But the cold weather law only protects you from a shut-off if shutting off electricity or gas affects your heat. The cold weather law does not apply if your heat is included in your rent, like in some large apartment buildings.
With any utility provider, you can set up a payment plan:
Payment Plan
You can make a plan with the gas and electric company for the entire cold weather period to pay a set amount each month. This amount can be less than the full bill. The amount must make sense with what your income is. You won’t be shut off if you make all the payments. Call the utility if you cannot make the payments you agreed to and try to make a new plan.
With any publicly regulated utility provider (like Xcel or CenterPoint), your service is protected if you pay 10% of your monthly income toward your bill:
10% Plan
You won’t be shut off in any month that you pay at least 10% of your income toward the bill. Energy Assistance doesn’t count as income. If you have gas from one company and electricity from another, the 10% gets divided between the two.
