States and utilities moved quickly to suspend utility shut-offs due to nonpayment as low-income households struggle with the loss of income due to illness and job loss as a result of COVID-19 pandemic. State-mandated suspensions on utility shut-offs due to nonpayment as a result of COVID-19 are now in place in 17 states and the District of Columbia. The other 33 states have moratoriums that have expired or never implemented state-mandated moratoriums. Seven states have moratoriums that will expire by early-November if not extended: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Wisconsin, Colorado, and Arkansas. This means that an additional 20.5 million people may lose protection from utility shut offs between now and early-November. An estimated 205.4 million people across the U.S. are already at risk of utility disconnections.
Note: This is a list of all utility actions that NEADA is aware of at the time of release. Questions: Please contact Mark Wolfe: mwolfe@neada.org or Cass Lovejoy: clovejoy@neada.org. Please send additions or updates with source documentation to Elizabeth Eagles: eeagles@neada.org.
Statewide suspensions (17 states & D.C.):
- State-ordered Suspensions of Gas, Electric, and Water (17 states & DC): Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming
- State-ordered Suspensions of Telecom (9 states & DC): Alaska, California, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Washington, Wyoming
States without suspensions/with voluntary suspensions (33 states):
- Expired State-ordered Suspensions of Gas, Electric, and Water (18 states): Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia
- States Without Mandatory Suspensions (15 states): Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia
- Note: Though these states have no official moratorium, all 15 of them have some form of voluntary moratorium which varies depending on the state and the specific utility provider
- Expired State-ordered Suspensions of Telecom (7 states): Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Vermont
The calendar of moratorium expiration dates is as follows:
Table 1: State-ordered Utility Shut-off Moratoriums on Gas, Electric, and Water
| Moratorium end date | Count of states | States |
| 31-Oct | 1 | Connecticuti |
| 1-Nov | 3 | Delaware, Maine, Wisconsin |
| 5-Nov | 1 | Colorado |
| 13-Nov | 2 | Arkansas, New Mexico |
| 15-Nov | 2 | Alaska, Marylandii |
| 16-Nov | 1 | Massachusetts |
| 30-Nov | 1 | Pennsylvania |
| 31-Dec | 2 | Hawaii, Kentucky |
| Until end of emergency or further announcements | 1 | Wyoming |
| Until 15 days after end of emergency | 1 | District of Columbia |
| Until 180 days after end of emergency (March 31, 2021 at latest) | 1 | New York |
| Until April 30, 2021 | 1 | Washington |
| Until 2021 | 1 | California |
| States with expired or no state-ordered moratorium | 33 | Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indianaiii, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraskaiv, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Islandv, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennesseevi, Texas, Utah, Vermontvii, Virginia, West Virginia |
| Total | 51 | |
| i Moratorium ended October 1 for non-hardship customers, October 31 for hardship customers. | ||
| ii Residential service disconnections may resume November 15; utilities began sending disconnection notices October 1. | ||
| iii Moratorium ended officially on August 14, suspension on residential late fees, deposits, and disconnection/reconnection fees continued until October 12. | ||
| iv Mandatory suspension of water and telecom shut-offs, voluntary suspension of gas and electric shut-offs. | ||
| v Moratorium for National Grid customers enrolled in low income program ends November 1; moratorium for all other National Grid residential customers ended September 30; moratorium on all other regulated utilities expired July 17. | ||
| vi Moratorium ended August 29 and disconnections may resume September 29 after a 30-day written notice has been sent to customers. | ||
| vii The customers of most utilities have until spring of 2021 to work with their utilities to develop payment plans to avoid disconnection. | ||
Table 2: Proportion of U.S. Population Covered by Gas, Electric, and Water Moratoriums
| # of U.S. population | % of U.S. population</strong | |
| With state-ordered moratorium | 122,799,513 | 37.4% |
| Without state-ordered moratorium/ with expired moratorium | 205,440,010 | 62.6% |