Arkansas utility laws give residential customers a specific set of protections around deposits, billing, disconnection, and dispute resolution, enforced by the Arkansas Public Service Commission (APSC). If you’re worried about a shut-off notice, a bill you think is wrong, or how to keep service on when money is tight, the rules below are the ones to lean on.
Which Utilities the APSC Regulates
The APSC oversees investor-owned electric, gas, water, and sewer utilities, electric cooperatives, and larger water and sewer providers.1Arkansas Public Service Commission. Arkansas Public Service Commission – Electric It does not regulate municipally owned utilities. If your electricity, gas, or water comes from a city-owned utility, the APSC generally has no authority over your service, and the rules in this article may not apply. The one exception is pipeline safety: the Commission keeps jurisdiction over municipal gas pipelines under the Arkansas Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act.2Public Service Commission. Commission History
Shut-Off Notice Requirements
A regulated utility cannot cut your service without written warning. The shut-off notice must arrive at least five calendar days before disconnection. If it’s mailed, the utility adds three days for delivery, so you effectively have eight days from the mailing date. A hand-delivered notice must be left somewhere conspicuous at your home.3Code of Arkansas Rules. 23 CAR 455-604 – Notification of Suspension of Service
The notice itself has required contents. It has to state the reason for disconnection and the overdue amount, what you need to do to prevent the shut-off, the deadline, that you can call the business office to ask for a delayed payment agreement, special protections for customers with medical conditions, customers 65 or older, and customers with disabilities, the reconnection costs, and the APSC’s mailing address and toll-free number. For electric and gas accounts, the notice also has to list federal, state, and local bill payment assistance programs.4Code of Arkansas Rules. 23 CAR 455-607 – Form and Contents of Shut-Off Notice
If the notice you received is missing any of this, that’s grounds to call the utility and the APSC before you pay anything disputed.
When Disconnection Is Not Allowed
Utilities can only disconnect during normal business office hours, which in practice rules out weekends and holidays when you’d have no way to resolve the problem.5Code of Arkansas Rules. 23 CAR 455-609 – Suspension Procedures
The Cold Weather Rule goes further for gas and electric service. A residential customer cannot be disconnected on any day when the National Weather Service forecasts a temperature of 32 degrees Fahrenheit or lower at any point in the next 24 hours.6Arkansas Public Service Commission. Suspension of Service – Section: Cold Weather Rule A parallel heat protection exists for elderly and disabled customers: utilities cannot disconnect them when the temperature is forecast to reach 95 degrees or higher.7LIHEAP Clearinghouse. Seasonal Termination Protection Regulations
Medical Certificate
If a shut-off would seriously harm the health of someone in your household or put them at substantial risk of death, you can stop the disconnection with a physician’s certificate. Once the utility receives the certificate, it has to postpone disconnection, or reconnect service that was already cut, for up to 30 days. You can renew the certificate once for another 30 days, but the new certificate has to arrive before the first 30-day period runs out.8Code of Arkansas Rules. 23 CAR 455-617 – Medical Need for Utility Service The debt doesn’t go away during those 60 days, so use the time to set up a payment plan or apply for assistance.
Delayed Payment Agreements
If you’re behind and the shut-off date is approaching, you have the right to a delayed payment agreement before service is cut. Utilities must offer them to any residential customer, and to small commercial customers whose average bill over the last 12 months is $200 or less.9Code of Arkansas Rules. 23 CAR 455-613 – Delayed Payment Agreement and Extension
The minimum terms protect you:
- The down payment can’t be more than one-quarter of the overdue balance, and you have three business days to deliver it.
- You must get at least three months of equal installments after the down payment.
- You have to keep paying each new bill on time while the agreement is in effect.
There’s no cap on how many of these agreements you can enter over the years, as long as you qualify each time. The utility can refuse one, though, if you broke the terms of an earlier agreement in the last 12 months, or if you tampered with equipment or misrepresented facts to get service within the last 24 months.9Code of Arkansas Rules. 23 CAR 455-613 – Delayed Payment Agreement and Extension
Timing is critical. You have to request the agreement before the last day to pay printed on the shut-off notice. Miss that deadline and the utility is no longer required to offer one.
Getting Service Reconnected
Once you’ve resolved the problem that caused the shut-off, the utility has to reconnect. If the disconnection was your fault, reconnection happens in the normal course of business. If the utility was at fault, it has to be immediate.10Code of Arkansas Rules. 23 CAR 455-612 – Reconnection of Service
Before restoring service, the utility can require you to pay APSC-approved reconnection fees, late charges, and collection fees. It cannot demand payment for usage that hasn’t been billed yet or that is billed but not yet overdue, which means the utility can’t hold your lights hostage for the entire account balance.10Code of Arkansas Rules. 23 CAR 455-612 – Reconnection of Service Tampering and unauthorized use are the exception: in those cases the utility can require payment for damaged equipment and estimated unauthorized usage first, and can refuse reconnection entirely unless the APSC orders otherwise.
Deposits and Late Fees
When you apply for new service, the utility can require a refundable deposit, but it cannot exceed the estimated bill for two average billing periods. If the estimated monthly bill is $100, the deposit maxes out at $200. You can split it in half, paying one portion before service starts and the rest with your first bill.11Arkansas Public Service Commission. General Information – Section: Deposits
The deposit earns simple interest at a rate the APSC sets each year, which cannot exceed 10 percent.12Justia. Arkansas Code 23-4-206 – Interest on Deposits Pay every bill on time for 12 consecutive months and the utility has to return the deposit with interest.11Arkansas Public Service Commission. General Information – Section: Deposits
On late fees, Arkansas utilities use one of two billing structures and the rules differ. If your bill is due at least 22 days after mailing, the utility can charge a late fee, but it’s capped at 10 percent of the first $30 overdue plus 2 percent of the rest. If your due date is at least 14 days after mailing, no late fee is allowed at all.13Arkansas Public Service Commission. Your Utility Bills If a late charge on your bill looks off, call the business office and ask which cycle your account is on.
Disputing a Bill or Filing a Complaint
Start with the utility. You have to make a good-faith attempt to resolve the problem with the company before the APSC will take a complaint. While a billing dispute is under investigation, the utility cannot shut off service for the disputed amount, but you still have to pay the parts of the bill you aren’t contesting.
If that doesn’t work, file an informal complaint with the APSC’s Consumer Services office by phone, letter, or through the website. Have your name, address, the utility’s name, the facts, and any supporting documents ready. The utility has 15 days to respond once Consumer Services contacts it, and the APSC checks whether the company followed state law, Commission rules, and its own tariff.14Arkansas Public Service Commission. File a Complaint
If informal review doesn’t resolve things, you can file a formal complaint in writing with the Secretary of the Commission. An Administrative Law Judge is assigned, the utility has 20 days to respond, and the case can proceed to a hearing. The resulting Commission Order binds both sides unless overturned on appeal.14Arkansas Public Service Commission. File a Complaint
Consumer Services: 501-682-1718, or toll-free in Arkansas at 1-800-482-1164. Mail: P.O. Box 400, Little Rock, AR 72203-0400.
Help Paying the Bill
Arkansas participates in the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). It offers two kinds of help: a regular benefit based on household income, size, and energy source, and a crisis benefit meant to prevent disconnection, restore service that’s already been cut, or replace depleted fuel.15Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment. Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
Applications are first-come, first-served through community-based organizations in your county, generally from January through April 30 and again July through September 30. You’ll need a photo ID, Social Security cards for household members 18 and older, your most recent utility bills, and proof of income.15Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment. Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) If you’re facing disconnection and the regular application window is closed, ask the local CBO whether crisis assistance is available on a different schedule.
Federal Protections That May Apply
Bankruptcy
If you file for bankruptcy, 11 U.S.C. ยง 366 blocks your utility from cutting off service solely because of the filing or because you owe money for pre-filing service. The utility must keep service on unless you fail to provide adequate assurance of future payment within 20 days of the bankruptcy order (30 days in a Chapter 11 case). That assurance can be a cash deposit, letter of credit, surety bond, or prepayment. If you and the utility can’t agree on an amount, the bankruptcy court sets it.16Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 366 – Utility Service
Military Relocation
Active-duty service members who receive orders to relocate for 90 days or more to an area that doesn’t support their existing service contracts can cancel without early termination fees under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. Covered contracts include cell phone, landline, internet, cable or satellite TV, gym memberships, and home security. You give the provider written notice and a copy of your orders, and the contract must have been signed before the orders came through. Family members who move with you are covered on the same account. Any outstanding balance or taxes still have to be paid, but no cancellation penalty applies.17Justia. 50 USC 3956 – Termination of Certain Consumer Contracts