Bill Text (PDF)

Washington (November 12, 2025) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, today introduced the Stop Shut-Offs During Shutdowns Act, legislation that calls on electric and gas utilities across the country to immediately suspend shut-offs of service for nonpayment during federal government shutdowns.

The MAGA Republican federal shutdown froze the release of funding for many essential services that American families rely on, including the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps millions of struggling households pay their heating and cooling bills. Many state utility regulators and utilities have already put a moratorium on service disconnections under certain conditions, including winter weather. This legislation would push states and utilities to add federal funding disruptions as a reason to prevent shut-offs of gas or electric service.

As temperatures plummet across the country and electricity costs continue to skyrocket — by more than 11 percent since the start of the year — the Stop Shut-Offs During Shutdowns Act makes clear that power shut-offs should not be weaponized in any federal shutdown.

Since states have the primary authority to govern electric and gas rates, this bill would amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act to require that state utility regulators consider adopting a moratorium on electric service shut-offs during federal government shutdowns.

The Stop Shut-Offs During Shutdowns Act sets a sense of Congress that:

• No electric or natural gas service to a consumer should be terminated based on inability to pay;
• Reasonable efforts should be made to safely reconnect electric and natural gas consumers that have lost service;
• No electric or natural gas consumer should be charged for reconnection services;
• Late fees and other penalties should be waived for electric and natural gas consumers; and
• There should be no increases in cost-of-service to electric and natural gas consumers.

The Stop Shut-Offs During Shutdowns Act is cosponsored by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.).

This bill is endorsed by WE ACT for Environmental Justice, Public Citizen, National Energy Assistance Directors Association, National Consumer Law Center, and the Center on Energy, Poverty and Climate.

Senator Markey is a champion for energy access, affordability, and reliability.

• This month, Senator Markey published an op-ed with the Executive Director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA) calling for gas and electric utilities nationwide to stop all shut-offs during the shutdown.
• In April, Senator Markey called out Secretary of the Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for firing nearly all the federal employees responsible for administering the LIHEAP program and led a letter with the entire Massachusetts delegation on the resulting impacts to the state.
• Also in April, Senator Markey and Representative Yassamin Ansari (AZ-03) reintroduced the Heating and Cooling Relief Act, bold legislation to significantly expand and modernize the severely underfunded LIHEAP.
• In March, Senator Markey hosted a roundtable with Massachusetts LIHEAP providers, consumer advocates, and national energy assistance organizations to discuss the urgent need to strengthen and expand LIHEAP.

###