West Virginia program
A doctor's certificate to slow a utility shutoff
A medical certificate adds shutoff protections for covered electric customers. Your utility can confirm its process.
What it is
A medical certificate adds shutoff protections for covered electric customers. Your utility can confirm its process.
A shutoff can endanger someone with a serious health condition. The electric rule adds notice and contact protections. The PSC can check the rules for your named supplier; a certificate does not erase the bill.
Eligibility rules
- With a certificate on file, the electric company must try to reach you up to three times before cutting off service, and cannot cut it off on a day forecast at or below 32°F, on a Friday, weekend or holiday.
- A currently licensed physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant can certify the condition.
- Gas and water companies have their own versions of the rule; ask the utility named on your bill what it needs, and the Public Service Commission can settle any dispute.
What you get
- Extra notice and contact attempts before disconnection under the covered electric rule.
- Protection against disconnection on specified cold days, weekends and holidays.
What the help includes
- Disconnection is barred on a day forecast by the National Weather Service to reach 32°F or below.
- Disconnection is barred on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays.
- Qualifying negotiations, assistance requests or complaints can delay disconnection under the electric rule’s specific conditions and seven-day periods. The utility and PSC confirm which process applies; current service and undisputed amounts remain due.
If you decide to apply
- Ask your social worker to help check your utility’s medical-certificate process.
- Ask a doctor, nurse practitioner or physician assistant to sign the certificate.
- If you choose this route, ask your social worker to help confirm receipt within ten days of reporting the condition.
The utility, with the Public Service Commission behind it · Official page ↗
After you ask
- The certificate must reach the electric company within ten days of you reporting the condition, and it is renewed every 30 days unless the doctor certifies the condition as permanent.
Good to know
The usual 30-day renewal interval is not a 30-day shutoff ban. A condition certified permanent does not need that recurring renewal.
Other details
- While a dispute is pending, payment for current service and the undisputed part of the bill is still due.
Official sources
“If a shutoff threatens our child’s health, could a medical certificate protect us, and for how long? What would still be due, and could you help the clinic and utility complete the process?”
Why I’m asking: I want to understand the protection without assuming the certificate cancels our utility debt.
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
Tell the utility the medical reason first, then send the certificate within ten days.
Your social worker
The utility has to give more notice and try three times to reach you in person.
The care team
A doctor, nurse practitioner or physician assistant signs it, and can certify a condition as permanent.
- Who decides
- The utility, under the Commission's rules.
- Ask your social worker
- “We have a shutoff notice. Can someone sign a certified health condition letter for the utility, and say whether the condition is expected to be permanent?”
How to apply
First step: Call the utility the day the notice arrives, then get the signed certificate in within ten days.
- Call the utility the day a notice arrives and say there is a medical reason.
- Ask the oncology team for the certificate and send it within ten days.
- Ask whether the condition can be certified permanent, which ends the monthly renewals.
Official application / program page ↗
Where it starts: Call the utility the day the notice arrives, say there is a medical reason, then get the written certificate in within ten days.
What to gather
- The shutoff notice
- The account number
- The signed certificate
How long: Ten days to file, and every thirty days after that unless the condition is certified permanent.
Clock: The written certificate has to reach the utility within ten days of you telling them why, and be renewed every thirty days unless the condition is certified permanent.
What a yes looks like
The account flagged, extra notice, and personal contact attempts before any disconnection.
What a no looks like, and the next move
Ask the utility which rule it is applying, and take a request for assistance to the Public Service Commission, which holds off termination while it is open.
Watch out
- This is not a shutoff ban, and thirty days is the renewal interval, not a moratorium.
- Tell the utility the medical reason first; the ten-day clock starts from that call.
- A municipal, cooperative or water supplier was not established to be covered, so ask yours directly.
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.
What it is worth
Covered electric customers receive added notice and contact protections, with separate cold-day and weekend shutoff restrictions.
- $10 — Days to get the certificate to the utility
- $30 — Renewal interval unless the condition is certified permanent
- $3 — Maximum required contact attempts, ending earlier after successful contact
Legal protection: Increased notice requirements where a certified health condition exists · No disconnection on a day the National Weather Service predicts 32 degrees or colder · No disconnection on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday · No disconnection while a meeting, a request for assistance or a formal complaint is pending, with seven days after
What it costs the family: Nothing.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Signers
- a currently licensed physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant
- Scope
- electric and gas utilities under Public Service Commission jurisdiction
Expect friction on: It is not a shutoff ban · The PSC confirms the controlling rule for the named supplier; municipal, cooperative and water service cannot be categorically excluded from every protection.
The trap: It is not a 30-day shutoff ban, whatever you have been told. Thirty days is how often the certificate has to be renewed. If the condition is certified permanent, no renewal is needed.
Where I read this
- Rules for the Government of Electric Utilities, 150 CSR 3 — West Virginia Public Service Commission, read September 10, 2026
- Rules for the Government of Gas Utilities, 150 CSR 4 — West Virginia Public Service Commission, read September 10, 2026
- West Virginia Code 24-2-1: Public Service Commission jurisdiction — West Virginia Legislature, read September 10, 2026