Can my electricity be disconnected in Texas? The rules

By the BillAnswers team · Updated October 20, 2026 · How we check facts

In Texas, a retail electric provider can have your power disconnected for nonpayment only after a separate written disconnection notice, issued no earlier than the day after the bill was due, with a disconnection date at least 10 days later. It cannot do so in a county under an extreme weather emergency (a freeze or a National Weather Service heat advisory), on most weekends and holidays, or for charges that are not for electric service.

The short answer

A Texas retail electric provider (the company that sends your bill) can ask the wires utility to disconnect your home for nonpayment, but only after proper notice and never before the day after the disconnection date in that notice (16 TAC 25.483(c)). The rules below come from 16 TAC 25.483, effective 07/19/2023. They do not cover city-owned utilities or electric co-ops: the PUCT says its disconnection rules apply to retail electric providers only.

What the disconnection notice must look like

Under 16 TAC 25.483(l), a disconnection notice for nonpayment must:

1. Not be issued before the first day after the bill is due.
2. Be a separate mailing or hand-delivered notice with "disconnection notice" or similar words prominently displayed, or a separate email with those words in the subject line if you agreed to email notices.
3. Set a disconnection date at least 10 days after the notice is issued, and not on a holiday, a weekend day, or a day the provider's staff cannot take payments.
4. Tell you that if you need help paying, or are ill and unable to pay, you may be able to set up an alternate arrangement, a deferred payment plan, or payment assistance.

The notice must also state the reason, the amount overdue, any fees, how to avoid disconnection, the availability of deferred payment and energy assistance programs, a toll-free number, and the PUCT complaint contact (16 TAC 25.483(m)).

When they cannot disconnect you

An extreme weather emergency is a day when the previous day's high did not exceed 32 F and the temperature is forecast to stay at or below that for the next 24 hours anywhere in the county, or a day when the National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory for the county that day or on either of the two preceding days (16 TAC 25.483(j)(1)). For bills that come due during the emergency, the provider must offer you a deferred payment plan if you ask (16 TAC 25.483(j)).

Providers must also allow at least 45 days for an energy assistance agency to honor a pledge before sending the disconnection request (16 TAC 25.483(i)(3)).

Critical care and chronic condition customers

These designations come from 16 TAC 25.497. A Critical Care Residential Customer has a person living in the home who a physician has diagnosed as dependent on an electric-powered medical device to sustain life; the designation lasts two years. A Chronic Condition Residential Customer has a resident with a serious medical condition that needs an electric medical device or electric heating or cooling; it lasts 90 days, or up to one year if the condition is diagnosed as life-long (25.497(a)).

To apply, your physician submits the PUCT-approved application form to your wires utility (25.497(b)(1), (e)(1)). The PUCT's page links the form in English and Spanish. If the utility has not finished processing it within two business days, you get a temporary designation (25.497(e)(3)).

What it does for you:

• Critical care: if your physician contacts the provider, sends a written statement, and you enter a deferred payment plan by the disconnection date, you cannot be disconnected for nonpayment for 63 days from the bill (or a shorter agreed period) (25.483(g)).
• Both designations: before a disconnection, the provider must send you and your emergency contact a separate written notice at least 21 days ahead (25.483(g)(2)(A), (h)).
• Limits: the designation does not erase what you owe (25.497(f)) and does not guarantee uninterrupted power (25.497(c)(4)).

If you have a prepaid plan

Prepaid service has its own disconnection rules in 16 TAC 25.498. The provider can start a disconnection when your balance falls below the disconnection balance, capped at $10 for a home (25.498(b)(4)), but only after a warning at least one day and no more than seven days before (25.498(c)(7)(D)). It cannot start one on a weekend day, while the payment methods in your disclosure are down, or during an extreme weather emergency in your county (25.498(j)(1)). After you restore the connection balance, the provider must request reconnection within one hour (25.498(j)(4)). Prepaid service may not be provided to critical care or chronic condition customers (25.498(k)). More in our no-deposit and prepaid guide.

How to avoid a disconnection

1. Call your provider before the disconnection date. It must tell you about all its payment options and assistance programs (16 TAC 25.480(g)(1)).
2. Ask for a payment arrangement or a deferred payment plan. If a disconnection notice was already issued, it is suspended until the arrangement's due date (16 TAC 25.480(i)).
3. Apply for energy assistance and make sure the agency sends its pledge before the notice due date. See help paying your electric bill.

Reconnection

Once you fix the reason for disconnection, the provider must request reconnection as quickly as possible: for a payment before noon on a business day, by 2:00 p.m. that day, and in no case later than 48 hours (16 TAC 25.483(n)).

How to complain

Contact your provider first. If that does not resolve it, file with the PUCT using its online electricity complaint form, call 1-888-782-8477 (Austin 512-936-7120, TTY 1-800-735-2989), or write to Public Utility Commission of Texas, P.O. Box 13326, Austin, TX 78711-3326. The same address and numbers must appear on every disconnection notice (16 TAC 25.483(m)(5)).

Last updated: October 20, 2026