Report: summer cooling costs expected to rise this year

A new report says the cost of keeping cool this summer will rise.

According to projections from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA) and the Center for Energy Poverty, and Climate (CEPC), the cost of energy to stay cool this summer will increase by 7.9 percent to an average of $719 from June through September. That is up from $661 during the same period last year,

Over the last 10 years, the cost of summer cooling has risen from $476 in 2014 to a predicted $719 in 2024.

This puts lower income families at greater risk, the report said. This is in part due to a reduction in funding for the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). The allocation dropped from $6.1 billion in FY 23 to $4.1 billion for FY 24. This has caused states to reduce the number of households that it allocates this funding to by about one million.

The report also said that only 17 states and the District of Columbia provide some summer shut-off protections. That means that low-income households in the other 33 states have no summer shut-off protections and could face dangerous health conditions caused by prolonged exposure to extreme heat. Further, it said that about 20 percent of very low-income families have no air conditioning:

In less extreme situations, a family can ride out a hot day by opening their windows, taking a cool shower, and hoping it cools down at night. But when the heat persists for weeks, or the outside air is dangerous, opening a window will only make things worse.

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