7 min read · Last updated August 27, 2026

In this article

• Two ways states protect a home with a baby: filed and automatic
• What Massachusetts requires you to file, and the 7-day clock
• What California’s new heat rule does differently
• What the protection stops, and what it doesn’t
• If your state has no child-specific rule
• Frequently asked questions

In March, Keisha Coleman’s gas company mailed a shutoff notice for $410 to her Worcester, Massachusetts apartment. Her daughter Nia had just turned 8 months old, and the gas line ran the only heat in the unit. Keisha did not have $410. What she had, without knowing it yet, was a federal-adjacent state rule that stops a utility from cutting heat to a home with an infant under 12 months old, as long as she told the company in time.

Two ways states protect a home with a baby: filed and automatic

States that shield young children from utility shutoffs use one of two designs, and knowing which one your state uses changes what you actually have to do. The first is a filed protection: the household submits paperwork proving a child’s age, and the company is barred from disconnecting that specific household. Massachusetts works this way. The second is an automatic protection: the state or a regulator triggers a blanket pause for every household in the affected area once a condition is met, like a dangerous heat forecast, and no individual filing is required. California’s newest heat rule works this way.

The distinction matters: a filed protection does nothing if you never file it, and a family that qualifies for Massachusetts’s infant rule but skips the certification can still be disconnected. An automatic protection covers you either way, but only for the narrow window the trigger covers.

What Massachusetts requires you to file, and the 7-day clock

Under 220 CMR 25.03, part of the Code of Massachusetts Regulations (CMR), the state’s rulebook of agency regulations, a gas, electric, or private water company cannot shut off service to a household that cannot pay because of financial hardship if a child under 12 months old lives there. The protection ends the day the infant turns 1.

To use it, written certification has to reach the company within 7 days of the date on the shutoff notice. That certification has to state the child’s name, birth date, and address, and it can be backed up with a birth certificate or a letter from a physician, physician assistant, nurse practitioner, local board of health, hospital, government official, or clergy member. Miss the 7-day window and the company can proceed with the disconnection even if the baby is 3 weeks old. Keisha’s pediatrician’s office faxed a one-page letter with Nia’s birth date on it the same afternoon Keisha called, well inside the 7 days, and the shutoff stopped.

The same Massachusetts rule also protects a household during “serious illness” through a similar certificate, and separately bars heat-related shutoffs statewide from November 15 through March 15 for anyone facing financial hardship.

What California’s new heat rule does differently

California takes the opposite approach for extreme heat. In a 4-0 vote on July 16, 2026, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) lowered the temperature at which utilities must stop shutting off power to delinquent customers, from the old statewide 100-degree trigger down to 90 degrees, and ordered the state’s largest utilities to adopt a more protective, region-specific heat standard called CalHeatScore within six months. The commission acted on its own after finding the utilities’ own proposed safeguards, submitted after missing an earlier May 1 deadline, did not offer sufficient health protections for customers. Until the region-specific CalHeatScore standard is fully rolled out, the simpler interim rule applies: no shutoffs when the forecast calls for 90 degrees or higher within a 72-hour window.

Regulators built this rule with seniors, people with disabilities, low-income households, and families with young children in mind, since losing power in a heat wave threatens an infant faster than it does most adults. But nothing requires a family to prove they have a child. The rule applies to every residential customer in the affected ZIP code automatically, the moment the threshold is met, and lifts once the heat event passes.

What the protection stops, and what it doesn’t

Every version of this protection, filed or automatic, does exactly one thing: it stops the disconnection. None of them erase the debt. Keisha’s $410 balance did not disappear when the shutoff stopped. It kept accruing, and her gas company still expected payment.

Protection	How it works	What you must do	What it does NOT do
Massachusetts infant rule (220 CMR 25.03)	Filed, household-specific	Written certification of the child’s age within 7 days of the notice	Does not cancel the bill; ends automatically at age 1
California extreme-heat rule (CPUC, July 16, 2026 vote)	Automatic, statewide	Nothing. Applies to every customer once 90°F is forecast within 72 hours	Only active during the qualifying heat window; balance keeps growing
Illinois medical-hardship certificate (83 Ill. Admin. Code 280.130)	Filed, not child-specific	A valid medical certificate from a licensed provider	Protects for 60 days only; must be renewed; no age-based protection exists

To actually shrink the balance while the pause buys time, call the utility for a payment arrangement, and apply for LIHEAP, the federally funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps eligible households cover heating and cooling costs and, in many states, offers faster crisis processing once a notice has arrived. Families with an active LIHEAP case can also see how weatherization assistance lowers the bill going forward, not just the balance sitting on it today. And if the balance itself looks inflated or includes charges that do not match your usage, it is worth knowing how to dispute a utility bill you think is wrong before agreeing to a payment plan for an amount that may not be accurate.

None of the protections above touch what a family pays for the electricity itself. If your child depends on home medical equipment like an oxygen concentrator or a nebulizer, a separate ongoing rate program exists for that, worth checking alongside any shutoff protection: see the electric rate discount for households running medical equipment.

If a utility disconnects service despite a valid, timely certification, that isn’t the end of it. Contact your state’s public utilities commission or equivalent regulator and file a complaint the same day. Most states require the commission to investigate a wrongful disconnection, and several can order a utility to restore service while the complaint is still open.

If your state has no child-specific rule

Not every state protects a home because a child lives there. Illinois is a clear example: 83 Ill. Admin. Code 280.130 bars residential disconnections statewide whenever the forecast calls for 32 degrees or below, and separately protects any household, regardless of who lives there, for 60 days after a utility receives a valid medical certificate from a licensed provider. There is no age-based carve-out for infants or young children in the Illinois rule at all.

If you live somewhere without a child-specific protection, three things still apply almost everywhere: a doctor, nurse practitioner, or local board of health can usually issue a medical-hardship certificate for anyone with a health condition worsened by losing power, not only children; every state’s winter or extreme-weather rule applies no matter who lives in the home; and your state’s LIHEAP office can often flag your account for expedited crisis processing once a disconnection notice is in hand. Call your utility and ask directly whether the household qualifies before assuming it doesn’t.

Frequently asked questions

Does every state protect a home with a baby from a utility shutoff? No. Protections vary widely. Massachusetts specifically protects a child under 12 months old if the family files certification in time. Other states, like Illinois, have no age-based rule at all, but still offer medical-hardship and severe-weather protections that any household can use.

What happens when my child turns 1 and the protection ends? The shutoff protection tied to your child’s age ends, but you can still ask about a payment plan, a medical-hardship certificate if anyone in the home has a qualifying condition, and LIHEAP crisis assistance if you’re behind on the bill.

Does a heat-related shutoff pause in California mean I don’t owe the bill anymore? No. The pause only stops the disconnection while the heat event is active. Your balance keeps growing behind it, so contact your utility about a payment arrangement as soon as the heat event ends.

How fast do I need to act after getting a shutoff notice? As fast as possible. Massachusetts requires written certification within 7 days of the notice date. Other states set their own windows for medical certificates. Call your utility company the same day the notice arrives to ask what protection applies and how quickly you need to file.

Can a landlord’s utility account get the same protection if I’m the one with the baby? It depends on whose name is on the account. Most of these protections are tied to the account holder’s household, so if the utility bill is in your landlord’s name, ask your utility directly how the certification process works when the tenant, not the account holder, is the one requesting the protection.