Will I Get Cut Off?
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Mississippi

MSWeak
5
Days notice (electric)
5
Days notice (gas)
✓
Winter moratorium
✗
Medical exemption

What to do today

If you have a shutoff notice, the date on it is the one that matters. These steps work best in this order.

  1. Call your utility before the date on your notice

    Ask for a payment plan or a deferred payment arrangement. Most states require your utility to offer one, and asking before the date is what keeps your service on. The number is on your bill.

  2. Apply for energy assistance

    LIHEAP helps with utility bills and does not have to be paid back. Call the national referral line on 1-866-674-6327 weekdays 9am to 7pm Eastern, or visit energyhelp.us.

  3. Dial 211 for local help

    211 is free and connects you to local funds for utilities, rent and food. Some local agencies can pay a utility directly to stop a shutoff.

  4. Ask about medical certification

    Mississippi recognises medical protections. If anyone in your home has a serious illness or relies on powered medical equipment, a note from a doctor can delay a shutoff. Ask your utility for the form today, because it usually has to be back within days.

  5. Contact the regulator if your utility will not work with you

    psc.ms.gov handles complaints against regulated utilities in Mississippi. Filing one can pause a disconnection while it is looked at.

ElectricGasWaterMedicalLow IncomeRegulator

Electric Shutoff Rules

Regulatory notice required5 days
Reconnection feeVaries by utility
Winter moratorium: December 1–March 31 (Mid-Winter Rule): residential customers in 'extreme financial difficulty' may qualify to avoid disconnection. Customer must actively invoke this protection; it is not automatic. If a freeze warning is issued by NWS for the customer's county before 8 a.m. on the scheduled disconnection day, disconnection is prohibited for that day. Also protected: LIHEAP-approved customers when approval amount equals the delinquent balance payable within 30 days.

Major Utilities

Entergy Mississip…Mississippi Power…

Entergy Mississippi, LLC

Western and southwestern Mississippi including Jackson, Vicksburg, Natchez, Greenville and the Delta region; investor-owned utility regulated by the Mississippi Public Service Commission

5-day notice
Rule 8.120 (Mid-Winter Rule) bars Dec-Mar disconnection for customers who file a financial-hardship statement and enter a 133%-of-levelized-billing payment plan
Rule 8.125(1) bars disconnection for 60 days on a Mississippi- (or adjoining-state-) licensed physician's written life-threatening-situation certification
Rule 8.125(3) bars electric/gas disconnection if a NWS freeze warning or (electric only) excessive heat warning is in effect as of 8am on the scheduled day
Statewide PSC Rule 8.100(1) (39 Miss
Admin
Code Pt. III, Ch. 8, formerly Rule 8.A, as amended by Order in Docket 2009-AD-347, eff
9/3/2010
compiled Feb
10, 2012) requires at least 5 days' written notice before discontinuance for nonpayment or rules violation, with a stated date on/after which disconnection may occur
exceptions only for fraud, unlawful use, or a dangerous condition
Rule 8.100(2) bars weekend/holiday disconnection unless the utility is open to accept payment and restore service that day
Rule 8.100(3) requires prompt reconnection the first business day after payment
breach of that plan still requires a further 5-day written notice
The PSC rules set a generic default dispatch fee of $1.00 and reconnection charge of $2.00 (Rule 8.105(3)), but the rule text itself says individual utilities may set their own charges by filed tariff
Entergy Mississippi's own tariff page returned HTTP 404 in this pass, so its actual reconnection fee is left null rather than assumed to be the $2.00 statewide default
Mississippi rural electric cooperatives and municipally owned systems may fall under different or no PSC service-rule jurisdiction
this row applies to Entergy Mississippi as an investor-owned utility only
Assistance Programs

LIHEAP benefits equal to the delinquent balance and payable within 30 days block disconnection once the utility is notified (Rule 8.105(2)); Rule 8.120 Mid-Winter Rule extended payment plan (Dec-Mar) for customers certifying extreme financial difficulty; Rule 8.105(1) right to negotiate a delayed payment plan.

"Mississippi Public Service Commission, Rules and Regulations Governing Public Utility Service (Title 39, Part III), Rule 8 - Discontinuance of Service, compiled with amendments eff. Feb. 10, 2012." psc.ms.gov. Retrieved 21 Sep 2026.

Mississippi Power Company

Southeastern Mississippi including Gulfport, Biloxi and Hattiesburg; investor-owned utility regulated by the Mississippi Public Service Commission

5-day notice
Code Pt. III, Ch. 8) applies as to Entergy Mississippi: at least 5 days' written notice (Rule 8.100(1)), no weekend/holiday disconnection unless the office is open (Rule 8.100(2)), prompt next-business-day reconnection (Rule 8.100(3)), Dec-Mar Mid-Winter Rule payment plan (Rule 8.120), 60-day life-threatening-situation medical exception (Rule 8.125(1)), and freeze/excessive-heat-warning exemptions (Rule 8.125(3))
Same statewide PSC Rule 8 (39 Miss
Admin
This row reflects the generic PSC rule only
Mississippi Power's own tariff pages returned HTTP 404 in this pass, so no utility-specific reconnection fee is recorded (the PSC's own generic default is $2.00 per Rule 8.105(3), but that rule expressly allows utility-specific tariffs to supersede it, so it is not assumed here)
Assistance Programs

LIHEAP benefits equal to the delinquent balance and payable within 30 days block disconnection once the utility is notified (Rule 8.105(2)); Rule 8.120 Mid-Winter Rule extended payment plan (Dec-Mar) for customers certifying extreme financial difficulty.

"Mississippi Public Service Commission, Rules and Regulations Governing Public Utility Service (Title 39, Part III), Rule 8 - Discontinuance of Service, compiled with amendments eff. Feb. 10, 2012." psc.ms.gov. Retrieved 21 Sep 2026.

Gas Shutoff Rules

Regulatory notice required5 days
Reconnection feeVaries by utility

Major Utilities

Atmos Energy Corporation (Mississippi service area)

Multiple Mississippi cities and towns served by Atmos Energy's Mississippi distribution division; investor-owned gas utility regulated by the Mississippi Public Service Commission

5-day notice
Code Pt. III, Ch. 8) is a General Rule applicable to every public utility under PSC jurisdiction, including gas utilities, not only electric: at least 5 days' written notice before disconnection for nonpayment (Rule 8.100(1)), no weekend/holiday disconnection unless the office is open to accept payment (Rule 8.100(2)), prompt next-business-day reconnection (Rule 8.100(3)), Dec-Mar Mid-Winter Rule payment plan for gas and electric residential customers specifically (Rule 8.120), 60-day life-threatening-situation medical exception (Rule 8.125(1)), and a freeze-warning exemption for gas disconnection (Rule 8.125(3)(a)
the excessive-heat exemption in 8.125(3)(b) is electric-only)
PSC Rule 8 (39 Miss
Admin
Atmos's own Mississippi tariff/customer-service pages were not independently fetched in this pass, so no utility-specific reconnection fee is recorded
do not assume this is the same figure as the electric-utility default
Confidence is medium, matching Entergy Mississippi and Mississippi Power's electric rows, because all three rest on the same statewide PSC Rule 8, which the rule text confirms applies to gas utilities equally
no utility should be marked lower confidence than another resting on identical evidence
Assistance Programs

LIHEAP benefits equal to the delinquent balance and payable within 30 days block disconnection once the utility is notified (Rule 8.105(2)); Rule 8.120 Mid-Winter Rule extended payment plan (Dec-Mar) for customers certifying extreme financial difficulty.

"Mississippi Public Service Commission, Rules and Regulations Governing Public Utility Service (Title 39, Part III), Rule 8 - Discontinuance of Service, compiled with amendments eff. Feb. 10, 2012." psc.ms.gov. Retrieved 21 Sep 2026.

Water Shutoff Rules

Regulatory notice requiredNot regulated / varies

Medical & Vulnerable Household Exemptions

No confirmed statewide statutory medical exemption from primary source. Individual utilities may have policies. PSC Bill of Rights does not list medical exemption as a standard right.

Low-Income Protections

LIHEAP available. LIHEAP-approved customers explicitly protected from disconnection when approval equals delinquent balance payable within 30 days. Mississippi PSC administers utility bill payment assistance information.

Your State Regulator

File a complaint or get help from Mississippi's utility regulator →

Data last verified: 2026-09-21. Rules may change — verify with your state regulator.