Quick answer
A disconnection notice must give you a date at least ten days out, and that date cannot land on a weekend, a holiday, or a day your provider is not taking payments. During an extreme weather emergency in your county, your provider must not authorise a disconnection for non-payment at all. A deferred payment plan is available on request for bills that come due during such an emergency.
The notice is a timeline, not a switch
A shut-off notice does not mean the power goes off tomorrow. Under PUCT Substantive Rule 25.483, your provider must issue the notice no earlier than the due date of the bill, and the notice must state a disconnection date at least ten days after it is issued.
The date also cannot be a day you could not realistically pay: not a weekend, not a holiday, and not a day the provider is not accepting payment.
Use those ten days. They are the whole point of the rule.
Weather stops the clock
This is the protection most people do not know they have.
During an extreme weather emergency, a provider must not authorise disconnection for non-payment for any customer in the affected county. The definition follows National Weather Service advisory criteria and is applied county by county, and it covers the advisory day plus the following days defined in the rule.
Two things worth being precise about:
- Texas has no blanket summer moratorium. Protection is tied to actual advisory days in your county, not to the calendar month.
- It pauses, it does not cancel. The balance is still owed when the weather clears, which is why the payment plan matters.
For bills that come due during an extreme weather emergency, your provider must offer a deferred payment plan on request.
What to do in the first 48 hours
- Find the disconnection date on the notice. Everything else follows from that date.
- Call your provider and ask for a deferred payment plan. Ask whether the bill came due during an extreme weather emergency in your county, which changes what they must offer.
- Ask what the hold means. A payment plan normally places a switch-hold on your meter.
- Apply for assistance the same day. Many agencies prioritise households holding a disconnection notice, and appointments queue.
- Call 2-1-1 for county-level programmes you will not find by searching.
If someone in the home is seriously ill
Additional protections exist where a household member is seriously ill or disabled and a disconnection would cause or worsen illness. This is handled through a critical care or chronic condition designation and it needs documentation from a physician.
Do not wait for a crisis to set this up. If it applies to your household, ask your provider and your utility what forms they need and get it on file now. The designation is applied to the premise and has to be renewed periodically.
Prepaid accounts work differently
If you are on a prepaid plan, there is no ten-day notice, because disconnection follows your balance running down rather than a billing cycle.
Prepaid service has its own rule, PUCT Rule 25.498. The extreme weather protection still applies: a prepaid provider must not initiate disconnection during an extreme weather emergency.
Getting reconnected
| Step | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Clear what is required | Usually the past-due balance, or the down payment on a plan, plus any reconnection fee |
| Confirm the order | Your provider sends the reconnection order to the utility |
| Timing | Most reconnections are processed remotely through the smart meter rather than by a site visit, and same-day is common when the order goes in before the provider’s cutoff |
| Check the hold | A switch-hold usually accompanies the payment plan that reconnected you |
Ask for the reconnection fee amount up front and include it when you work out what you can pay today. People regularly pay the balance and then find themselves short of the fee.
Once the power is stable
The thing that most often turns one hard month into three is a plan that moved: a contract that expired into a month-to-month rate, or a structure that punishes a heavy usage month.
That is worth fixing when you are not in crisis, and switching is usually blocked until any hold clears anyway. When you are ready, checking your ZIP code takes a few seconds.
Frequently asked questions
How much notice must I get before disconnection?
The notice must state a disconnection date at least ten days after it is issued, and not on a weekend, holiday, or a day the provider is not accepting payments.
Can they shut my power off in a heatwave?
Not for non-payment during an extreme weather emergency in your county. The definition follows National Weather Service advisory criteria.
Is there a summer moratorium in Texas?
No calendar moratorium. Protection applies on advisory days in your county under Rule 25.483.
How fast is reconnection?
Often the same day once payment clears and the order is submitted before your provider’s cutoff, because most reconnections are handled remotely at the smart meter.
What if someone in my home is on medical equipment?
Ask your provider and utility about a critical care or chronic condition designation. It needs physician documentation and periodic renewal.