Americans are preparing for more extreme heat just a few days after the hottest day ever recorded. As they try to stay cool, new research from the University of Pennsylvania and Indiana University finds the U.S. is in the middle of a utility disconnection crisis.
That's left some people without the electricity they need to power a fan or an air conditioner.
Researchers say utilities cut power to at least 3 million customers who missed payments last year and shutoffs happen most often in the summer.
Penn's Sanya Carley said many households end up in a spiral. If they're disconnected, the chances of them becoming disconnected again in the future go way up, said Carley. So about half of all households that we worked with had been disconnected on a recurring basis.