“Cold Weather Rule” begins, local resources available

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) - Despite the warm summerlike weather, October has arrived, and with it comes new deadlines.

October 1st is the start of the “Cold Weather Rule”, a law that protects residents from having their utilities shut off by power companies from October through April.

The law doesn’t make it impossible to shut off utilities; residents need to set up a payment plan with their companies to stop a shut-off.

Once a Disconnect Notice has been received, residents do have other options.

“The Salvation Army here operates Emergency Social Services, and with that we have the capacity to help with utility cut-off notices, a disconnect,” Captain Andy Wheeler with the Mankato Salvation Army explained. “That’s one of the programs that is primarily sponsored by or funded by the United Way here.”

Typically, there are federally funded programs to help with utility struggles, but many of those faced cuts by the Trump administration earlier this year, and now a government shutdown has added even more hurdles to overcome.

There are some local options available, as MVAC has an Energy Assistance Program through the Minnesota Department of Commerce and the Salvation Army has their own assistance program.

“We do what we can. When we have those, when we have people experiencing that potential crisis when it comes to their utilities and when we don’t even know what to expect for the winter months, we’ve got a couple of things in place that might be really helpful,” Wheeler said.

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