An Ohio household whose electric or natural gas service has been shut off can get it back by paying only $175 of what it owes, plus a reconnection fee capped at $36 up front. That is the rule of the state’s Special Reconnect Order, a winter protection that applies even when the unpaid balance is far higher. The Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, the state’s residential utility advocate, publishes the terms, and the order carries no income limit.
What a shut-off household pays
The Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel says on its Special Reconnect Order fact sheet that customers “pay only $175 to maintain or reconnect service even if their outstanding balance is higher.” A customer whose utility may charge a reconnection fee “may be charged a reconnection fee of no more than $36 upfront to restore service.” If the company’s fee is higher than $36, the customer may have to pay the balance on the next month’s bill.
The fact sheet does not say whether the $36 comes out of the $175 or is added to it, so a household should ask the utility for the exact figure to be paid on the day service is restored. Customers who owe more than $175 “will need to enroll in a payment plan with their utility for any remaining past-due amount.” The $175 gets the service on. It does not wipe out the rest of the bill.
The question for a household with the power or gas off today is what the smallest payment is that gets service back on. Going by the fact sheet, the answer is $175 toward the balance and a reconnection fee of no more than $36 up front, with the remaining past-due amount moved onto a payment plan. The fact sheet’s instruction on how to start is short: “customers should contact their utility to use the SRO.” Nothing on the page asks for income paperwork first.
Paying $175 gets a shut-off household’s service restored, but the larger past-due balance and the next winter’s bills remain. The Senior Property Tax & Home-Cost Relief Kit includes heating, cooling and home-repair help and an application log and renewal calendar, so each assistance application and its renewal date is tracked in one place.
Track Ohio utility-help applications in the Home-Cost Relief Kit →
Who can use the order
The fact sheet states plainly that “there are no income restrictions to use the SRO.” It applies to electric and natural gas customers of a utility regulated by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. The nine utilities it lists are AES Ohio, AEP Ohio, CenterPoint Energy, Columbia Gas of Ohio, Duke Energy, Enbridge Gas, and FirstEnergy’s The Illuminating Company, Ohio Edison and Toledo Edison.
Income does come into play in a separate program. The fact sheet says households with total income at or below 175 percent of the federal income guidelines may be eligible for help with the $175 through the Winter Crisis Program. That test belongs to the Winter Crisis Program, not to the reconnect order itself.
When the order is available
The order is a seasonal protection. The fact sheet lists the most recent season as October 13, 2025 through April 15, 2026, and the consumers’ counsel’s homepage describes the order as available from mid-October to mid-April. A household reading in October should confirm with its utility that the current season is in effect, since the fact sheet carries last season’s dates.
A related limit appears on the same page. When a Winter Crisis Program appointment is made with a local provider, utilities regulated by PUCO must delay disconnection for 30 days after the appointment date. That 30-day disconnection hold “may only be used once per year.” The page states the once-a-year limit for the hold, not for the reconnect order.
Phone numbers on the fact sheet
The fact sheet gives a customer line for each utility, including AES Ohio at 1-800-433-8500, AEP Ohio at 1-800-672-2231, CenterPoint Energy at 1-800-227-1376, Columbia Gas of Ohio at 1-800-344-4077, Duke Energy at 1-800-544-6900 and Enbridge Gas at 1-800-362-7557. The three FirstEnergy companies list The Illuminating Company at 1-800-589-3101, Ohio Edison at 1-800-633-4766 and Toledo Edison at 1-800-447-3333.
For questions about the order itself, the page lists the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio at 1-800-686-7826. The local energy assistance provider, usually a community action agency, is listed at 1-800-282-0880.
Before calling the utility
The free source for the order’s terms is the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, whose homepage describes the Special Reconnect Order as a winter protection. A household can have the latest shut-off or past-due notice in hand, which shows the balance owed and the utility’s reconnection fee.
Three questions cover the call: what exactly must be paid on the day of reconnection, whether the $36 fee is separate from the $175, and what the payment plan on the remaining balance will cost each month. Writing down the date, the name of the representative and the amount quoted gives the household a record if the bill later disagrees.
The $175 figure and the $36 fee cap both come from the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel’s Special Reconnect Order fact sheet.
A $175 payment, and a balance still owed
A household that pays $175 to get service back still faces the rest of the past-due amount on a payment plan, and a missed application for heating help can mean the next shut-off. The Senior Property Tax & Home-Cost Relief Kit covers heating, cooling and home-repair help, and its application log and renewal calendar keep each program’s deadline in view.
Keep the Ohio heating-help deadlines in the Home-Cost Relief Kit’s calendar →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
