Summer residential cooling outlook: Residential electric utility expenditures projected to reach record levels, highest in 10 years
Home energy is becoming increasingly unaffordable for low-income families. The financial burden to families of keeping cool this summer will increase by 7.9% across the nation to an average of $719 from June through September, up from $661 during the same period last year, according to projections from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA) and the Center for Energy Poverty, and Climate (CEPC).
Due to the unprecedented rise in summer temperatures and higher rates of extreme heat events over the last ten years, the cost of summer cooling has risen from $476 in 2014 to a predicted $719 in 2024. Key topics in this report include:
- Federal funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program reduced by $2 billion;
- 33 states have no summer shut-off protections;
- Almost 20% very low income families have no air conditioning;
- Utility debt remains high;
- Energy price increases fall hardest on low-income households;
- Climate change makes heatwaves more extreme and dangerous;
- Dangerous health effects of extreme heat;
- Solar energy, eat pumps and the energy transition.
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