Which place’s debt rules apply—and who can help?

S_ID PASS-16 — Idaho regulated residential electric and natural-gas arrears, deposits, termination, restoration, and complaints

Fresh public-source access date: October 28, 2026, America/Los_Angeles.

Scope: Generic customer protections governing commission-regulated residential electric and natural-gas service. Water, sewer, telecommunications, municipal and cooperative service, landlord-tenant remedies, and federal assistance programs are not completed by this pass.

Evidence disposition

The official current-published Utility Customer Relations Rules, IDAPA 31.21.01, were recovered and read. Official records also establish the relevant 2024 rule adoption and the July 1, 2025 amendment making the final written termination notice mandatory. A generic statewide final order establishing 4.0% annual customer-deposit interest for calendar year 2026 was recovered.

The attempted official Idaho statutory bodies were not readable. Title 61 statutory findings below therefore remain provisional readings of the identified 2025 reproductions. Recovery of the official rules does not authenticate every statutory incorporation or close earlier C033/C035 holds.

No actual or invented utility, customer, household, premises, bill, deposit, medical condition, account, tariff, complaint, or transaction is evaluated.

Principal findings

The rules govern a defined regulatory relationship, not all utility activity statewide. Municipal and specified nonprofit/cooperative entities are excluded from the reproduced statutory definition of “corporation,” while private-property and other exceptions also matter. A service-regulation exclusion does not establish exemption from every safety, contract, consumer, or federal law. [C002–C003.] Justia Law+2

Billing protection, service eligibility, and debt liability are separate. The rules limit termination for particular arrears, require specified billing corrections and payment-arrangement consideration, and protect service during defined complaint processes. They do not make every bill valid, erase every disputed charge, or forgive a balance when service must continue. [C006–C010, C026, C039–C041.] ProdDFMMainSA+1

The current termination rule differs materially from older 2024 text. Rule 304.02 now requires a final written notice. Its particular “calendar days, excluding weekends and holidays” wording and contact requirement must be preserved rather than replaced with a generic three-day rule. [C005, C023–C024.] ProdDFMMainSA

Winter protection is conditional and contains an unresolved internal timing tension. Rule 306.01 protects qualifying households during December through March, while Rule 306.05 references March 1 for a protected customer without a Winter Payment Plan. Both clauses are retained; this pass does not shorten the first clause or resolve the inconsistency by assumption. [C030–C034.] ProdDFMMainSA

Medical postponement and restoration have express predicates and limited duration. The certificate, receipt, restoration, second-certificate discretion, and continuing duty to pay undisputed bills are separate requirements. No diagnosis, eligibility, or certification is supplied. [C035, C038.] ProdDFMMainSA

1. Regulatory scope, actors, and authority

The following evidence labels apply:

• O — Official legal body read: the operative published rule or generic order was read.
• P — Provisional statute: a dated secondary statutory reproduction was read.
• H — Held: a material incorporation, currentness, construction, or application question remains unresolved.

1.1 Actor and service distinctions

[C002–C003; S003 Rules 005, 100, 300, 600; S009-A.] ProdDFMMainSA+1

1.2 Rules, tariffs, discretion, and exemptions

Rules 003 and 009 distinguish informal staff interpretation from Commission decisions. Rule 003 permits a request for formal review and allows a temporary or permanent rule exemption for unusual hardship under the stated Commission process. It is not a self-executing waiver.

Rule 010 expressly supersedes a tariff provision that denies or restricts rights protected by the customer rules. Conversely, the rules do not supply every rate, late charge, reconnection charge, service-class boundary, or approved payment term. Those tariff-dependent matters remain held because identifying tariffs and policies were outside the authorized inquiry. [C004.] ProdDFMMainSA

The reproduced statutes require just and reasonable charges, adequate and safe service, reasonable rules, and nondiscriminatory treatment. Section 61-313’s filed-schedule requirement has its own statutory qualifications. These principles do not prove that an actual charge is approved or owed. [C002, C004; S009-B.] Justia Law+3

2. Billing, liability, due dates, and correction

2.1 Required bill information and customer information

Rules 200–201 distinguish a bill from an oral information statement and require the material billing information:

Rule 700 separately requires customer-rights information at service commencement and at least annually, with applicable electronic-delivery conditions and rate information available on request. These are information duties, not validation of the billed balance. [C006, C051.] ProdDFMMainSA+1

2.2 Due date and income-timing hardship

Rule 202 provides:

• At least fifteen days from the billing date for payment.
• If mailing or delivery occurs more than three days after the billing date, at least twelve days after mailing or delivery.
• For the specified residential income-timing hardship, upon the required written certification, an extension of up to fifteen additional days or a change in billing cycle.

The rule does not say that every bill becomes immediately terminable when delinquent. Termination requires its separate grounds, notices, timing, and protections. [C007.] ProdDFMMainSA

2.3 Responsibility for another balance

Rule 206 distinguishes the named customer or person assuming responsibility from other occupants. A household relationship alone does not establish liability for another person’s utility debt.

The rule also requires notice when the utility proposes to add another person’s balance or the customer’s own former-location balance following the specified service gap of more than sixty calendar days. The notice must identify the relevant debt, reason, payment-arrangement opportunity, contest right, and response deadline.

Its response clause uses at least seven calendar days from the date of the proposed action. That wording is not replaced with seven days after actual receipt. [C008.] ProdDFMMainSA

2.4 Billing-error adjustment rules

[C009; S003 Rule 203; S009-D § 61-642.] ProdDFMMainSA+2

Rule 207 requires removal of an unordered or unauthorized nonutility charge within two billing cycles after the customer’s notification. The rule’s lack-of-knowledge qualification does not convert unauthorized charges into utility-service charges. [C010.] ProdDFMMainSA

3. Deposits, interest, refund, and guarantees

3.1 Residential deposit predicates

Rule 101 does not permit a residential deposit merely because the applicant lacks a utility credit history. It requires the rule’s credit-risk or property-risk showing and the specified grounds.

The bankruptcy/receiver paragraph is expressly limited by what federal bankruptcy law permits. No federal deposit exception is concluded here. [C011.] ProdDFMMainSA

Rule 102 prohibits the listed residential criteria—including ownership/location, income level or source, employment characteristics, race, creed, sex, age, national origin, marital/dependent status, and unauthorized criteria—and requires uniform treatment. Rule 104 requires an immediate explanation, opportunity to rebut, and notice of the complaint right. [C012.] ProdDFMMainSA+1

3.2 Deposit amount and installments

Let EEE denote the rule-defined reasonable estimate of annual service charges at current rates. The ordinary rule states:

Deposit≤E6\text{Deposit} \leq \frac{E}{6}Deposit≤6E​The heating-only natural-gas branch instead uses the sum of the two highest bills in the previous twelve consecutive months, adjusted to current rates. Estimates depend on the rule’s prior-premises-use or equipment information—not an invented household forecast.

The utility must advise of the two-installment option: one half immediately and the balance one month later. [C013.] ProdDFMMainSA

No deposit amount, annualized consumption, or interest calculation is made.

3.3 Interest and 2026 adopted rate

Rule 106 governs accrual from deposit or installment until refund or application, with the specified temporary-discontinuance and unsuccessful-refund-attempt exceptions. It directs the annual rate determination using the prior November 1–October 31 average for one-year Treasury bills, rounded to the nearest whole percent for the next calendar year.

The generic final order actually read establishes 4.0% annual interest for calendar year 2026 on covered customer deposits. This is an adopted rate, not a calculation performed here. No 2027 rate is inferred. [C014; S007, printed page 1/PDF index 0.] Idaho Public Utilities Commission

The order also addresses deferred accounts using that rate. This pass does not identify an actual deferred account or apply the rate outside the order’s scope.

3.4 Refund, transfer, and records

[C015–C016.] ProdDFMMainSA+1

The § 14-531 unclaimed-property incorporation was not authenticated. Its present numbering and full operation remain held.

Guarantee boundary

Rule 400 permits complaints about a deposit or written guarantee required as a service condition, but current Rule 103 is reserved. This pass did not establish a general right to substitute a guarantor, a universal guarantee ceiling, or a complete guarantee-release regime. Third-party notification under Rule 307 is expressly different from assuming payment liability. [C037, C053.]

4. Payment arrangements and allocation

4.1 Continued service through a reasonable arrangement

Rule 313 requires continued service when the customer and utility agree on a reasonable immediate portion and a schedule for the remainder. Reasonableness includes ability to pay, balance, payment history, elapsed time, and why the balance remains unpaid.

For a customer unable to attend the local office, the gas/electric utility must provide the stated remote or home arrangement methods upon request. A second arrangement after default is discretionary. [C017.] ProdDFMMainSA

4.2 Allocation, level payment, and nonwaiver

[C018–C019.] ProdDFMMainSA

An arrangement is not a reduced principal, a permanent hardship status, or an adjudication that every charge included in it is lawful.

5. Denial and termination

5.1 Grounds and inadequate grounds

Rule 301 requires an explanation of a denial, the steps required to qualify, and the Commission complaint right. Existing occupants may also receive Rule 312 protection. [C020.]

Grounds with prior notice

Rule 302 identifies the specified undisputed nonpayment/dishonored-payment grounds, required-deposit default, payment-arrangement default, material misrepresentation, denial of meter access, willful waste/interference, and minor-competency branch. Its recent-balance connection provision must be read with Rule 310 and the winter exceptions. [C021.] ProdDFMMainSA

Grounds without prior notice

Rule 303 separately identifies:

• Immediate dangerous conditions or prevention of specified safety/health-code violations.
• A court, Commission, or other duly authorized public order.
• Unauthorized, diverted, or illegal use.
• Diligent but unsuccessful attempts to satisfy Rule 304’s contact requirements.

These are not interchangeable with ordinary arrears. A nonpayment balance alone does not establish a dangerous-condition exception. [C022.] ProdDFMMainSA

Insufficient grounds

Let BBB mean the unpaid bill cited as the termination ground and C2C_2C2​ the rule’s two-month service-charge measure. Rule 310.01(a) prohibits termination or a termination notice when:

B<min⁡($50, C2)B < \min($50,\ C_2)B<min($50, C2​)The inequality is strict. The other insufficient grounds concern another customer’s debt without legal responsibility, another class of service, nonutility goods/services, specified old service debt, a pending Commission complaint, and a pending Idaho court issue unless the court authorizes termination.

The denial-of-new-service paragraph incorporates 310.01(b)–(f), not the small-balance paragraph (a). [C026.] ProdDFMMainSA

The four-year service-debt provision and its written-promise/payment qualification are service-eligibility rules here, not a finding about the ordinary debt limitation period or revival.

5.2 Current notice sequence

[C023–C024.] ProdDFMMainSA

The current final-notice paragraph’s wording is preserved. It is not rewritten into either an optional letter or a universal “three business days after receipt” rule.

5.3 Required notice content

Rule 305 requires the grounds with rule citation, proposed date, steps to avoid termination, medical-certificate protection, dispute/review rights, Commission contact information, bold payment-arrangement language in written notices, and the prescribed payment-allocation/nonutility-charge explanation.

Gas/electric residential notices during November through February must also explain winter restrictions and the Winter Payment Plan. That notice period is not identical to every protection or reconnection period in Rule 306. [C025.] ProdDFMMainSA+1

5.4 Day and hour restrictions

[C027.] These hours do not establish that any underlying ground or notice is valid. ProdDFMMainSA

During a premises visit, Rule 311 says the employee may identify the visit’s purpose and may be authorized to accept payment. It does not universally require an on-site cash-collection opportunity. Acceptance under the stated branch prevents the termination. The reconnecting-information notice also uses discretionary wording. [C028.]

5.5 Nonsubscriber occupants and master-metered service

Rule 312 covers residents of master-metered buildings or mobile-home courts, premises where the billed customer is not an occupant, and interim service after a customer’s termination request.

Except for the specified dangerous-condition and authorized-order branches, written notice is required at least two calendar days, excluding weekends and holidays, before proposed denial or termination. The rule says the notice should be delivered or conspicuously posted in the described manner. Its required contents concern the date, action, reason, means of obtaining/retaining service, and complaint right. [C029.] ProdDFMMainSA

This is a utility-notice rule, not a determination of landlord liability, tenant remedies, inherited debt, or entitlement under a specific tariff.

6. Winter, medical, vulnerable-occupant, and third-party provisions

6.1 Winter eligibility and definitions

Rule 306.01 prohibits termination or threats during December through March, except Rule 303 circumstances, for a residential customer who declares inability to pay in full for the primary household and whose primary household includes:

• A child aged eighteen or younger, excluding an emancipated minor who is the customer.
• A person aged sixty-two or older.
• A person whose physical health or safety would be seriously impaired by termination.

These are statutory-rule categories, not actual eligibility findings or income thresholds. [C030.] ProdDFMMainSA

6.2 Winter Payment Plan and the unresolved date tension

[C031, C033.] ProdDFMMainSA

Unresolved internal relation: Rule 306.05 directs payment or a new arrangement on or after March 1 without a Winter Payment Plan, or April 1 with one, and says failure may lead to termination. Rule 306.01 nevertheless states December-through-March protection. Neither clause is deleted or rewritten here. A precise harmonizing interpretation remains required before applying the non-plan March branch. [C032.]

The rule does not protect the stated unoccupied or refused-application residences. The same-utility move and recent-former-customer provisions operate during December, January, and February, notwithstanding a balance, with a separate thirty-day application relation for the former-customer branch. They are not automatically extended to every month in .01. [C034.] ProdDFMMainSA

6.3 Medical certificate

[C035.] No certificate, diagnosis, medical opinion, recurrence limit beyond the text, or permanent protection is supplied. ProdDFMMainSA

6.4 Institutional care is a separate branch

Rule 309 concerns a customer known to be, or identifying itself as, the described medical-care or shelter-care facility. The final notice goes to both the customer and Commission. On Commission request, termination is delayed at least seven calendar days from the notice date.

This is not an automatic household medical certificate, not a universal emergency-service moratorium, and not a completed facility-qualification analysis. [C036.] ProdDFMMainSA

6.5 Third-party notification

Rule 307 provides a designated-contact program, not a guarantee of payment. Rule 313.07 permits the utility, after the specified contact and seven-day nonresponse, to treat the customer as contacted and declining a reasonable arrangement.

The published Rule 307 cross-reference says 313.08, while the actual third-party-contact provision is 313.07. That mismatch is preserved; no missing subsection is invented. [C037.] ProdDFMMainSA+1

No generally applicable numeric heat threshold, temperature-triggered shutoff ban, or permanent disability moratorium was established from the read provisions. This is a bounded gap, not proof that no special order or other law could apply. [C052.]

7. Restoration, complaints, formal process, and remedies

7.1 Restoration is not forgiveness

Ordinary Rule 311.03 restoration must occur as soon as possible and no later than twenty-four hours after both the cited conditions are corrected to the utility’s satisfaction and reconnection is requested.

The medical-certificate and winter-movement rules have different triggers. “Utility satisfaction” is not treated as unlimited discretion to add an otherwise prohibited condition, but no actual tariff-dependent reconnection charge or approved condition was examined. [C038.] ProdDFMMainSA

7.2 Utility complaint versus Commission complaint

[C039–C041.] ProdDFMMainSA

7.3 Informal and formal proceedings

The Commission’s procedural rules distinguish an informal staff determination from a formal order. Informal procedures need not be exhausted unless the parties make the specified written agreement. Informal communications are not automatically the formal administrative record.

A formal complaint identifies the respondent, facts, legal basis, and requested relief. Rule 54 leaves the Commission its processing choices; it does not promise an evidentiary hearing for every communication. [C042–C043.] ProdDFMMainSA

The reproduced § 61-612 contains a special threshold for complaints challenging the reasonableness of rates or charges: Commission initiation, the specified municipal complainant, or at least twenty-five consumers/purchasers/prospective purchasers. That limitation is not imposed on every individual billing-error or service complaint. Section 61-614 says lack of direct damage alone need not defeat a complaint. [C043.] Justia Law+1

7.4 Answer, default, modified procedure, and hearing

[C044.] ProdDFMMainSA+3

7.5 Reconsideration, stay, and judicial review

The procedural rules identify final orders, permit requests for stays, and state that a reconsideration petition does not itself stay the order. Clarification does not toll the review deadlines.

A material event distinction remains:

• Reproduced § 61-626 uses date of the order for its twenty-one-day petition language.
• Procedure Rule 331 uses service date and contains a specified postmark exception.
• Ordinary Commission filing generally means Secretary receipt.
• Rule 342’s notice-of-appeal rule does not use that reconsideration mailbox exception.

The statute’s twenty-eight-day and thirteen-week Commission-decision relations and the rule’s cross-petition requirements are recorded below. No appellate deadline or actual exhaustion result is calculated. [C045.] Justia Law+2

7.6 Reparation, civil liability, and penalties

[C046–C047.] Justia Law+4

8. Exact deferred regimes

No positive federal eligibility, exception, moratorium, payment right, or preemption conclusion is supplied here.

[C049.] These dependencies remain open without identifying a utility, program, account, participant, or premises.

9. Source and usage register

All fresh reads occurred October 28, 2026, Pacific time. Short source IDs carry the prefix S_ID-P16-.

S001 — fresh official failures and recovery paths

These failures do not establish that any statute, amendment, remedy, or protection is absent.

S002 — official Commission locator

Issuer/title: Idaho Public Utilities Commission, Statutes and Rules. URL: https://puc.idaho.gov/Page/Utility/40

Read: Relevant legal-authority index and actual links to the current customer and procedure rules.

Status: Official locator, not operative law. The successful customer-rule body was obtained through its actual link. No utility roster, tariff, service map, or named-provider material was opened.

S003 — official current customer-rules body

Issuer/title: Idaho Public Utilities Commission/OARC, IDAPA 31.21.01—Customer Relations Rules for Gas, Electric, and Water Public Utilities. URL: https://proddfmmainsa.blob.core.windows.net/dfm-admin-website/rules/current/31/312101.pdf

Status: Official current-published twenty-page body. Most relied-on provisions carry July 1, 2024; Rule 304.02 carries July 1, 2025. Those are clause markers, not a complete no-later-change certification.

Pixels: Printed pages 4–18 and 20 were visually inspected. Printed page 19’s nonresidential operating provisions were not applied. No account, tariff, medical certificate, or complaint record was examined.

S004 — 2024 adoption history

Issuer/title: OARC, 2024 History Notes. URL: https://adminrules.idaho.gov/history_notes/2024%20History%20Notes.pdf

Read: Relevant IDAPA 31.21.01 entry at printed page 10/PDF index 9, plus identifying context.

Evidence: Docket 31-2101-2301, zero-based review of the chapter, approval through HCR52, and July 1, 2024 effectiveness.

Limit: Parsed official text/table read; screenshot failed. Original HCR and every proposed/pending page were not read. This is adoption-history evidence, not an independent second version of every rule clause.

S005 — 2025 pending amendment record

Issuer/title: OARC, 2025 Senate State Affairs Pending Rules Review Book. URL: https://adminrules.idaho.gov/legislative_books/2025/pending/25S_StateAffs.pdf

Read: Relevant notice and complete Rule 304 amendment at printed pages 36–38/PDF indices 35–37.

Evidence: Historical pending notice dated August 30, 2024; proposed change from optional to mandatory final written notice, with related contact wording.

Limit: Parsed text read; screenshots failed. The pending notice alone was not treated as final effectiveness. Current body and S006 supply the final-status evidence.

S006 — 2025 final adoption record

Issuer: OARC.

• https://proddfmmainsa.blob.core.windows.net/dfm-admin-website/history_notes/2025%20History%20Notes.pdf
• https://proddfmmainsa.blob.core.windows.net/dfm-admin-website/bulletin/2025/07.pdf

Read/pixels:

• History Notes, printed page 11/index 10.
• July 2, 2025 Bulletin, Vol.25-7, printed page 20/index 19.

Evidence: Rule 304 amendment, docket 31-2101-2401, approved by SCR113, effective July 1, 2025.

Limit: These related official history/final-rule tables are not counted as independent corroboration of every clause. The full 208-page bulletin and original SCR text were not read.

S007 — adopted 2026 deposit-interest order

Issuer/title: Idaho PUC, Order No. 36836—Customer Deposit Interest for Calendar Year 2026. URL: https://puc.idaho.gov/Fileroom/PublicFiles/MULTI/GNR/GNRU2501/OrdNotc/20251106Final_Order_No_36836.pdf

Read: Complete operative printed page 1/PDF index 0, visually inspected.

Status: Generic statewide final order, served and dated November 6, 2025. Orders 4.0% annual interest during calendar year 2026 for jurisdictional customer deposits and the stated deferred-account branch.

Limit: No named utility, party filing, docket history, account, or transaction was investigated. No 2027 rate or deposit calculation is supplied.

S008 — official Commission procedural rules

Issuer/title: Idaho PUC/OARC, IDAPA 31.01.01—Rules of Procedure. URL: https://proddfmmainsa.blob.core.windows.net/dfm-admin-website/rules/current/31/310101.pdf

Status: Official current-published fifty-three-page body; relied-on clauses carry March 31, 2022. The original adoption and every later procedural amendment were not reconstructed.

Pixels: Printed pages 8–11, 15–16, 32–33, 38–39, 49–52 inspected. Rule 054’s preceding portion on printed page14 was read in parsed text, not represented as a separately inspected pixel page.

Unrelated filing, discovery, intervention, transcript, or specific utility-case rules were not turned into a full procedural report.

S009 — Title 61 provisional statutory uses

Publisher/edition: Justia, 2025 Idaho Code. Status: Secondary, with currentness disclaimer. Complete bodies and displayed histories were read for the listed sections.

S009-A — definitions and jurisdiction

The original final enactments, current amendment chain, and incorporated institutional/safety regimes were not completed.

S009-B — duties and Commission powers

No actual rate, filed tariff, service map, discrimination finding, or proper demand is established.

S009-C — complaint, hearing, and review

An initial §617 delivery indicated a 2024 edition; the listed 2025 body was subsequently read. The older delivery is not represented as current official text.

S009-D — reparation and enforcement

No actual complaint, civil action, penalty, restitution order, standing, or exhaustion result is established.

S010 — discovery-only material

No proposed text, outdated brochure, or search snippet was promoted to current operative law.

10. Atomic consequential-claim register

Short claim IDs carry the prefix S_ID-P16-.

11. Quantities, units, reference events, and counting register

No value is substituted into a bill, deposit, interest, usage, or payment calculation.

12. Conditional branches and exact next inquiries

13. Wholly blank conceptual worksheet

No field is completed.

14. Granular coverage

15. Read/search/failure log and researcher self-check

15.1 Actual research performed

15.2 Parsed text versus pixels

No full 208-page bulletin, full 100-page pending book, or all fifty-three procedural-rule pages are represented as read. Multiple formats or derivative history tables are not independent authorities.

15.3 Precise remaining gaps

The principal open issues are:

• Official current Title61 statutory authentication, including the displayed 2025 amendments.
• Harmonization of Rule306’s March language and Rule307’s cross-reference.
• Exact application of Rule304.02’s mail/contact wording.
• Minor competency, unclaimed-property, appellate, privacy, and other unread incorporations.
• Actual tariff-dependent rates, fees, class boundaries, and reconnection terms—which were deliberately not retrieved.
• Special emergency, noncommission, federal assistance, bankruptcy, military, disability, landlord, reporting, local, tribal, and interstate regimes.

No customer, utility company, household, premises, bill, deposit, arrears, meter, medical condition, certificate, benefit, complaint, account, policy, agreement, or transaction was supplied or invented. No contact, filing, payment, withholding, interruption, restoration, eligibility decision, or calendar calculation was performed.

This is a researcher self-check, not independent review. The component is supported by newly read official customer rules and material adoption evidence, but remains conditional at the identified statutory, interpretive, tariff, and special-regime boundaries. Earlier findings and holds remain preserved. No Idaho, dimension6, A066, parent, operational, or publication acceptance follows.

END S_ID PASS-16.