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“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.
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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.
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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.”
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