Shelby Green’s lights were off. She could plug her phone into a wall socket, but it wouldn’t charge. It would be weeks until she received her next paycheck for her job as an undergraduate researcher at Florida State University in chemical engineering. And her bank account was nearly empty. “I had no hot water, no […]
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Shelby Green’s lights were off. She could plug her phone into a wall socket, but it wouldn’t charge.
It would be weeks until she received her next paycheck for her job as an undergraduate researcher at Florida State University in chemical engineering. And her bank account was nearly empty.
“I had no hot water, no power,” Green told Straight Arrow News.
She spent seven days in the winter of 2017 going from class to work, trudging to the university gym to shower and visiting the library until it closed, before returning to sleep in the cold, powerless townhome-style apartment she shared with her sister.
Eventually, she decided, “this is not sustainable,” and worked with her sister to open a credit card and pay the $200 electric utility balance. Green’s story is not unique. Every year, 3 million to 6 million Americans have their power shut off because they can’t afford to pay their bill. And the cost of electricity is increasing across the country.
Disconnection is more than an inconvenience; during periods of high heat or extreme cold, losing power can be deadly. At least 2,325 Americans suffered heat-related deaths in 2023, according to a recent study.
State laws, however, are offering some relief. Many states have long had laws that prevent disconnection during extreme cold. More recently, a growing number of states are passing laws that prevent utility companies from disconnecting customers during extreme heat. With the addition of New Jersey in September and Virginia, Washington, Illinois and Delaware in the past two years, a total of 23 states now mandate heat-related disconnection protections.
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The risks associated with disconnection
“Energy prices are rising faster than the rate of inflation,” said Sanya Carley, a professor and faculty director at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. And with summer temperatures also trending up, Carley told SAN it’s a “double squeeze for households” that rely on air conditioning.
Data analysis from the nonprofit National Energy Assistance Directors Association shows that summertime electricity bills in 2025 were at an all-time high. The average American spent a projected $784 on electricity between June and September — up 4.3% from 2024 when adjusted for inflation.
Raj Mukherji, a Democratic state senator from New Jersey, said in his district encompassing Hoboken and parts of Jersey City that “families are being forced to make difficult choices” amid the increasing cost of living.
Mukherji was a leading sponsor of SB 4361, which became law in September and will prevent utility companies in New Jersey from disconnecting customers during extreme heat.
Those difficult choices faced by some of Mukherji’s constituents and others across the country could include choosing whether to pay for groceries, health care or keep their power on. Moreover, going without power can have devastating health consequences.
“When you have a power shut off in extreme temperatures,” Mukherji told SAN, “it’s a threat to folks with illnesses. It’s a threat to seniors. It’s a threat to the health and safety of our children.”
In 2018, Arizona Public Service disconnected 72-year-old Phoenix-area resident Stephanie Pullman’s electricity when she owed $51. Facing 107-degree heat and pre-existing cardiovascular disease, Pullman died of “environmental heat exposure,” according to a medical examiner’s report cited by The Associated Press.
“That was a moment that really crystallized the need for a more humane approach to disconnection policy,” said Maria Castillo, a senior associate at the Rocky Mountain Institute, a national nonprofit focused on energy policy.
The next year, Arizona instituted a moratorium on utility shutoffs from June 1 to Oct. 15. The seasonal moratorium became permanent in 2021.
How do seasonal disconnection protections work?
Electricity disconnection protections can be based on a set period of the calendar year, or they can go into effect based on projected temperatures. Combinations of the two also exist, and there are other factors considered, such as National Weather Service (NWS) alerts.
“There’s a lot of stipulations that are at play,” with disconnection laws, Carley said.
For example, Virginia prohibits turning off residents’ power when the NWS predicts temperatures will surpass 92 degrees or fall below 32 degrees within 24 hours of the scheduled disconnection.
Many winter protections prevent shutoffs from the end of November to March. Minnesota law has a six-month window of disconnection protections from Oct. 15 to April 15, regardless of temperature.
In Texas, the state bars disconnections within two days of an NWS heat advisory or when temperatures are below 32 degrees.
Carley said states also target the disconnection protections to certain populations. All but five states protect residents with a doctor’s note saying they rely on electricity for medical reasons. Idaho, Wisconsin, Massachusetts and Rhode Island offer protections for homes with young children. And about a dozen states carve out protections for the elderly or individuals with disabilities.
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Every year, 3 million to 6 million Americans have their electricity shut off, but 23 states have banned shutoffs during extreme heat or summer months.
Experts generally agree that the weather-based policies have saved lives, but Green noted “the stress that you feel from not being able to pay a high and crippling bill doesn’t disappear.” Once the temperature or calendar month changes, the utility bill will still be due and the risk of disconnection returns.
What impact are disconnection laws having?
Carley and a few other researchers created the Utility Disconnection Dashboard to make data more accessible. The dashboard compiles publicly available data on disconnections into a user-friendly interface, but a lack of uniform data-collection processes makes it difficult.
“Generally, there’s a paucity of data,” Carley told SAN. “The majority of utilities are not mandated to report their disconnections.”
Without better data, it’s hard to quantify the effectiveness of state-level disconnection laws.
Many supporters of disconnection protections also point to recent history. The COVID-19 pandemic was a period during which many states and cities placed moratoriums on the disconnection of residents’ electricity.
Castillo said during the public health crisis, as people were asked to stay home, policymakers recognized “people need [electricity] for their day-to-day life,” and pandemic-era policies served as a “good case study.”
In 2020, 12.4 million households received disconnection notices from their utility company, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service. However, the report estimates the actual number of customers disconnected at no more than 2-3 million.
The vast majority of American utility customers – 88%, according to the report – were covered by a disconnection moratorium for at least some portion of the pandemic. But most states ended their moratorium by the end of 2021.
After the pandemic
In 2021, Green had completed her chemical engineering degree at Florida State University. She was still living in Tallahassee when she learned the city planned to end the utility disconnection moratorium that had started a year earlier.
That frustrated Green, who said the city commissioners “voted to end the moratorium without really doing any investigation” and without any plans to mitigate harm.
It had been four years since her week without power, but Green wanted to prevent her neighbors from facing a similar fate. She filed public records requests for data on who was behind on payments to the city-owned utility company. She worked with neighborhood associations and knocked on doors, gathering petition signatures.
Green asked the city to take three actions: reinstate the moratorium, print disconnection dates on customers’ electric bills and advertise a state-run program that provides assistance to people struggling to pay their electric bills. Green said the city said no to all but printing the shutoff dates on bills — something she later learned was required by law.
When her power was cut in 2017, Green said she “had no idea that there was a regulatory and political process behind our electricity.”
In August 2021, Green quit her job at a tech startup to start her current role researching and campaigning for better utility policies. Knowing how much power the city had, Green decided to run for city commissioner on a campaign motivated by the burden of electricity payments. She did not win, but she didn’t give up on her cause.
She’s currently opposing a $10 billion rate increase proposed by Florida Power and Light, a utility company that serves about 11 million people. The increase could become the largest in U.S. history and raise most customers’ bills by an average of $18 per month, if approved by state regulators. Florida is also one of six states that lack any disconnection protections for hot or cold weather.
“You think you just pay a bill,” Green said, “but there’s actually a regulatory body, usually 5-7 people who decide on behalf of millions of people how high the utility bills will go.”
