Indiana blocks electric shutoffs in extreme heat, but only for those who already applied for aid

Whether your electric can be shut off in extreme heat in Indiana

If you live in Indiana and wonder whether your electric can be shut off in extreme heat, a new law gives a partial answer. House Bill 1002, now Public Law 36, was signed by the Governor of Indiana on February 26, 2026. It stops an electric utility from disconnecting your power on any day the National Weather Service forecasts a heat index, a single number combining temperature and humidity that measures how hot the air feels, of at least 95 degrees Fahrenheit at least 48 hours in advance. Before this law, Indiana protected customers from disconnection only in winter, from December 1 through March 15, with nothing for summer heat.

The protection reaches only residential customers of privately and cooperatively owned electric utilities. Reading the law itself against the subsection covering the existing winter rule shows municipally owned electric utilities and every gas utility, of any ownership, stay outside the new summer protection, a distinction neither news report states this plainly.

Even a covered customer must already be eligible for and have applied for the home energy assistance program Indiana runs, commonly called LIHEAP, during that calendar year. This year the deadline to apply was April 20, 2026, and the state housing agency that runs the program says the application portal reopens in fall 2026.

At its core, House Bill 1002 is about balance.

Alaina Shonkwiler, state representative, a Republican from Noblesville who authored the bill. Source 2.

How the law reached the Governor in 4 days

The bill moved fast in its final days. The Speaker of the House signed it February 23, 2026. The Senate President Pro Tempore signed it the next day, February 24. The Senate President signed it February 25. The Governor signed it February 26, and the disconnection section took effect immediately, upon passage, so the summer protection was already law months before the first news report explaining how it works, published June 9, 2026.

The Energy Justice Lab at Indiana University counted 123,284 disconnections for nonpayment across investor owned utilities in Indiana in 2024, according to WFYI reporting of that count, though AES Indiana, one of those utilities, had zero disconnections that year because of an unrelated billing problem.

Who qualifies for the protection, and who still falls through the gap

To qualify for the aid this law requires, a household must earn 60% of the state median income or less. The 12 month income limit is 33,556 dollars for a single person and 64,533 dollars for a family of 4.

This is a pocketbook issue for older Hoosiers, because so many of them are on that limited income.

Jason Tomsci, spokesperson for AARP Indiana. Source 1.

Meeting that income limit is not enough alone. David Konisky, a professor at Indiana University, has said a person at the same income level who did not successfully enroll in the aid program is not covered by this law, even though that person qualifies on income.

Nationally, about 5.7 million households received that kind of heating aid in 2022, the most recent year the federal government has reported, about 15% of the households that qualify for it. That works out to roughly 38 million households nationally that qualify, a MAOWCE calculation from those 2 figures, since neither one states the total directly. The size of that national gap is why the application requirement matters as much as the income limit.

This was a very, very good thing for the state of Indiana.

Kerwin Olson, executive director of the Citizens Action Coalition, an Indiana consumer and environmental advocacy organization. Source 1.

For a customer already covered, on a day the heat index reaches 95 degrees Fahrenheit, the utility now has to keep the power on. A municipal electric customer, a gas customer, or anyone who has not yet applied for the aid still has no summer protection.