Emergency Electric Bill Help: Fast Steps Before a Shutoff

1. Read the notice. Find the amount, the shutoff date and the phone number for payment arrangements.
2. Call the utility or provider. Ask for a payment arrangement and for the date and time the shutoff is set. Ask whether a medical certificate or an assistance pledge can pause it.
3. Write down who you spoke to, the date and what they agreed. A note makes any later dispute much easier.
4. Start the aid applications the same day. LIHEAP crisis help and local funds work in parallel, and you do not have to pick one.
5. Pay what you can, if you can, and say so. A partial payment can show good faith, and some companies will accept it as part of an arrangement.

Federal law requires each LIHEAP grantee to reserve funds for energy crises and to act quickly on them. An energy crisis covers weather-related and supply shortage emergencies and other household energy-related emergencies. Once a household applies and is eligible, the grantee must provide some form of assistance that resolves the crisis within 48 hours, or within 18 hours if the household is in a life-threatening situation.

Federal law does not define life-threatening, so each state does. Some states count a medical device that needs electricity, and some count households with a very young child or an older adult. Ask your state office how it defines the term. The clocks do not apply after a natural disaster, and a grantee can request a waiver in some situations.

Find your state office on the bill assistance page for your state, or call the Energy Assistance Hotline at 1-866-674-6327, open weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern time. Our LIHEAP guide explains who can qualify.

In competitive Texas, a retail electric provider must not disconnect a residential customer for nonpayment in a billing period in which it receives a pledge, letter of intent, purchase order or similar notice from an energy assistance provider. The notice has to arrive by the due date on the disconnection notice, and the customer has to pay or arrange to pay any balance the aid does not cover. The provider must allow at least 45 days for the assistance provider to honor the pledge before it asks for disconnection.

That is why the order matters: get the aid agency to send a written pledge to your provider before the date on the notice. Other states have their own rules, so ask your utility whether a pledge pauses a shutoff.

Source: Texas rule text read on October 10, 2026. Rules change, and this is one state's rule used as a worked example. Your state's rules differ, so confirm with your utility and your state commission.

• 2-1-1. A free referral line in most areas that points to help with utility bills, housing and food. Dial 2-1-1 or visit 211.org.
• Community Action Agencies. Local nonprofits that often take LIHEAP applications and run weatherization. Use the Community Action Partnership locator.
• Your utility's hardship fund. Many utilities run a fund with a charity partner. Ask whether yours does and how to apply.
• Local charities and faith groups. Many give one-time help with a utility bill. Availability and rules vary, and funds can run out, so call early in the month.

• The latest bill and the shutoff notice, including the account number.
• Photo identification for the person on the account.
• Proof of income for everyone in the household, usually for the last 30 days. Agencies set the exact rule.
• Social Security numbers or proof of status where the program asks for them.
• A recent bill for your main heating fuel, if it is not electricity.

Requirements differ by agency, so ask what yours needs when you call, and ask whether you can send documents by phone or online.

A one-time grant fixes this bill, not the next one. Ask about a payment plan or budget billing, and apply for weatherization if you qualify, because lower use is the lasting fix. Our guide to a bill that doubled helps you find out why it got so high.

• ACF LIHEAP Q&As on disaster relief, which restate the 48 and 18 hour crisis timelines
• 42 U.S.C. 8624, LIHEAP state plans and eligibility
• 16 Tex. Admin. Code § 25.483, disconnection of service
• 211
• Community Action Partnership, find a Community Action Agency