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State law (M.G.L. Ch. 164, section 124F) provides that “no gas or electric company shall between November fifteenth and March fifteenth shut off gas or electric service to any residential household who cannot pay an overdue charge because of financial hardship, when such gas or electric service is used to provide heat or to operate the heating system.” The DPU has adopted regulations (220 C.M.R. 25.03) that provide the details of how a customer obtains winter moratorium protection.

While state law and DPU regulations set the winter moratorium period as November 15 to March 15, the DPU has frequently extended the March 15 end date to March 31, April 15, or even April 30. However, the DPU does so simply by asking the utilities to extend the moratorium, not by formally issuing any revised regulation or publishing public notice. Therefore, it is important to check with the DPU early in the spring to determine if the

moratorium has been extended.

Establishing winter moratorium protection is fairly simple. All the household needs to do is document that it has a “financial

hardship.” There are special rules that help low-income

households document that they are eligible for winter moratorium protection, in addition to the ways discussed above (Chapter VI. A) of how to document financial hardship.

First, a company that receives a fuel assistance payment in the prior winter (for example, the winter of November 2012 – March 2013) is required to protect the account through January 1 of the

following winter (in this example, from November 2012 through

25.03(3), is to give the customer adequate time to apply and be approved for fuel assistance in the following winter.

Second, the DPU’s rules seem to provide that a customer who is seeking winter moratorium protection may need to submit only one financial hardship form between November 15 and March 15, even though financial hardship forms submitted for other

purposes (such as serious illness) must be renewed quarterly.

220 C.M.R. 25.03(4). But there is certainly no harm in a customer submitting one financial hardship form on or about November 15, and a second one around February 15, just to ensure that the customer maintains protection from termination throughout the winter.

Third, customers who apply for fuel assistance will almost always get winter moratorium protection without filing a financial hardship form (but the customer should check to

confirm). This is so because the fuel assistance agencies routinely

inform the utility companies of which customers have applied for fuel assistance. Since receipt of fuel assistance automatically qualifies a household as having a “financial hardship” (220 C.M.R. 25.01 (2)), utilities code customers as protected by the winter moratorium shortly after they are notified that the customer receives fuel assistance.

Strictly speaking, the winter moratorium protects customers only for utilities that directly provide heat (such as gas used in a

furnace) or that operate the heating system (such as electricity used for thermostats, furnace fans, or hot water circulating pumps) (220 C.M.R. 25.03 (1)).

PRACTICAL TIP

Many companies do not strictly enforce the requirement in the winter moratorium rule that the customer’s utility service be used to provide heat or operate the heating system, and they simply protect all low-income customers. Therefore, low-income customers who use natural gas just for cooking, or who have electric service but do not pay for their own heat, should seek winter moratorium protection by submitting a financial hardship form.

WARNING! While the company cannot terminate service

while the winter moratorium is in place, the company is still going to send bills each month and expect to be paid. At most, the winter protection lasts about 5 months. Therefore, it is important for customers who assert this protection to continue paying what they can afford. Otherwise, the customer is likely to face termination shortly after the winter moratorium expires.

2. Restoring Terminated Service

Customers rarely have any problem protecting their accounts from termination once they submit a financial hardship form, or once the utility is aware that the customer receives fuel assistance. But the winter moratorium rule also requires a utility to restore service, if it was terminated after the November 15 start of the moratorium period. Therefore, a low-income customer whose service was terminated after November 15, because the company did not know that the customer is low-income, should immediately call the company, state that the customer will submit a financial hardship form, and ask that service be promptly restored. In the event that the company is not willing to restore service promptly, the

customer (or advocate) should call the DPU’s Consumer Division for assistance.

STEPS TO TAKE TO ASSERT WINTER MORATORIUM PROTECTION

1. The customer should fill out a financial hardship form and submit it to the company shortly before November 15 each winter, and send in a second financial hardship form approximately 3 months thereafter to renew the financial hardship status. This ensures that the company codes the account as protected by the winter moratorium for the entire winter.

2. A customer whose service was terminated after November 15 should call the company, explain that the customer is sending in a financial hardship form, and ask that service be restored promptly.