Weather Moratorium in Texas: When They Can't Cut Your Lights Off

"Weather moratorium" is the official name for something simple: when the weather turns dangerous, nobody's lights get cut off for non-payment. You'll also see it called a weather disconnect moratorium, an extreme weather moratorium, or a severe weather disconnect rule — same thing. It's the term ERCOT, Oncor, CenterPoint, and the news use. The rule behind it is PUCT Rule 25.483 — the same rule our extreme weather protections guide covers in plain language.

Two triggers, both automatic — you don't apply for anything:

• • Heat: The National Weather Service issues a Heat Advisory for your county. Protection lasts through the advisory plus 2 more calendar days.
• • Cold: Yesterday's high in your county didn't top 32 degrees, and it's forecast to stay at or below 32 for the next 24 hours.

Your light company sends the bill, but a utility company physically operates the poles, wires, and meters — Oncor around Dallas-Fort Worth, CenterPoint around Houston, AEP and TNMP elsewhere. They're the ones who flip the switch on a disconnection.

During extreme weather, these utilities suspend all disconnect-for-non-payment orders in affected counties and post an official notice to ERCOT's weather moratorium list. That's what an "Oncor moratorium" is: Oncor telling every light company in its territory that cutoffs are paused in the listed counties. No light company can get around it — the utility simply won't execute the order.

A moratorium lasts only as long as the extreme weather does — under the rule it's declared day by day, and when conditions clear, the backlog of pending disconnections starts moving again. If you're behind on your light bill, treat the day the weather breaks as your real deadline.

This surprises people: prepaid lights cannot be shut off during an extreme weather emergency, even at a $0 balance. PUCT Rule 25.498 requires it. Your lights stay on through the heat emergency or freeze no matter what your balance says.

The honest catch: the power you use during the emergency still counts. You come out the other side owing that usage, and it gets collected from your future payments. So if you can add even $10-20 during the emergency, do it — you'll owe less when the weather breaks.

Every dollar you owed before the moratorium, you still owe after. Every day of usage during it gets billed. The moratorium is borrowed time, and the smartest thing you can do is spend it:

• 1. Ask for a deferred payment plan. For bills due during an extreme weather emergency, your light company must offer one if you ask. That's in the rule. Say: "I'm requesting a deferred payment plan under PUCT Rule 25.483 for my bill due during the extreme weather emergency."
• 2. Apply for bill help now, not after. LIHEAP crisis funds and local programs take days to process — start while the moratorium holds. Our financial assistance guide lists who to call.
• 3. If the math doesn't work, switch before the lift date. A fresh start with a no-deposit plan can beat paying a reconnection fee plus a new deposit after a cutoff. Check your options below.

Severe weather disconnect rules exist in most states, but they work two different ways. Many states run on fixed dates — Connecticut, for example, protects hardship-status customers from winter disconnections from November 1 through May 1, no matter what the thermometer says that day. Texas runs on live weather: the moratorium follows actual Heat Advisories and actual freezes, county by county, any time of year.

The Texas approach cuts both ways. You're protected during a surprise February freeze or a September heat wave that a calendar rule would miss — but there's no months-long winter blanket. The day the advisory ends (plus the 2-day grace period for heat), disconnections resume.