Because 22 states do not require utilities to report information on household disconnections, the new report offers the first nationwide picture of energy insecurity, said Jean Su, energy justice program director at the Center for Biological Diversity, an advocacy group. She predicted the problem has only gotten worse since 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are families who have to pick between whether to go see a doctor or get medical help versus keeping on their electricity, buying food for groceries,\u201d said Su, a senior attorney at the organization. \u201cSo these are very basic human rights and very basic services that families are unable to afford, and it\u2019s heart-breaking in this country that we have families actually [facing] these types of absolutely devastating choices.\u201d<\/p>\n
The report concluded that across the country, households were disconnected more than 15.1 million times in 2024, a number that surprised Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, a group representing state directors of the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. The Trump administration has proposed eliminating the program.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Electricity customers were shut off 13.4 million times and natural gas consumers 1.7 million times. Earlier projections had suggested that disconnection numbers were lower, Wolfe said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem is far more severe than we thought, as we\u2019ve never been able to collect data from the utilities,\u201d he said. \u201cThe issue of affordability is much more severe than the available data has suggested.\u201d<\/p>\n
The problem appeared concentrated in the South, a region more vulnerable to hotter temperatures as fossil fuel emissions warm the global climate. Texas had the most electricity disconnections (3 million), followed by Florida (2.1 million), Oklahoma (572,000), Tennessee (557,000) and California (474,000).\u00a0<\/p>\n
California, Texas and Florida are the nation\u2019s most populous states. But the differences between them were stark: While Texas had about 96 disconnections per 1,000 residents and Florida had 90, California had 12, according to an Inside Climate News calculation using 2024 Census Bureau data.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wolfe attributed the trend to weaker supplementary programs in southern states and said national standards would help the situation.<\/p>\n
Cost pressures have continued to mount since the 2024 snapshot captured by the report. In Florida, for instance, state regulators approved a $7 billion rate hike in November for Florida Power & Light, the state\u2019s largest utility. Consumer groups characterized the rate hike, which faces a legal challenge in state court, as the largest in U.S. history. FPL did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.<\/p>\n
Walt Trierweiler, the state\u2019s consumer advocate for customers of investor-owned utilities in Florida, said one problem is that the state is one of two in the South without a legislative disconnection statute.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I could accomplish a solution to this in my time, then I would say my time would be well-spent,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is too large of an issue. There are absolutely lives at stake.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than 122 million final notices were sent to households nationwide in 2024, according to the federal report. That figure, far larger than the number of disconnections, shows how frequently people teeter on the edge of power loss.<\/p>\n
Su said the report served as a reminder that communities with the least resources for dealing with climate impacts often are the most vulnerable. Research shows that disadvantaged communities tend to be hotter physically because of less green space. Housing may have less insulation, and the energy burden represents a bigger portion of the household budget.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said her organization already had been monitoring the issue based on shutoff data in states where the numbers were available.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a crisis we actually have seen since 2020, since we\u2019ve been tracking a really steady rise in electricity shut-offs across the country. It\u2019s an incredibly silent killer in a lot of ways because families don\u2019t like to talk about the fact that they don\u2019t have enough money to pay for the electricity,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is an epidemic that has totally unfolded across the country in a very quiet manner. The consequences, however, can be fatal, and we have seen that extreme heat has led to deaths all across the country because people have not been able to afford electricity.\u201d<\/p>\n
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