How many states ban power shutoffs in winter
Anyone typing how many states ban power shutoffs in winter into a search bar gets a firm answer this year, 32 states, counting the District of Columbia as a state, block a utility from disconnecting at least some residential customers during the coldest months. That figure comes from the Congressional Research Service, which published it in January 2023 using data kept by the LIHEAP Clearinghouse, a federal resource run for the Department of Health and Human Services. Rather than repeat a count that is now several years old, this site went to that same live government table directly, downloaded it, and counted every row by hand. The result matched exactly, 32 states with a winter window today.
Which states protect summer disconnections too
Of the 32 winter states, 4 also protect summer disconnections, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois and Missouri, found by this site in a hand count of the government table, since the federal report states the count of 4 without naming them. One additional state, Arizona, bars a disconnection only in summer, from June 1 through October 15. Add every calendar based window together and the total reaches 33 states, a sum this site calculated rather than a total either source states outright. The chart below breaks those 33 states down by which season each one covers.
This is a count this site ran of the LIHEAP Clearinghouse table, accessed September 29, 2026, not a total the table itself states.
Show the numbers
| Winter protection only | 28 |
| Winter and summer protection | 4 |
| Summer protection only | 1 |
What a protection actually does for a household
A protection is not just paperwork. A peer reviewed 2023 study in the journal iScience found households without one were disconnected at a rate of about 2.8% a year, against about 0.01% for households covered by one, a difference of about 280 times, a comparison this site calculated from the 2 rates the study reports. Covered households were also less likely to skip other bills to keep the lights on, forgoing other basic expenses at 8.1% a year, against 10.6% for households with no protection.
Households without a protection were disconnected about 280 times as often as households with one, a comparison this site calculated from the 2 rates the study reports, not a figure the study itself states as a ratio.
Show the numbers
| Without a protection | 2.8 |
| With a protection | 0.01 |
Why the count matters this winter
The stakes are rising this heating season. The National Energy Assistance Directors Association projected on September 14, 2026 that the average household will pay 1,030 dollars to heat its home this winter, an increase of 82 dollars, or 8.7%, over last year, more than 2.5 times the rate of inflation. Raj Mukherji, a New Jersey state senator, put the stakes of a shutoff in extreme weather plainly.
When you have a power shut off in extreme temperatures, it's a threat to folks with illnesses. It's a threat to seniors.
Raj Mukherji, New Jersey state senator. Source 5.
Which utilities the state rules do not reach
A state ban does not reach every utility. The government table states plainly that municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives are typically not regulated by these rules, so a resident in one of the 32 states can still be served by a utility the state protection does not cover. Anyone facing a shutoff notice this winter should check both their state rule and who actually supplies their power.