Drupal 8 End of Life for Utilities: What to Do Next

Drupal 8 support ended in November 2021. Drupal 9 followed in November 2023. If your utility site still runs Drupal 8, it no longer gets security fixes. You don't need a rebuild. You need a focused set of checks.

Upgrading from Drupal 8 to Drupal 11 doesn't mean starting over. Drupal 9 is Drupal 8.9 with old code removed and dependencies updated. Each step updates your codebase without a rebuild or content migration. Four steps show you the size of the job.

What Drupal 8 end of life means for your site

Your site still works. The risk is that nobody is watching for security issues. The longer you stay on Drupal 8, the more your bill pay, outage reporting, and account access depend on software nobody patches.

Move 1: Confirm exactly where you are

Find your Drupal core version and your PHP version, and ask your hosting provider which PHP versions it supports now. A Drupal 8 site on 8.7 or earlier must update to 8.8 or 8.9 before it moves to Drupal 9. Drupal 10 requires PHP 8.1 or later, and Drupal 11 requires PHP 8.3 or later, so your hosting has to keep pace with each step.

Move 2: Scan and sort your modules

The Upgrade Status module scans for compatibility issues and helps plan the work. It's useful, but not perfect. Check modules by hand too. Sort them into three groups:

• Contributed modules that already have a compatible release
• Contributed modules that need an update, a patch, or a replacement
• Custom modules and themes that use deprecated code

If a contributed module has no compatible release, use a patch from the issue queue, ask the maintainers for help, or find a replacement. Drupal Rector automates some of the work of updating custom code. Take this chance to ask if you still need every module.

Move 3: List what your site connects to

Most utility sites connect to a CIS, an OMS, and a payment processor. If a connection uses a custom or contributed module, it moves with that module. Test each one after every upgrade step. Write down each connection, how it authenticates, and which module it uses. Our article on CIS, OMS, and payment integrations lists what to record.

If your site takes payments, ask your payment provider and IT team how unsupported software affects your compliance.

Move 4: Plan the whole path as one project

You can't skip a major version. A Drupal 8 site moves to 9, then 10, then 11. Before the last step, your site must run Drupal 10.3.0 or later. Drupal 12 drops upgrades from before Drupal 11.3.0, so plan to land on Drupal 11.3 or later.

Drupal 10 support ends December 9, 2026. If you stop at Drupal 9, you're unsupported now. If you stop at Drupal 10, you're unsupported after December 9. Scope, budget, and schedule all three steps together.

What you have after four moves

Now you have your versions, your module list, your connections, and your upgrade path. Use these to scope and budget the project for leadership. Share the list with your hosting provider, payment provider, and any vendor behind a connection. Most utility communications teams are small. A written inventory saves your team from rebuilding the picture every time someone asks.

How Inclind approaches an upgrade

We start with Investigate. That phase gives you a site audit and a project plan that sets the order of steps. Create turns the plan into design and technical specs. In Build, we use version control and a CI/CD pipeline. We run quality assurance and user acceptance testing before launch. In Measure, we deliver the training and documentation your team needs to run the site.

After launch, every Inclind support package includes monthly application updates. Essential automates them. Professional and Enterprise include managed updates, so routine updates stay current.

Inclind has built and maintained Drupal sites for utilities for over a decade. Delaware Electric Cooperative has been a partner throughout, through four website evolutions and ongoing support for the Beat the Peak app.

Start with a technical audit

If your utility site runs Drupal 8, start with an audit. Contact Inclind to schedule a technical review of your Drupal environment. You'll get a clear view of your site before you commit to anything.