Americans’ energy bills are piling up, forcing them deeper into debt and even triggering power shutoffs.
As of June, nearly one in 20 households went into collections or fell in arrears on their utility bills, according to a new joint report from The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank, and advocacy group Protect Borrowers. The problem was even more pronounced in parts of the South and Appalachia, where one in 12 households was already in collections or on the verge of it.
In the last three years, the average overdue balance on utility bills climbed from $597 to $789, a 32% jump, the report found.
More Americans are falling behind on their utility payments due to rising energy prices, alongside a jump in costs for other essentials, ranging from child care to housing.
“When we see families unable to pay their utility bills, it raises alarm bells about a crisis of home heating and electricity, but it also raises alarm bells about people’s ability to deal with their cost of living across the board,” said Julie Margetta Morgan, president of The Century Foundation.
Residential electricity prices rose by 10.5% between January and August 2025, one of the fastest increases in a decade, government data analyzed by the National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA), an educational and policy organization, shows. Natural gas is still the most popular way Americans heat their homes, although a growing share are using electricity.
A combination of high interest rates, rising natural gas costs and an increase in demand from data centers has pushed up prices, according to NEADA.
The issue will likely come into sharper focus this winter when millions of consumers face heating bills. NEADA predicts that Americans will see their energy bills rise nearly 8% this winter to an average of roughly $976 per month.
More Americans at risk of shutoffs
When people fail to pay their energy bills on time, it can lead to electricity shutoffs, or when a utility turns off a household’s power until people pay the balance, along with a so-called reconnection fee.
Most states have some sort of safeguard against utility shutoffs when the temperature dips below a certain level, but not all. States without cold-weather protection include Alaska, Florida, Hawaii, Kentucky, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah, according to the Energy Justice Lab, a joint project of Indiana University and the University of Pennsylvania.
Despite these protections, Americans are becoming increasingly vulnerable to shutoffs, experts told CBS News.
While no official national count of utility cutoffs exists, NEADA estimates that 3.5 million American households had their power cut off at some point in 2024 based on public data reported by utility companies. That number is expected to swell to 4 million this year, NEADA estimates.
“Past due balances climbing, particularly for lower-income families, suggest that shutoffs are going to become much more prevalent,” the Century Foundation’s Margetta Morgan said.
Con Edison, a utility serving New York City and Westchester County in New York, has cut off almost 168,000 customers at some point this year, according to data NEADA shared with CBS News. That’s more than five times the number of shutoffs the utility reported last year.
Most Americans whose power is cut off have services restored within a few days, according to Mark Wolfe, NEADA’s executive director. Still, the shutoffs can create major disruptions to Americans’ day-to-day lives as they lose refrigeration, internet and lighting. Pipes can also freeze, and residents could get sick if their apartments get too cold, Wolfe added.
Shutoffs tend to have a bigger impact on low-income households, given they are already stretched thin by everyday expenses, Wolfe said. Many turn to payday lenders, friends and family or state forgiveness plans to cover reconnection costs or overdue bills, he added.
“When money is limited, people have to prioritize essentials like food and medicine, and utility bills become one of the few expenses they can postpone,” Wolfe told CBS News. “That flexibility gives them a small sense of control, but it also increases the risk of falling behind and facing shutoffs.”
