The average cost to keep houses cool in the United States during the summer (that is, between June and September) is set to increase by 8% this year, as heat waves have been blanketing vast swaths of the country for weeks and there are no signs of it changing.
The National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA) and the Center for Energy, Poverty and Climate said in a report this month that the figure would be the highest in a decade and represent a large jump compared to 2021, when it reached $573.
As a result, the advocates for low-income households say they will be able to help 1 million fewer families to pay their energy bills this year. "It's inflation in the sense that you have to spend more to cool your house, but you're using more of it," said Mark Wolfe, executive director of NEADA. "So you can't blame the price. This is more the price of climate change."
Figures vary largely depending on the region of the country. Costs are projected to increase less than 2% in the Midwest but as much as 12% in states such as Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. Households are at risk of having to take debt to finance cooling bills or potentially seeing utility shut-offs for not paying.
Several parts of the country are currently under extreme heat warnings, with 72 million people under such warnings, according to the National Weather Service.
"The duration of this heat wave is notable and potentially the longest experienced in decades for some locations," the federal Weather Prediction Center said, according to NBC News. Forecasters added that temperatures will be as much as 25 degrees Fahrenheit above normal for many areas under this summer system.
New York City, for example, is opening cooling centers across the metro area as a heat wave that could see temperature feel like 100 degrees Fahrenheit begins.
City officials said the stations could remain open until at least Friday, with the city's emergency management commissioner, Zachary Ischol, saying the conditions are potentially deadly.
Other areas of the country have been affected by heat domes in the past weeks, with Texas, Arizona and Florida also seeing record temperatures for this part of the year.
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