People face emerging electric power rates in many areas, emerging inflation, and higher temperatures that require cooling.
Millions of Americans have already been choked by heat waves this summer, and forecasters are warning of hot months ahead. July 3 and 4, 2023 were two of the hottest and, in all likelihood, hottest satellite days in the world.
For other people who suffer from air conditioning, the growing need for refrigeration is a developing crisis.
An alarming number of Americans are at risk of wasting access to public facilities altogether because they can’t pay their bills. Energy service providers cut off at least 3 million consumers in 2022 who had not received a bill. More than 30% of those disconnections occurred during the 3 summer months, in a year that was the fifth warmest on record.
In some cases, the loss of service lasted only a few hours. But in others, other people have been without strength for days or weeks as they struggled to find enough cash to repair service, only to face a disconnection again.
As researchers who read the justice of power and the insecurity of power, we, the United States, are going through a crisis of disconnection. We’ve begun tracking those service-to-utility disconnections across the country, and the crisis will only get worse as the effects of weather replacement become more widespread and severe. In our view, it’s time for government agencies and utilities to start treating family electrical safety as a national priority.
Americans tend to view the loss of electrical power as occasional and temporary. In most cases, this is a rare inconvenience caused by a heat wave or storm.
But for millions of American households, the threat of wasting steam is a constant concern. According to the most recent data from the U. S. Energy Information Administration. In the U. S. , 1 in four American families experience some sort of lack of confidence in strength year, with no noticeable improvement. during the decade beyond.
For many low-income families, the threat of forced cuts comes month after month. In a recent study, we found that in one year of singleness, part of all families whose power was disconnected faced downtimes as they struggled to pay their bills.
Lack of energy confidence like this is not especially unusual among low-income Americans, other people of color, families with young children, others who rely on electronic medical devices, or those living in substandard housing conditions. In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, we found that black and Hispanic families were 3 and 4 times more likely to lose service, respectively, than white families.
In addition to existing currency constraints, other people face emerging electricity rates in many regions, emerging inflation, and higher temperatures that require cooling. . Overall, the crisis is evident.
We found that more than a portion of all low-income families interact on some coping methods, and most find that they want methods at once.
They can leave the air conditioner off in the summer, allowing the heat to triumph in uncomfortable and potentially harmful temperatures to cut costs. as “balancing bills”. Others turn to payday loans that can kill them temporarily, but end up borrowing them more. In our research, we found that the most common coping methods are also the riskiest.
Once other people are on their bills, they threaten to be disconnected through their app providers.
The loss of essential power facilities can mean that those affected cannot keep their homes cool, or heat the winter months, or their food refrigerated in all seasons. Closures would possibly mean that other people with health problems or the disabled cannot keep medications in the refrigerator or medical devices charged. And periods of excess blood or heat, loss of energy utilities can have fatal consequences.
Our team recently introduced the app disconnects dashboard where we track app disconnects anywhere knowledge is available.
In recent years, more and more states have required regulated utilities across the country to disclose how many consumers they disconnect. However, state regulations only apply to the public facilities they regulate. Utilities and cooperatives, which serve more than 20% of the U. S. Electricity consumers are not covered. This leaves huge gaps in understanding the full scope of the problem.
The knowledge we have shows that disconnection rates skyrocket in the summer months and are generally highest in the Southeast, the same states that were cooking under a heated dome in June and July 2023.
The places with the highest disconnection rates are Alabama, where the City of Dothan municipal utility has disconnected an average of 5% of its customers, and Florida, where the City of Tallahassee has a disconnection rate of more than 4%.
Large investor-owned utilities in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Indiana also lead the ratings when it comes to disconnections, with average rates of 1%.
State enforcement commissions impose some restrictions on when utilities can disconnect customers, but the summer heat is overlooked.
All, however, a handful of states prevent utilities from shutting down to consumers during the winter months or on incredibly bloodless days. Most have at least some medical exemptions.
However, most states do not impose limits on app disconnections during the summer months or very hot days. Only 19 states have such summer protections, which typically take the form of designated periods or temperatures during which consumers cannot disconnect from their service. We, this is unsustainable in a time of climate change, as more and more parts of the country will revel in more and more days of extreme heat.
These state-level policies provide a foundation for protection. We learned during the COVID-19 pandemic that moratoriums prohibiting app disconnections can mitigate a lack of trust in power by building a strong mandate against disconnections.
But those policies vary widely across the country and are insufficient in the hot summer months. In addition, visitor protections can be difficult for others to locate and understand, as the language can be too intricate and confusing, placing an additional burden on Americans who are already vulnerable. Realize for themselves how they can avoid wasting the service.
In our view, the U. S. The U. S. government wants stronger protections for customers, states, and the federal government, calling for greater disclosure of when and where disconnects are made to identify any systemic bias.
Above all, Americans want a collective change of mindset regarding energy access. This deserves to start with the precept that everyone deserves access to must-have energy facilities and that utilities deserve to shut down service to consumers only when necessary. as a last resort, especially during weather events that compromise health. The country can’t wait for deadly heat waves to demonstrate how vital it is to protect American homes.
Sanya Carley is Professor of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University.
David Konisky is Professor of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University.
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