Electric Shut-Offs Questioned in Extreme Heat, Extreme Cold in Connecticut

The climate extremes of hot and cold impact New England and Connecticut as much as just about any region of the country.  Yet how states require energy companies to react differs, according to newly compiled data.

The vast majority of states have policies that forbid power shutoffs during a winter freeze, according to data compiled by Energy Justice Lab of Indiana University and published this month in Vox. The publication noted that most states require, for example, heating for multifamily homes.

However, they note that “policy governing cooling in the summers is a patchwork that lets the most vulnerable slip through the cracks. Federal buildings, housing, and prisons have standards for heat, but no guarantee of AC. And only a handful of states have any kind of requirements that utilities keep the power on during a heat wave.”

Connecticut is apparently not one of those states.

The most recent heatwave hit particularly hard in the Southwest, but Connecticut faced multiple consecutive days of oppressive heat and humidity.  Across the country, as climate change continues, more excessively hot days, and more deaths, are anticipated – particularly if there is no prohibition on cutting of the electricity that powers air conditioning.

“We understand the public health implications if a person has an apartment that’s too cold, especially for the elderly,” energy economist Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association and the Energy Programs Consortium, an organization that assists low-income consumers, told Vox.

However, “the nation doesn’t have an accurate picture of just what the lack of any coherent cooling strategy costs the public,” Vox points out, indicating that “only 18 states have any protections that prevent utilities from shutting off a customer’s power in a heat wave because of missed payments, while 41 states have these protections for the cold. That leaves most of the population vulnerable to utility shutoffs during the deadliest extreme weather window of the year.”

A Center for Biological Diversity report found that since the pandemic began in January 2020 through December 2021, households had their power shut off more than 3.6 million times. Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Illinois accounted for the most disconnections, Vox reported.

CT by the Numbers has not heard back regarding our inquiry to Taren O’Connor, Director of Legislation, Regulations and Communications at the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA), regarding policies and procedures in Connecticut.

The CT Post reported this month that Connecticut has a statutory shut-off moratorium for the period of November 1 to May 1, according to Joe Cooper, a spokesman for the state’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority.  The moratorium is applicable to hardship customers of electric natural gas companies, Cooper told the Post. To qualify for shut off protection, he said households need to apply through their local gas/electricity utility provider.

Both of Connecticut’s leading utilities, according to published reports, work with customers – in winter and during the recent heatwave – regarding plans for payment of outstanding bills so as to forestall electric cutoffs.

And at least one key state legislator has indicated it’s possible that the legislature would consider more far-reaching action in the future, as the climate extremes continue to take hold here.