Know Your Rights

Payment Arrangement

All Minnesotans are entitled to affordable payment arrangements to pay down past-due utility bills. Utilities are required to consider your household circumstances when setting up a payment plan. However, if you break a payment arrangement, you may again be at risk for service disconnection.

By law, all electric and gas utilities must offer payment agreements to help customers pay down past-due balances. When setting the terms of those agreements, the utility is required to consider the “financial circumstances” and “any extenuating circumstances” of the household.

The law does not limit which events qualify as extenuating circumstances, and utilities should consider each situation on a household-by-household basis so that payment agreements are affordable.

A utility may request an upfront down payment toward your past due balances when setting up a payment arrangement. If the downpayment is not affordable, you may ask for it to be lowered or to have no down payment at all based on your financial situation.

Never agree to a payment arrangement that doesn’t work for your household budget. If you break a payment arrangement, you may again be at risk for service disconnection.

If you are unable to set up a reasonable payment arrangement with your utility, contact the Public Utilities Commission’s Consumer Affairs Office  (1-800-657-3782). They’ll act as a mediator between you and your utility to help you reach a payment arrangement that works with your budget.

Cold Weather Rule

The Cold Weather Rule provides special protections between October 1 and April 30. However, it’s a common misconception that utilities aren’t allowed to shut off service during the winter. To prevent shutoff, you must set up a payment agreement and make on-time payments on that plan.

The Cold Weather Rule is intended to help electric and gas customers remain connected to energy needed for heating. These protections are available to households:

• Whose income is 50% of state median or less; and 
• Whose heating service would be affected by a utility shutoff. 

Utilities must offer more flexible payment agreements during the Cold Weather Rule months. Payment plans may be required to cover not just past-due balances but also the current month’s bill.

In addition, investor-owned utilities may not require qualified customers to pay more than 10% of household income toward their current and past-due bills during the winter months. (Investor-owned utilities include Xcel, CenterPoint, Minnesota Energy Resources, and other companies, but not electric cooperatives or cities that provide gas or electric service.)

The Cold Weather Rule is available to both homeowners and renters who use natural gas and/or electricity to heat their homes. 

Households can seek protection from their gas and electric utilities if they have a heating system that requires electricity, such as a gas furnace with an electric-powered fan or electric thermostat. 

Medically Protection

Utilities aren’t allowed to shut off service to households, and households must reconnect service if it has been disconnected, when a utility shutoff will impair or threaten the health or safety of someone in the household.

Examples include:

• A household member needs electric service to refrigerate insulin.
• A household member uses a CPAP machine while sleeping.
• If a household member’s health requires air conditioning, some utilities consider that as qualifying medically necessary equipment.

If you think you qualify, contact your utility to request medical account status. They will likely give you forms to complete. Some utilities may require a doctor’s note.

If you are overdue on your bills, utilities may require you to make and keep up with a payment plan to pay down your past-due balance.

If you and your utility disagree about whether you qualify for medical device protection, or if you are unable to setup a reasonable payment arrange, contact the Public Utilities Commission’s Consumer Affairs Office for assistance (1-800-657-3782). 

Military Personnel Protection

By law, utilities aren’t allowed to disconnect a customer’s service if a member of the household has been issued orders for active duty, if the household creates and maintains a payment plan.