Electricity bills

Millions of Americans have been sweltering through heat waves in recent weeks, and U.S. forecasters warn of a hot summer ahead. Globally, 2023 saw the warmest June on record, according to the European Union’s climate change service. That heat continued into July, with some of the hottest global daily temperatures on satellite record, and possibly the hottest. For people who struggle to afford air conditioning, the rising need for cooling is a growing crisis. An alarming number of Americans risk losing access to utility services 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% of these disconnections happened in the three summer months, during a year that was the fifth hottest on record. In some cases, the loss of service lasted for just a few hours. But in others, people went without electricity for days or weeks while scrambling to find enough money...