Excerpt:

An alarming number of Americans risk losing access to utility service altogether because they can’t pay their bills. Energy utility providers shut off electricity to at least 3 million customers in 2022 who had missed a bill payment.

Over 30 percent of these disconnections happened in the three summer months, during a year that was the fifth hottest on record.

We started tracking these disconnections utility by utility around the country, and we believe that the crisis will only get worse as the impacts of climate change become more widespread and more severe. In our view, it is time government agencies and utilities start treating household energy security as a national priority.

Along with existing financial constraints, people are facing rising electricity rates in many areas, rising inflation and higher temperatures that require cooling. Some also face a history of redlining and poor city planning that has concentrated certain populations in less efficient homes. Taken together, the crisis is apparent.

The loss of critical energy services may mean that affected people cannot keep their homes cool — or warm during the winter months — or food refrigerated during any season. Shut-offs may mean that people with illnesses or disabilities cannot keep medicines refrigerated or medical devices charged.

And during times of extreme cold or heat, the loss of energy utility services can have deadly consequences.