Winter Utility Help in San Antonio: The Freeze-Day Rule, REAP’s $400, and What to Do Before the First Cold Snap

Texas does not have a winter shutoff ban. Northern states freeze disconnections for months at a time; Texas never has. What Texas has instead is a freeze-day rule that pauses shutoffs only on the coldest days — plus real money programs that work best when you apply before the first freeze, while funds are fresh and phone lines are calm. Here is how winter utility help actually works in San Antonio.

The freeze-day rule — a pause, not a pardon

Under the Public Utility Commission of Texas’s rules, an electric utility cannot disconnect your service on a day when yesterday’s high temperature stayed at or below 32 degrees and the forecast says the next 24 hours will stay at or below freezing (judged by the nearest National Weather Service reports). The same freeze conditions protect gas service. Providers must also offer a deferred payment plan for bills that come due during an extreme weather emergency.

Three honest limits, so the rule never surprises you:

• It is day-by-day. A mild Tuesday between two freezes is not protected. There is no protected season.
• The bill does not go away. A freeze-day pause stops the shutoff, not the balance. It keeps growing until it is paid or a plan is made.
• CPS Energy is city-owned and runs under its own policies rather than the state rulebook. If CPS is your provider, the protection that always works is the one below: call before the freeze, get on a payment plan, and apply for the help programs while offices are calm.

REAP: up to $400 a year toward your CPS bill

The Residential Energy Assistance Partnership (REAP) is a nonprofit foundation funded through CPS Energy that puts credits on the CPS bills of families in a hard season: up to $400 per year — one credit in the heating season and one in the cooling season. It serves San Antonio and Bexar County residents with low incomes who are experiencing a financial hardship and are age 60 or older, disabled, have young children at home, or depend on critical-care equipment. The City of San Antonio and Bexar County take the applications and confirm the current income limit when you apply — bring proof of income, of the hardship, and of your household size. Start with the City’s online utility assistance application, or call 2-1-1 for the current door.

CEAP: the state’s heating-bill help

Texas’s Comprehensive Energy Assistance Program (CEAP) — the state’s federal energy-assistance money — pays toward heating bills and heating crises for households at or below 150% of the federal poverty line. In Bexar County it runs through the same city and county doors as REAP. The honest catch: each season’s funds are limited and they go to the families who apply — winter money applied for in November lasts further than winter money asked for in January.

The Affordability Discount: help every month, not just winter

If your household income is at or below 125% of the federal poverty line and someone at home is 60 or older, has a disability, uses life-sustaining medical equipment, or you have preschool or school-age children at home, CPS Energy’s Affordability Discount lowers the fixed monthly service charge on your electric and gas service — every month of the year. The City determines qualifications. Ask CPS Energy about it at (210) 353-2222, and ask about free home weatherization (Casa Verde) on the same call — a sealed-up home is the cheapest heating bill there is.

If medical equipment runs on your electricity, register it now

If someone in your home would become seriously ill without electric service — oxygen, a ventilator, powered medical equipment — a Critical Care designation, confirmed by a physician, can hold a disconnection for up to 63 days from the bill while a payment plan is worked out. Winter is the wrong time to file this paperwork for the first time. Ask your provider about critical-care registration this month, before any freeze is in the forecast.

If a shutoff threat shows up, know the scam pattern

Real disconnections follow rules: a written notice, a disconnection date at least 10 days out, and no shutoffs on weekends or holidays when nobody is available to take a payment and reconnect you. Every winter, the Better Business Bureau and the PUC warn about the opposite pattern: a call or text during a freeze demanding immediate payment or your heat dies today. That is the scam playbook — utilities do not collect that way. Hang up and call the number printed on your own bill (CPS Energy: (210) 353-2222). If a provider breaks the state rules, complaints go to the Public Utility Commission at puc.texas.gov.

Before the first freeze: the 15-minute version

1. Behind on the bill? Call CPS Energy now and set up a payment plan — November hold times beat January’s.
2. Apply for REAP and CEAP while the season’s funds are fresh.
3. Enroll in the Affordability Discount if your household fits — it pays every month.
4. Register critical-care equipment if anyone at home depends on it.
5. Save the numbers below in your phone, so a freeze never finds you searching.

Our general guide covers every utility program in the city, CPS and SAWS alike: Free utility bill help in San Antonio. And help with the rest of the month — food, rent, health coverage — starts with our free 2-minute checker: Check what you qualify for.

Helpful links & phone numbers

• CPS Energy customer care & assistance programs: (210) 353-2222
• CPS Energy outages (24/7): (210) 353-4357
• 2-1-1 Texas — the door to REAP, CEAP, and local help: dial 2-1-1, free, 24/7
• Every utility program in San Antonio: our utility bill help guide
• Public Utility Commission of Texas (rules & complaints): puc.texas.gov
• San Antonio Benefits free checker: See what you may qualify for

We checked these facts on October 31, 2026, against the Public Utility Commission of Texas’s disconnection rule (16 TAC §25.29, including its extreme-weather section: no disconnection when the previous day’s high did not exceed 32°F and the next 24 hours are forecast to stay at or below freezing), the federal LIHEAP Clearinghouse’s Texas and CPS Energy program pages (REAP’s up-to-$400 yearly credit across heating and cooling seasons; the Affordability Discount at 125% of the federal poverty line; CEAP at 150%), and the BBB/PUC winter scam warning. Texas has no season-long winter moratorium — this page says so plainly rather than letting you count on one. Program funds are limited each season and each program confirms eligibility itself; nothing here promises an approval.