The extreme heat has made power outages by power companies a matter of life and death and a new political target

If you’re in Virginia and behind on your utility bill, you’ll have more options to keep your air conditioner humming, but not until July 1st. That’s when Virginia joins the small but growing ranks of states that offer shutdown protections during extreme heat. Such protections for cold weather have existed for decades, but as temperatures around the world hit record highs, advocates say more must be done to protect customers from power outages. Often, existing laws are not enough.

Lashrecse Aird, Virginia State Senator, (D-Petersburg), the legislative sponsor of the state’s new utility bill law, said his support for the law was rooted in his own experience with power outages as a youth. “It was not a pleasant experience,” Aird said. “And I carry it with me.”

Now, he says, the stakes are higher.

“We have to account for extreme heat outside of the normal months of the year, which are now increasingly warmer,” Aird said. “Until we fail to address climate change and rising temperatures, we need to be deliberate and deliberate,” he said. “Our country is on fire; the world is on fire. I predict we’ll see more places facing heat crises and heat emergencies. We need to put these policies in place; that’s where we come from.” We are moving from a pure climate perspective.”

The Virginia law, which Aird says utilities “fought tooth and nail,” prohibits disconnections when temperatures exceed 92 degrees. Regardless of temperature, the bill also prohibits utilities from shutting off power on Fridays, holidays, state holidays or days immediately preceding a state holiday. Such outages can leave the company without power for extended periods of time while the customer service office is closed.

“We had to write them in because we noticed that was happening,” Aird said. They did not want the government to determine their reconnection process. Everyone has a different administrative structure.

An ominous national prospect for the protection of power

According to David Konisky, a professor in Indiana’s Department of Environmental Studies, many states have no protections for consumers against utility disconnections. University and director of the Energy Justice Lab, and he says climate change has sparked a new conversation about the issue.

The Energy Justice Lab created an “Outage Dashboard” that shows utility outage data in each state (not all states report data) and existing protector shutdown laws, if any. Part of building the dashboard was overlaying the predicted extreme heat days along with what protections are in place or not and factoring in climate change. Konisky says the outlook is grim. According to the Energy Justice Laboratory, nearly three million people lose their electricity every year due to inability to pay their monthly bills.

“There are two ways to think about it: how hot it is today, yes, but what’s really dangerous is when it doesn’t cool down at night, when you have a continuous period of hot nights, when people can’t To cool their bodies, that’s when you get heatstroke, Konisky said.

According to Konisky, laws like Virginia’s are welcome, but often, the laws don’t go far enough. They are usually limited to state-regulated utilities (Virginia is more extensive than other states) or have subjective or vague disconnection criteria. Konisky says utility customers should work with them instead of disconnecting from them.

Covid-19 prompted many states to issue temporary orders requiring electricity to remain on during stay-at-home orders, but most of those orders have been phased out. According to the Energy Justice Lab, most states (40) have statutory power outage protections that cover certain times of the year and vulnerable populations.

As of 2021, 29 states had seasonal protections and 23 states had temperature-based disconnect protections, but Konisky’s research shows that these don’t outright ban disconnections, often putting the onus on customers. to demonstrate eligibility for exemptions such as medical necessity. Most states (46), plus Washington, DC, allow customers to set up a payment plan as an alternative to disconnection, although interest can be high and income-based repayment is often not an option.

“There’s a lot that can be done to make energy more affordable when outages are needed,” Konisky said. There are creative pricing, payment structures. They should be more aggressive in offering payment plans, helping customers access energy subsidies instead of turning them off. An act of silence that can have terrible consequences for people.”

His research shows that power companies disconnect a lot during hot weather. Using publicly available data, he found that Indiana customers, for example, experienced 50,000 outages between June and August 2023. “It’s probably going to get worse, especially in states that historically we haven’t had to worry about during the summer.”

Heat dome conditions are hitting more states

One state that historically has not had to worry about the heat is Oregon. But don’t tell that to residents bracing for 90-degree days this week. When Brandi Tuck, executive director of Portland-based Path Home Community Services, moved to Oregon 20 years ago, the state was known for its temperate climate with mild winters and cool summers. Not anymore.

“We’ve never heard of a ‘heat dome,'” Tuck said, referring to a once-obscure meteorological term that has become the new term for a heat wave.

“As climate change happens, we’re getting hotter and hotter summers, and we’re getting heat domes here. We had a deadly summer last year; it’s getting more intense,” Tuck said. In 2021, Portland hit 117 degrees during a heat wave. On the other hand, Tuck said Oregon experiences longer and colder winters. Oregon has laws to protect utility customers during cold snaps, but not during heat waves. “The challenge is that we have commoditized the necessities of life,” Tuck said. “We are a developed country in the first world, but we have commoditized things like electricity, air conditioning and lighting.”

Path Home often helps those facing an impending power outage. Tuck says power outages in rental properties are often associated with evictions, and subsidizing utilities is one of the most cost-effective ways to prevent homelessness. With Oregon’s fluctuating weather, Tuck says the utilities can’t depend on the police themselves.

“We need legislation,” Tuck said.

Disconnections disproportionately hit low-income people, and people who are already struggling to pay their utility bills often receive a “reconnection fee,” or a deposit, upon disconnection. For example, in Ohio, the utility company may require you to deposit up to one month’s estimated costs plus 30 percent.

These costs can be problematic for those who are disconnected. Felix Russo, pastor of New Life Mission in Hamilton, Ohio, says when people in need come to him for help with their electric services, they’re usually days away from a power outage. Russo then calls the utility companies and tries to negotiate on the person’s behalf or tries to match them up with a social service agency that can provide funding. But this is an uphill battle. “All of our systems are under pressure,” Russo said.

Power companies say blackouts are a “last resort.”

Power companies insist that disconnection is a last resort and no additional rules and regulations are needed.

Aaron Ruby, director of media relations for Dominion Energy, the country’s main electricity supplier, said: “We know that our customers may experience financial difficulties throughout the year, so I want to make it clear that customer outages due to Non-payment is the last resort. Dominion has several bill-paying assistance options to help customers avoid disconnections, including budget billing, extended payment plans, EnergyShare bill payment assistance and home weatherization programs, Virginia O said. The EnergyShare program, for example, offers up to $600 a year in heating subsidies and $300 a year in cooling subsidies for eligible customers, Ruby said.

Ruby said Dominion Energy has already begun complying with the new rule, allaying concerns that they would start disconnecting and connecting before July 1.

Saying that they are complying with the new law, Ruby said: “The fines for non-payment on Tuesday and Wednesday have been suspended in compliance with the month of June and we will continue to monitor the forecast of the upcoming heat wave.” “We are following the law and are suspending disconnections without payment in parts of our service area where temperatures are forecast to reach 92 degrees or higher.”

A spokeswoman for Charlotte-based Duke Energy, the nation’s second-largest utility, said it has “longstanding policies to temporarily suspend customer service interruptions for non-payment to help protect our customers” on days when good weather is expected. be, has Too Hot or Too Cold Duke monitors extreme weather events such as hurricanes or winter storms, evaluates them on a case-by-case basis, and temporarily suspends outages for non-payment.

In Virginia lawmaker Aird’s view, the law is needed not only for the customer, but also to protect the utilities from themselves, a point he made in the clearest terms. “Your goal at the end of the day is to have a customer and give somebody the ability to pay; if they’re dead, the utility doesn’t have a customer.”

According to Aird, the new law doesn’t go far enough to ensure people’s safety in extreme weather, but it was a good first step. “It’s better to be wrong about something than nothing,” Aird said.