbers and the rules

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

What it is worth

A medical certificate holds off a state-regulated shutoff for the danger period, up to sixty days, and can be renewed.

  • $60 — Longest one certificate lasts
  • $5 — Grace period after you give notice
  • $10 — Share of the arrears the company can ask for in that grace period
  • $120 — Days to pay the rest of the arrears under the arrangement

Legal protection: Service is held on or restored while the certificate stands · A request before close of business means the same day; otherwise by noon the next business day

What it costs the family: A tenth of the arrears may be asked for, with the rest over 120 days.

The eligibility facts, as published

Medical
a disconnection would endanger the life or health of a resident
Certifier
a licensed physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant
Utility scope
companies under the state commission's jurisdiction; city-owned and public utility district systems are outside it
Residency
Washington

Expect friction on: Getting the certificate signed inside five business days

The trap: This is not debt forgiveness. The company can ask for a tenth of what you owe within five business days and an agreement to pay the rest within 120 days. And it only binds companies the state commission regulates: a city-owned or public utility district supplier, such as Seattle City Light or Tacoma Power, is outside it, so ask them for their own medical hold instead.

Where I read this

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