re: "Tsunami Of Shutoffs": 20 Million US Homes Are Behind On Power Bills

Had to go back and research this a little. I didn't like Bloomberg not giving a historic average for past dues. The economy is in the ditch, but a baseline for comparison would be nice.

Here's an NPR story from 2018:

quote:

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September 19, 20188:12 PM ET

Nearly a third of households in the United States have struggled to pay their energy bills, the Energy Information Administration said in a report released Wednesday. The differences were minor in terms of geography, but Hispanics and racial minorities were hit hardest.

About one in five households had to reduce or forgo food, medicine and other necessities to pay an energy bill, according to the report. "Of the 25 million households that reported forgoing food and medicine to pay energy bills, 7 million faced that decision nearly every month," the report stated.

More than 10 percent of households kept their homes at unhealthy or unsafe temperatures.

The data come from the federal agency's most recent energy consumption survey in 2015. That year, expenditures for energy were at their lowest in more than decade, according to the agency.

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NPR

ETA: The NPR link isn't presenting the exact same info, but it demonstrates the point that without a baseline of average past due rates for utilities, how do we gauge the current number of past dues?