When the Power Goes Off
OAC 4901:1-18 — disconnection, and the order that reverses it
A utility that is regulated by the state commission does not disconnect a household whenever it likes. There is a chapter of administrative rules that says when it may, what warning has to come first, and what stops it. Two of those things are worth knowing before a notice arrives rather than after.
Who handles this in Ohio: Legal Aid Society of Cleveland and Public Utilities Commission of Ohio; and legal aid programs, lawyer referral and the state offices, listed in the Ohio directory.
The first is the notice. Where a residential customer is delinquent on a regulated service, the rules require at least fourteen days' notice before the company disconnects, and the disconnection happens during the company's normal business hours rather than at any hour it chooses.
A medical certificate postpones a disconnection. Where disconnection would be especially dangerous to the health of a permanent resident of the premises, or would make the operation of necessary medical or life supporting equipment impossible or impractical, the rules provide for a certificate that holds the disconnection off. It is a form signed by a medical professional rather than a phone call, it postpones rather than cancels, and it is on a rule most households never hear about until somebody tells them.
For part of the year, one payment restores service whatever is owed. The commission issues an order for the heating season, called the special reconnect order and known for years as the winter reconnect order, under which a residential customer of a regulated electric or gas company can pay a set amount rather than the whole balance to keep service on or get it back. Any remaining arrears go onto a payment plan instead of standing between the household and the heat. It is available once per heating season.
That order is reissued every year with its own dates and its own figure, so this page states the mechanism rather than a number that will be wrong by the next season. The most recent one this file has verified covered the 2025 to 2026 heating season, ran from the middle of October to the middle of April, and set the payment at one hundred and seventy five dollars plus a reconnection charge capped at thirty six. The order in force now is published by the commission, and that is the place to read the figure rather than any article about it.
All of the above applies to companies the commission regulates. A municipal utility, where a city sells the electricity or the water itself, is not under that commission and runs on the ordinances and rules the municipality sets. Water and sewer are commonly municipal in Ohio, which is why a rule that protects a gas account may not reach the water bill on the same kitchen table.
A landlord shutting off a utility is a different problem with a different section. Where the supply is cut off by a landlord rather than by the company, that is not a disconnection under these rules at all. Terminating utilities or services for the purpose of recovering possession is barred by the landlord section outright, and a landlord who does it is liable for all damages caused together with reasonable attorney fees.
“Is this account with a commission regulated company or with the city.”
The disconnection chapter has more in it than the three rules named here, including provisions on payment plans, deposits, reconnection timing and landlord tenant accounts. Percentage of income payment plans and the federal heating assistance program are separate again and are administered by the state rather than by a utility. The Office of the Ohio Consumers' Counsel exists for residential utility customers and takes questions this page cannot, and the commission itself takes complaints about a regulated company.
Sources for this section (5)
- OAC 4901:1-18 — Termination of residential utility service, the chapter the commission runs it under
- OAC 4901:1-18-04 — Delinquent bills, and the notice required before a disconnection
- PUCO Special Reconnect Order — Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, reissued each heating season with its own dates and figure
- OAC 4901:1-18-06 — The medical certificate that postpones a disconnection
- ORC 5321.15 — Acts of a landlord prohibited where residential property is involved
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Ohio attorney.