Opinion: Staying cool during heat waves is getting more expensive. It’s time for a new strategy

Opinion by Mark Wolfe and Cassandra Lovejoy

(CNN) — Summer heat is breaking records across the US. More than 2,300 heat records have already been broken, with cities like Phoenix and Dallas hitting triple-digit temperatures. These numbers should not be shocking — if anything, they fit a long-term pattern of record-breaking temperatures due to climate change. According to NASA, the past nine years have been the warmest on record.

The cost of electricity to stay cool during the summer is also increasing, as families run their air conditioning systems longer to keep their homes at a safe and comfortable temperature. We estimate that the cost of home energy nationally will increase by 11.7% this summer to an average of $578, up from $517 last summer. And these numbers follow the high cost of heating last winter, putting an enormous financial burden on low-income families.

Indeed, these families are already behind on their home energy bills. Close to 20 million families owe about $19.5 billion on their utility bills. Federal funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which provides formula grants to states to help pay household heating and cooling bills, is only adequate to help about one out of six eligible households, while just 20% of program funds are used for cooling (the other 80% is used for heating).

And rising temperatures present a public health issue, too, as emergency room visits increase from people suffering from heat-related illnesses like heat exhaustion, which can lead to heat stroke. Emissions also increase as families use more electricity to run their air conditioning systems and utilities use more fossil fuels to produce the electricity needed to run those systems.

It’s clear that we need to act now to develop a nationwide framework for climate adaptation to protect all vulnerable families from hotter summers, higher bills and more extreme weather events.

About 34.2 million households are currently income eligible to receive energy bill assistance under the current LIHEAP legislation — according to federal law, households with incomes up to 150% of the federal poverty level, currently $30,000 for a family of four, or 60% of state median income, whichever is greater, are eligible for the program. And while the Inflation Reduction Act provides $4.5 billion for low-income energy efficiency retrofits and a maximum of $14,000 per household, it’s only enough funding to upgrade about 320,000 households — just 1% of the families that will need help.

States have been taking matters into their own hands, creating clean energy plans that include statewide greenhouse gas reduction goals. But not all state climate plans include specific policies focusing on low-income families.

This piecemeal approach has the potential to create an alarming level of climate inequity, including energy affordability, access to energy efficiency equipment to help transition to rising temperatures and health concerns based on the state in which someone lives. Lack of access to cooling could mean death from heat-related illness.

To address the summer cooling crisis, there are a few things the government can do in the short term:

Suspend shutoffs

Utilities should voluntarily suspend shutoffs this summer for families who are behind on their bills. Maricopa Country, Arizona, for example, has seen at least 18 deaths from heat-related illnesses, while 69 more are under investigation for being heat-related. Only 19 states, including Arizona, plus Washington, DC, have summer shut-off protections in place, and many of those are limited to periods of extreme temperature. Meanwhile, 42 states plus Washington, DC have winter shutoff protections in place.

Additional funding

The National Energy Assistance Directors Association is asking Congress for an additional $3 billion for cooling assistance this year. These additional funds will help six million households pay their cooling bills this summer. Many low-income families have access to cooling — they just can’t afford to turn it on.

Long-term, the nation must develop a strategy to help retrofit the entire low-income housing stock by helping families pay for high-efficiency retrofits that will reduce their energy costs and make their houses more resilient to climate change. The strategy should have a goal of retrofitting the entire low-income housing stock within the next 10 years and set appropriations to address the full need.

Utilities and residential building owners nationwide should be required to protect low-income families during periods of extreme weather. This includes year-round shutoff protection for medically vulnerable households and for all households during extreme weather. It also includes requiring the multi-family building owners to provide access to cooling, the same way they provide access to heating.

We can no longer afford to think about energy assistance as a seasonal need. Extreme hot and cold temperatures and extreme weather events are impacting families across the country in all months of the year. We should better prepare for these crises and develop programs that help low-income families stay safe and in their homes.

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