How to keep the power on for medical equipment in Maine this week
A Maine household can keep the power on for medical equipment even after an electric bill goes unpaid. Chapter 815, the Public Utilities Commission of Maine consumer protection rule for every electric and gas utility in the state, calls the tool a Medical Emergency certification, a statement from a doctor or another authorized medical professional that the customer or someone living in the home needs the equipment. Contact the utility now if that describes the household. Once the utility is told a certification is coming, Chapter 815 stops it from disconnecting service for at least 3 business days. The utility can extend that window by 3 more business days, to 6, but only if it tells the customer about the extension at the same time it first hears about the emergency.
Both figures come directly from Chapter 815 Section 11. The window only reaches 6 business days if the utility tells the customer about the extension at the same time it first hears about the emergency.
Show the numbers
| Minimum notice window | 3 |
| Extended notice window | 6 |
What a full year of certifications and the Winter Disconnection Period add up to
Once a doctor or another authorized medical professional actually files the certification, protection runs for as long as the certification states or 30 days, whichever is shorter. If the certification does not state a length, protection lasts at least 30 days. A household can renew a certification twice more within any 12 month period, for 3 certifications total at 1 address. This site added up the maximum, 3 certifications at 30 days each, and found up to 90 days of guaranteed protection from disconnection in a year, a total Chapter 815 never states on its own, since the rule only states the 30 day length and the 2 renewals separately.
The 30 day figure is stated directly by Chapter 815. The 90 and 151 day totals are this site own calculation from the rule text, adding the maximum 3 certifications at 30 days each for the first, and counting the calendar days between the 2 dates the rule states for the Winter Disconnection Period for the second, neither is a figure the Commission states itself.
Show the numbers
| One certification | 30 |
| Full year of certifications | 90 |
| Winter disconnection period | 151 |
Chapter 815 also sets a Winter Disconnection Period, November 15 through April 15 every year. This site counted 151 days between those 2 dates in an ordinary year, another total the rule itself never states directly. Inside that window, a household at or under 150% of the federal poverty guidelines, or already eligible for the Home Energy Assistance Program or Supplemental Security Income, can ask for a special payment arrangement rather than face disconnection.
Money and equipment help beyond the disconnection rule
Maine also runs 2 statewide bill assistance programs, both described on the Commission own consumer assistance page. The Low Income Assistance Program pays out more than 7,000,000 dollars a year toward electric bills statewide. The Arrearage Management Program forgives up to 300 dollars a month of a past due balance, a twelfth of what is owed, for every month a household pays its current bill on time.
Every Maine electric utility must also run its own program for a customer using an oxygen pump or a ventilator 8 or more hours a day, the same threshold Chapter 815 uses in its own model notice and the same threshold Versant Power states for low income customers on its own program page. Versant calls its version the Oxygen Pump Benefit Program and pairs it with LifeLight, which gives priority restoration and advance notice of planned outages. Chapter 815 binds every electric utility in the state equally, Central Maine Power included.
Nationally, 4.5 million Medicare recipients and likely millions more with private insurance rely on electricity dependent medical equipment, and 80% of major United States power outages between 2000 and 2023 were caused by weather. Doctor Albert Rizzo, chief medical officer of the American Lung Association, made this point about supplemental oxygen users during an outage.
Most people are OK without it for a night or two.
Doctor Albert Rizzo, chief medical officer of the American Lung Association. Source 5.