Can an NC utility company turn off your power during extreme weather?
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Three people were found dead inside a mobile home in Rocky Mount with neighbors and family members telling local media they were using a generator after their power was disconnected.
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The family was behind on their electric bill and their power had recently been turned off, The News & Observer’s reporting partner ABC11 found.
In mid-July, the town of Rocky Mount announced it would begin disconnecting power from homes with an outstanding balance on July 20 after the second of two state audits.
The first audit from the North Carolina State Auditor’s Office found “poor personnel decisions and egregious overspending” lead to Rocky Mount residents facing increasing “property taxes and utility rates, pauses in capital improvement projects and the elimination of city jobs.”
The second audit looked at why utility customers in Rocky Mount received two bills within a single month in December 2025. That report found customers weren’t double-billed, and the two bills sent to customers was an attempt “to fix a long-running gap in billing timeliness.”
The city, it said, gave customers more than six months to resolve outstanding balances, and a total of 73 accounts were disconnected on July 20, according to the town’s website.
In an email Thursday afternoon, the city said the cause of death for the three individuals have not been determined, the investigation remained ongoing and no other information would be released.
“While no words can ease the pain of such a loss, moments like this remind us of the importance of continually evaluating how we can best serve and support our community,” said Rocky Mount Mayor Sandy Roberson on Facebook. “I have asked the City Manager to explore whether there are opportunities to provide greater flexibility in our utility payment policies for residents who are making a good-faith effort to pay their bills, while also ensuring that any changes protect the integrity of the system and prevent abuse.”
Most people in North Carolina get their electricity from a private company, like Duke Energy, that is regulated by the North Carolina Utilities Commission.
But not everyone.
About 1.6 million people in North Carolina have their homes or workplaces powered by more than 70 public power agencies, including in Wake Forest, Apex, Clayton and Rocky Mount.
It depends on the policies of each city or town.
“Since municipal utilities are governed locally, disconnection policies vary among those utilities,” said Elizabeth Kadick, vice president of communications for ElectriCities of North Carolina, a membership organization for public power systems in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. “For a specific city or town’s local policy, I’d need to refer you directly to that city or town.”
The city of Rocky Mount has a policy for extreme weather, which says it “may not exercise its rights to disconnect service for non-payment of any bill due to extreme weather conditions.”
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“Winter temperatures that stay below 30 degrees for several days or summer temperatures that exceed 90 degrees for multiple days are considered extreme weather conditions,” according to the policy.
The city checks the official National Weather Service forecast to determine whether temperatures are forecast to exceed 90 degrees, according to a statement from the town.
Rocky Mount was forecasted to have a high of 86 degrees on Monday, July 20, 91 degrees on July 21 and 86 degrees on July 22, according to a July 20 weather briefing from the National Weather Service.
In Wake County, both Wake Forest and Apex, for example, will not “disconnect service for non-payment of any bill when the Town knows the safety and well-being of its customers is at stake,” according to a copy of the internal customer care policy for the two towns.
The towns won’t disconnect services on “any extremely cold winter day” or “extremely hot summer day,” which they define as being below 32 degrees or above 100 degrees, all day.
While the North Carolina Utilities Commission doesn’t regulate town and membership cooperatives that provide electric or gas, it does oversee other public utility companies like Duke Energy.
Those rules don’t specifically stop a company from disconnecting power during extreme temperatures, but the rules stop some disconnections during winter months.
Between Nov. 1 through March 31, utility companies cannot disconnect service to homes with:
Under the North Carolina Utilities Commission rules, which only applies to public utility companies and not municipal or membership cooperatives, an electric or natural gas utility must provide written notice at least 10 days before disconnecting service.
Power cannot be disconnected on Fridays, weekends, on state or federal holidays or a day before a state of federal holiday, according to the North Carolina Department of Justice.
This story was originally published August 7, 2026 at 8:27 AM with the headline “Can an NC utility company turn off your power during extreme weather?.”
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