WASHINGTON— Utility companies disconnected U.S. households from electricity more than 13.4 million times in 2024, according to a landmark report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Corporate utilities shelled out billions to shareholders and top executives the same year.

The report, released Tuesday, is the first state-by-state dataset disclosing how often utilities have shut off electricity and gas to households who are unable to make payments. The highest average utility disconnections are primarily concentrated in the South, with Texas and Florida recording the most household shutoffs.

“This federal data is the most sobering portrait we have of the country’s brutal energy affordability crisis,” said Jean Su, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s energy justice program. “It’s inexcusable for utility executives and shareholders to make record profits while families suffer climate extremes and get punished for being poor. We’re grateful to Congress and the Energy Information Administration for establishing the first-ever study of how many millions of people are having their power shut off because they can’t afford to pay. The only sure way out of this mess is to replace the price-gauging of fossil fuel utilities with affordable, renewable community energy.”

Twenty-two states don’t require utilities to report any information on household disconnections. In 2023 Congress included funding in the budget bill for this landmark study to capture the national scale of the utility industry’s disconnections and the utility affordability crisis.

Key findings and takeaways:

• U.S. utilities disconnected power to residential households 13.4 million times and disconnected gas 1.7 million times in 2024. The electricity shutoffs crisis is far worse than previously projected using data from less than half the states, reflecting the country’s deep struggle with energy unaffordability.
• The highest average monthly power disconnection rates are primarily concentrated in the South: Oklahoma (2.53% of all customers), Texas (1.97%), Florida (1.72%), Alabama (1.58%), Louisiana (1.55%), Tennessee (1.47%), Mississippi (1.33%), Arkansas (1.18%), Nevada (1.18%), and Virginia (1.06%).
• In absolute numbers, these states shut off households the most: Texas (3 million shut offs), Florida (2.1 million), Oklahoma (572,500), Tennessee (557,600), and California (474,000).
• Households are living on the edge of vulnerability with their power and gas bills. While electricity shutoffs are the worst outcome for families who can’t afford their bills, final notices of disconnection are the canary in the coal mine showing how families are struggling to pay the bills. In 2024 more than 94 million final notices were sent to residential electricity customers. There are 143 million residential electricity customers in the country. Residential gas customers received 27 million final notices in 2024.
• This survey shows all utilities can provide disconnections data. The Energy Information Administration survey had a response rate of 93% for electric utilities and 96% for gas utilities. This shows that utilities are able to produce disconnection data in a timely and systematic manner, despite their claims that providing such data would be burdensome and costly. All states should require utilities to disclose monthly shutoffs data, as well as more information about the communities that are impacted, including ZIP code and arrearages data.
• Power disconnections peaked in September and October. States that ban utility shutoffs during extreme heat and cold were able to stave off peak disconnections. For example, August disconnections peaked in states without extreme heat protections like Oklahoma, Alabama, Florida, Texas and Tennessee. States with heat protections, like Arizona, were able to minimize disconnections. The climate emergency is worsening the problem and imposing summer and winter shutoffs bans are key to saving lives.

In 2024 electric utilities raked in record profits of more than $54 billion and dividend payments of $34 billion, according to the Edison Electric Institute. Investor-owned utility executives were paid $530 million over the same period, according to a report by the Energy and Policy Institute.

“This report marks a major step forward in understanding the real-world impacts of energy affordability across the United States,” said Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association. “For the first time, comprehensive, nationwide data show just how many households face utility shutoff risks revealing tens of millions of final notices and over 13 million electricity disconnections in a single year. At a time when energy costs and economic pressures are top concerns for American families, this report delivers critical transparency and insight turning what was once fragmented information into actionable data that can drive smarter policy and stronger consumer protections nationwide.”

“This data confirms what frontline communities have long known. The energy affordability crisis is already here, harming health, dignity and lives,” said Mar Zepeda, legislative director at Climate Justice Alliance. “With millions of shutoffs and disconnection notices, utilities are pushing low-income, Black, Brown and rural families to the brink. There’s no excuse for secrecy and this data enables real accountability. Policymakers must act now to ensure protections and transparency, and treat energy as a basic human need.”

The Center lobbied Congress to require this data and, along with Energy and Policy Institute and BailoutWatch, authored four reports in the Powerless in the U.S. series tracking the rise of utility shutoffs in the face of corporate profiteering that harms customers and the climate.