Power or water shutoff without notice in Peru: what must the utility do before cutting you off?

Short answer

OSINERGMIN (electricity) and Sunass (water) do not require the same thing before a cutoff, and the difference surprises a lot of people. For electricity, we found no primary rule requiring the company to warn you a fixed number of days ahead of a non-payment cutoff: your main protection, reinforced by Law 31937 (2023), is the right to pay off the debt and stop the cutoff even at the exact moment it’s about to happen. For water, press coverage of Sunass’s quality regulation reports a 48-hour advance-notice requirement, but it applies mainly to scheduled maintenance cutoffs, not necessarily to a cutoff for accumulated debt.

This page doesn’t repeat the general complaints process we already cover in Electricity and water complaints in Peru; here we focus on what’s supposed to happen before your service gets cut, and what to do if it wasn’t.

What does the rule say about electricity cutoffs?

The underlying legal framework is Legislative Decree N° 25844 (the Electrical Concessions Law) and its regulation, Supreme Decree N° 009-93-EM. On that basis, OSINERGMIN approved supervision procedures we were able to read directly:

• OSINERGMIN Resolution N° 161-2005-OS/CD (“Procedure for supervising compliance with the rules on cutoff and reconnection of the public electricity service”) states that a cutoff is justified when the user has “pending payment of the number of billed invoices and/or installments established by applicable specific regulations.” In other words, OSINERGMIN’s own resolution defers the exact number of unpaid bills to “other applicable regulations” that we could not locate in an open primary source. We therefore cannot confirm a universal minimum number of overdue months for electricity.
• The same resolution requires companies to publish their cutoff schedules so OSINERGMIN can audit them by sampling, but that’s a regulatory oversight mechanism, not an individual advance-notice obligation to the end user.
• One point that came through clearly and matters a lot: if you pay your debt at least one hour before the scheduled cutoff time and the company disconnects you anyway, that disconnection is classified as improper under OSINERGMIN’s own supervision indicators (the indicator is called DCI).
• Reconnection, once the debt is paid, must happen within a maximum of 24 hours.
• The maximum amounts the company can charge you for the cutoff and reconnection are set by OSINERG Resolution N° 095-2004-OS/CD; they cannot charge whatever they want.

Law 31937: the real change in 2023

In November 2023, Law N° 31937 was published, amending both the Consumer Protection and Defense Code and Legislative Decree N° 25844. According to El Peruano’s own coverage at the time, the law lets users stop an electricity cutoff order by proving they’ve paid the debt, even at the exact moment the cutoff is being carried out.

This detail matters because it contradicts a very common assumption: many people believe there is (or should be) a mandatory advance notice of several days before a cutoff, similar to rules in other countries. When the law was published, the press coverage itself pointed out that electric companies “don’t warn, nor are they required to warn, users in advance” of a scheduled cutoff for non-payment, and it left open whether a later OSINERGMIN or Indecopi regulation would end up requiring that advance notice. As of this review, we did not find a later regulation that sets that number of days. If your company told you (by text, WhatsApp, or a note on your bill) that you have X days to pay before a cutoff, that’s likely a company policy or a practice meant to meet OSINERGMIN’s own compliance targets — not necessarily a legal minimum enforceable in every case.

And water? The 48-hour rule

For water and sewerage service, the most consistent information we found — from press coverage of Sunass’s Quality Regulation for the Provision of Sanitation Services — is the following:

• Scheduled cutoffs (maintenance or works): the company must give at least 48 hours’ advance notice, stating the reason, the affected areas, and the estimated time service will be restored.
• Emergency cutoffs (e.g., a burst pipe): the company has up to 8 hours to inform users and up to 24 hours to fix the problem.
• If the cutoff lasts more than 18 hours, the company must guarantee access to safe water through tanker trucks, temporary distribution points, or other means.
• Health facilities, fire stations and prisons reportedly get that same kind of alternative supply after only 6 hours of cutoff, per the same coverage.
• Days without service shouldn’t be billed: charges should reflect only the service actually provided.

We could not open the regulation’s own text directly on sunass.gob.pe (the site blocked automated access), so treat these figures as “reported,” not “directly verified.” A related figure, also from a single press article, says a debt-based cutoff would apply once a user has two months of overdue bills without having filed a complaint about the charge, and that service must be restored within 24 hours of payment. Treat that number with caution until you can confirm it with your utility or Sunass directly.

Are there protected categories for illness or disability?

It’s a reasonable question, since some other countries do carve out exceptions for households that depend on medical equipment. In reviewing OSINERGMIN’s rules and the available coverage of Sunass’s regulation, we did not find a general, explicit rule barring residential cutoffs on health grounds for the occupant. What we did find is a different, narrower protection for public infrastructure: health facilities, fire stations and prisons would get priority for water restoration during extended interruptions — but that protects facilities, not private homes with a sick family member. If your situation involves life-sustaining medical equipment at home, don’t assume automatic protection exists: this is a case where you should raise it directly with the utility and, if unanswered, with Indecopi or the Defensoría del Pueblo, backed by a medical certificate documenting the need.

Weekends, holidays and time-of-day restrictions

In the sources we could verify, we found no primary rule that expressly bars cutoffs on weekends or holidays, or that protects a specific time window, for either electricity or water. If your utility told you “by rule, we don’t cut off on Fridays or the day before a holiday,” that’s likely an internal company practice (to avoid complaints when customer service isn’t available the next day), not a verified legal requirement.

What to do if your service was cut without following the procedure

If you believe the cutoff was improper — you were disconnected after paying, without meeting the minimum debt threshold, or while a complaint was still pending — follow these steps, which are more specific than the general complaints process:

1. Gather evidence: proof of payment with date and time, your prior complaint number (if you had one), photos of the meter or the disconnected line.
2. Ask the utility for the cutoff record, with the exact date, time and reason.
3. Demand reconnection within 24 hours if you already paid, citing OSINERGMIN’s procedure.
4. File a formal complaint through the utility’s Complaints Book or online form; this is a mandatory step before escalating.
5. If they don’t resolve it in your favor, only then escalate to OSINERGMIN or Sunass as applicable, and check our general guide to electricity and water complaints for the step-by-step process with the regulator.

Bottom line

Electricity cutoffs in Peru are governed less by “notice periods” and more by your right to pay and stop the cutoff up to the last moment, a right reinforced in 2023 by Law 31937. Water cutoffs, per press coverage of Sunass’s regulation, do carry a 48-hour notice rule, but mainly for scheduled cuts, not debt-based ones. Either way, your best defense stays the same: pay or file a complaint before the cutoff happens, and if it already happened irregularly, document everything and demand immediate reconnection.

Was the cutoff over a reading you don’t recognize?

If your service was cut, or you’re threatened with a cutoff, over an amount you believe is wrong because the meter is malfunctioning, see how to request a meter accuracy test: while that complaint is pending, the company cannot cut you off over the disputed amount.