In July 2026, the hottest month ever recorded in the United States, 173,598 households across 10 states were disconnected from their electricity supply for non-payment. That figure, compiled by the National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA), represents a 28% surge over July 2024 — and it captures only a fraction of the national picture. The federal government reported 13.4 million household shut-offs in 2024, with rates highest in southern states like Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Three separate heat dome events scorched the country that month, events scientists say were worsened by fossil-fuel-driven global heating. The human mechanics of this are blunt. Carol Norman, 70, in Tom Bean, Texas, saw utility bills hit $600 a month, mostly from air conditioning. Nina Johnson of Austin spends most of her $550 monthly income on electric bills exceeding $200, eating peanut butter sandwiches and skipping outings with friends. Erin Hutchins in Biddeford, Maine, has suffered repeated heatstroke in a poorly cooled older building and pays over $100 a month she cannot afford. About one in six US households are now behind on their energy bills, placing them at risk of disconnection. The cost drivers are layered and compounding. Electricity bills have climbed since 2021, pushed by grid upgrade costs, the power demands of AI data centers, and — critically — the global energy disruption triggered by the US and Israeli attack on Iran earlier in 2026. That conflict alone added an estimated $100 billion in extra gasoline costs for American consumers, per Brown University's Watson Institute. Rising electricity prices are outpacing overall inflation, meaning the squeeze tightens every month even without a geopolitical shock. The policy response has been to remove the cushion rather than fix the floor. The Trump administration sought to completely eliminate the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which distributes federal funds to states for utility-bill relief. Congress has not agreed to kill the program, but the administration has been accused of freezing obligated funds and firing program staff. Even at full operation, LIHEAP allocates roughly 80% of its funding to winter heating assistance rather than summer cooling — a structural mismatch across multiple administrations as lethal heat outpaces cold as the primary weather risk. Protections vary wildly by geography. Twenty-three states and Washington, DC, prohibit electricity shut-offs above certain temperature thresholds. The remaining 27 states impose no such limits, allowing disconnections regardless of conditions. This patchwork means the most heat-vulnerable households — disproportionately low-income, elderly, and in southern states — face the highest risk of losing power precisely when losing power is most dangerous. The Trump administration's energy stance deepens the extraction. Efforts to strangle solar and wind deployment — typically the cheapest sources of new generation — while propping up coal and natural gas lock in higher costs and dirtier supply. The president has dismissed both climate science and bill concerns as a "hoax," and stated plainly regarding the Iran conflict: "I don't think about Americans' financial situation, I don't think about anybody." The White House insists lowering electricity prices is a top priority through "unleashing reliable energy sources like coal and natural gas." Looking ahead, winter is the next stress point. NEADA estimates that homes heated by oil — concentrated in the northeast — will face bills 50% higher than last year. The same Iran-driven energy price shock that punished summer cooling will punish winter heating. Municipal leaders from Phoenix to New York to Boston are responding with cooling centers, tree planting, and flood prep, but they are improvising around a federal vacuum. As Boston Mayor Michelle Wu put it: "At the city level, it doesn't matter what words are said. We just have to take action and respond to the reality our residents are living."
