Nearly one in six American families owe utility debt as prices rise
Since December 2019, the number of American families behind on utility bills has risen to more than 20 million families – about one in six U.S. families – at a price point of nearly double what it had been: $16.1 billion as of August 2022.
This data came from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA), which represents state directors of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). While noting that these staggering figures would have been even worse if not for $4.5 billion in aid for LIHEAP contained in the American Rescue Plan Act, the organization added that the average amount owed from individual cases has increased from approximately $629 to around $788.
LIHEAP is the primary federal program assisting with energy bills for families. To that end, program representatives added that things do not appear set for improvement for those families in the days ahead.
In a statement, NEADA said that the energy burden on families in the bottom 40 percent of U.S. income distribution saw their average energy costs leap from $3,098 to around $3,770 in just two years, even as gasoline spending jumped from $1,035 to $1,662. Some of this could be attributed to summer heat waves that pushed air conditioning costs higher, but inflation and price hikes, in general, have also played major roles. In the last year alone, the organization noted, food costs have risen 11.2 percent, home prices 6.6 percent, electricity 15.5 percent, and natural gas 33.1 percent.
Natural gas is on track to hit a 16-year high price point, as NEADA’s preliminary data laid out sobering signs of still higher home energy prices this winter. Full estimates on the latter should emerge later this month through an upcoming Energy Hardship Report.
Mark Wolfe, executive director of NEADA, said this paints an environment of insufficient appropriations for LIHEAP if the country wants to address the heavy hits from energy prices, rising summer temperatures, and utility arrearages. He asked Congress for increased funding to offset the increase in energy prices for lower-income families, lest they be left to fend without.
As it stands, Wolfe added, the nation is headed toward a period of unaffordable energy prices.
