Florida SB 1576: Education

Bill Text

1576 
Residential Utility Disconnections 
2026-01-09T05:55:53Z 
Prohibiting an electric utility, a public utility, or a water utility from disconnecting service to residential customers for nonpayment of bills or fees under specified circumstances; requiring such utilities to waive reconnection fees and late fees in certain circumstances; prohibiting such utilities from recovering from customers any fee or expense incurred in complying with the act; requiring that all notices of nonpayment of bills and fees provide an offer of bill payment assistance or provide certain information, etc. 
Original Filed Version 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
__ 

 Florida Senate - 2026 SB 1576 

 By Senator Smith 

 17-00885A-26 20261576__ 
 1 A bill to be entitled 
 2 An act relating to residential utility disconnections; 
 3 creating s. 366.043, F.S.; defining terms; prohibiting 
 4 an electric utility, a public utility, or a water 
 5 utility from disconnecting service to residential 
 6 customers for nonpayment of bills or fees under 
 7 specified circumstances; requiring such utilities to 
 8 waive reconnection fees and late fees in certain 
 9 circumstances; requiring such utilities to refer to 
 10 the National Weather Service for the forecasted heat 
 11 index and forecasted temperatures; prohibiting such 
 12 utilities from disconnecting service to residential 
 13 customers for nonpayment of bills or fees on specified 
 14 days; prohibiting such utilities from recovering from 
 15 customers any fee or expense incurred in complying 
 16 with the act; requiring such utilities to provide, in 
 17 a specified manner, their policy for disconnection for 
 18 nonpayment to residential customers; requiring an 
 19 electric utility to publish alerts informing 
 20 residential customers of certain disconnection 
 21 suspensions; requiring that all notices of nonpayment 
 22 of bills and fees provide an offer of bill payment 
 23 assistance or provide certain information; prohibiting 
 24 such utilities from disconnecting service for 
 25 nonpayment of bills and fees until an account is past 
 26 due by at least a specified number of days; providing 
 27 construction; authorizing such utilities to suspend 
 28 disconnections voluntarily in order to protect the 
 29 health and safety of customers and the reliability of 
 30 services; providing penalties and remedies; providing 
 31 an effective date. 
 32 
 33 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
 34 
 35 Section 1. Section 366.043, Florida Statutes, is created to 
 36 read: 
 37 366.043 Disconnection of utilities.— 
 38 (1) As used in this section, the term: 
 39 (a) “Extreme weather event” means any event in which 
 40 weather, climate, or environmental conditions present a danger 
 41 to life or property, including, but not limited to, heavy 
 42 rainfall, flooding, storm surge, strong winds, a tropical storm 
 43 or depression, a hurricane, or a tornado. 
 44 (b) “Forecasted heat index” means the measure of how hot 
 45 the outdoor weather will feel to the human body when the effects 
 46 of humidity are added to high temperatures predicted by the 
 47 National Weather Service. 
 48 (c) “Water utility” means a water or wastewater utility 
 49 including every person, lessee, trustee, or receiver owning, 
 50 operating, managing, controlling, or proposing the construction 
 51 of a system, which provides, or proposes to provide, water or 
 52 wastewater service to the public for compensation. 
 53 (2) An electric utility, a public utility, or a water 
 54 utility may not disconnect service to any residential customer 
 55 for the nonpayment of bills or fees if: 
 56 (a) The forecasted heat index is at or above 90 degrees 
 57 Fahrenheit for more than 3 consecutive hours within the 24 hours 
 58 before or after the scheduled disconnection; 
 59 (b) The forecasted temperature is at or below 32 degrees 
 60 Fahrenheit for more than 3 consecutive hours within 48 hours 
 61 before the scheduled disconnection; or 
 62 (c) A state of emergency is declared for an extreme weather 
 63 event or public health emergency within 24 hours before or after 
 64 the scheduled disconnection. Scheduled service disconnections 
 65 may resume upon the shorter of either 24 hours after the state 
 66 of emergency is lifted or 60 days after the declaration of the 
 67 state of emergency. 
 68 (3) An electric utility, a public utility, or a water 
 69 utility must waive reconnection fees and late fees for any 
 70 residential customer attempting to reestablish utility service 
 71 after being disconnected for nonpayment if: 
 72 (a) The heat index is at or above 90 degrees Fahrenheit for 
 73 more than 3 consecutive hours on the day of disconnection; or 
 74 (b) The temperature is at or below 32 degrees Fahrenheit 
 75 for more than 3 consecutive hours on the day of disconnection. 
 76 (4) To ascertain the forecasted heat index and forecasted 
 77 temperature