1 in 3 U.S. households struggled to pay the power bill last year

In 2024, one in three American households struggled to pay an energy bill. That same year, 15.1 million homes had the electricity or gas cut off because nobody could pay, on Energy Information Administration data cited by The Conversation.

Prices are still climbing. Energy costs rose about 30% on average between 2021 and 2026, and harder in places. PJM Interconnection runs the regional grid across the Mid-Atlantic and eastern Midwest. There, first-quarter power prices in 2026 ran 76% above the same period a year earlier. Data center demand drove most of it.

Budget numbers, and health numbers too. An unpaid bill shows up in body temperature, in what a family eats, and in whether a medical device stays powered.

15.1 million disconnections in one year

Energy insecurity means a household cannot reliably meet its energy needs. Millions of American families live there, and rising bills keep adding more.

A 30% average increase over five years compounds on people already stretched. That 76% first-quarter jump shows how fast one driver reaches a residential bill. Here the driver was the electricity appetite of new data centers.

Disconnection is the sharpest measure. Cut power or gas to 15.1 million homes in a single year and the problem has moved past inconvenience. A disconnected home in July has no air conditioning. A disconnected home in January has no heat.

Two federal programs, pulling in opposite directions

One pays the bill. The other shrinks it.

LIHEAP, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, helps lower-income households cover heating in winter and cooling in summer. Congress put about $4 billion into it in 2025, which has historically never been enough to reach everyone who qualifies. Its future is contested: President Trump proposed eliminating the funding entirely in his last two budgets, and Congress has preserved it so far.

Weatherization takes the other route. About $370 million a year seals gaps around windows and doors and adds insulation, reaching roughly 32,000 homes and saving each one an average of $372 a year, by the Department of Energy’s count.

Only one of the two shrinks what the house costs to run. A payment covers this month. Insulation keeps paying back every month after.

States hold the most direct levers

Many bar utilities from cutting off residential customers over unpaid bills. Virginia blocks shutoffs during extreme heat or cold, and Montana restricts them in specific cold-weather months. Pennsylvania protects any household where someone has a certified medical condition that depends on electricity. An oxygen tank is one, and it can add hundreds of dollars a year to a bill by itself.

Some states go further and lower the bill directly. Maine weatherizes homes. Illinois helps pay for solar panels or battery storage, and offers gas-bill discounts running from 5% to 84% for many low-income households. Massachusetts makes utilities forgive part of a customer’s debt after a set number of on-time payments.

Evidence backs it. A 2025 study found low-income households that had recently installed solar were 44% more likely to say they could pay their energy bills. Local rules block that fix outright in places, and an HOA can ban rooftop solar.

Counties and nonprofits fill gaps, spreading word about assistance and finding the families most at risk. Many run warming and cooling centers, which double as safe places during an outage. New Jersey and some others automatically enroll past-due or disconnected customers into payment plans.

An unaffordable bill is a health hazard

Building biology starts from source control: fix a hazard where it begins, rather than managing damage downstream. An energy bill nobody can pay is a source, and the harm travels three routes.

Heat. Bills climb and households ration air conditioning. Skipping cooling in extreme heat is a hazard, not a preference, and heat illness rises fastest among older adults, infants and people with chronic conditions. Nights are the dangerous part, because a body that never cools down never recovers from the day.

Food. A household budget is fixed. Utility costs rise and families cut somewhere, often groceries. That trade between heating a home and buying fresh food falls hardest on the families already spending the largest share of their income on energy.

Medical equipment. For some homes electricity is life support: an oxygen concentrator, a home dialysis machine, refrigerated medication. The equipment raises the bill, which puts the most medically vulnerable households at the highest risk of a disconnection that could kill them. Pennsylvania writes medical protection into its shutoff rules for exactly that reason.

A number on a utility statement decides whether a home is cooled in a heat wave, whether a family eats well, and whether a machine keeps running. Rising demand from data centers is what put the number there, and a $66.8 billion utility merger is being built on the same forecast.

What you can do

Nobody sets wholesale power prices from their kitchen. You can lower your own bill and claim protections that already exist, and the cheapest move usually returns the most.

Seal the leaks first. Weatherstripping and air sealing around doors, windows and attic gaps cut what a house wastes. The federal program that does this saves $372 a household a year. Ask your state energy office whether you qualify.

Apply for LIHEAP. If your income qualifies, it covers heating and cooling. Apply through your state or local agency before the season you need it, because funding runs out.

Ask your utility about plans and protections. Budget billing spreads cost evenly across the year and softens a peak month. Ask directly about payment plans, debt forgiveness and low-income discount rates in your state.

Register a medical need in writing. Powered medical equipment in the house can qualify you for medical-priority or shutoff-protection status. Most states require the paperwork in advance, not during the emergency.

Know your shutoff rules. Find out whether your state blocks disconnection during extreme heat or cold. That tells you what protection you already have on the days most likely to hurt you.

Find your nearest cooling or warming center now. Before the heat wave, not during it, especially if anyone in the house is vulnerable to heat or cold.

Invest in efficiency where you can. Efficient appliances, an insulated water heater, clean HVAC filters, and solar or storage if they are within reach all cut the baseline a price spike multiplies.

A 30% price climb, a 76% regional surge, 15.1 million disconnections. None of that is set by any one household. What happens next partly is: LIHEAP pays a bill, weatherization shrinks it, and state rules keep the power on through the weather most likely to harm you.