The United States is expecting to be one of the hottest summers of all time, with millions of people nationwide working to pay for their electricity bills as temperatures and energy costs rise.

A national survey in 2023 found that nearly a quarter of Americans who have been at least a month cannot pay their full energy bills, while a quarter of Americans report keeping their homes in unsafe temperatures to save money. By 2025, updated polls show that one in four Americans are concerned about rising energy costs.

Conservative estimates suggest that utilities close 3 million households each year because residents cannot pay their bills.

The Trump administration’s high-energy price problem will not be lost.

Donald Trump announced the national energy emergency as an executive order on the first day of his second term in 2025, saying “high energy prices… destroy Americans, especially those living in low-income and fixed-income income.”

Energy Secretary Christopher Wright fears utilities disconnect and outlines the mission of “reducing that number with zero goal”.

However, the government’s 2026 budget proposal Zero funded the Low Income Household Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), a federal program that manages funds to help low-income families pay their utility bills. On April 1, 2025, the government ruled the entire staff of the Liheap office.

Many people have struggled to bring together enough help from various sources to pay their power bills. As researchers studying energy insecurity, we believe that the federal office responsible for managing the Energy Act assistance will make it more difficult for Americans to make it harder for them to make it harder for them to make it harder for them to make it.

High energy affordability

We work with communities in South Carolina and Tennessee, where many residents are working to heat and cool homes.

We see how energy prices force people to make dangerous trade-offs. Low-income families often find themselves choosing whether to buy essentials, pay for child care or pay for their utility bills.

Sarah, an elderly person we conducted research with, explained that she usually gave up buying drugs to pay for utility bills. "I've gotten into these houses, it's too hot. Your eyes are at the back of your head. It's like you can't breathe. How do you sit here? It's just illusion," said another study participant who linked low-income families to Tennessee Energy Bill Assistance.

Unfortunately, these stories are becoming more common, especially in low-income and communities of color.

Electricity prices are expected to rise as climate change worsens: more frequent heat waves and extreme weather events will boost demand and put pressure on them. In addition, rising energy demand in data centers (as AI uses more and more energy) is accelerating prices.

Shrink resources and seek help

Founded in 1981, Liheap provides funding for the state as a block grant to help low-income families pay their utility bills. In the fiscal year 2023, the program allocated $6.1 billion in energy assistance to help about 5.9 million households avoid losing their power connections.

The program’s small staff play a key role in paying the money, providing implementation guidelines, monitoring state-level fund management, and tracking and evaluating program efficiency.

Liheap historically will prioritize heating assistance in cold states rather than cooling assistance in warm states. However, recent research suggests that it is necessary to revisit the allocation formula to meet the growing demand for air conditioning. The layoffs deleted employees who could guide the job.

If states do not receive LIHEAP funds from the federal government, other sources of funding are unlikely to fill the gap. The funding of the program has never been high enough to meet demand. In 2020, Liheap provided assistance to only 16% of eligible families.

Our research found that in practice, many families rely on a range of local nonprofits, faith-based organizations, and informal networks of families and friends to help them pay their bills and maintain power.

For example, a study participant named Deborah reported that she “driving from church to church” when facing utilities. United Way in South Carolina received more than 16,000 calls from people seeking help in 2023.

For many, these charitable services are an important lifeline, especially in the communities we learn from the South. However, research shows that faith-based programs do not have the influence of public programs.

Without Liheap, the limited funding provided by nonprofits and the personal connections that people tinker with people together would become thinner, especially as other charitable services, such as food banks, are also facing cuts.

What's wrong in front of you

The $4.1 billion allocated to Liheap by Congress for the fiscal year 2025 has been paid. But looking forward, cutting back on Lehapp’s staff will affect their ability to meet growing demand. Congress must now decide whether it will also kill future funds for the program.

Maricopa County, Arizona, is home to Phoenix, illustrates the danger. Over the past decade, the annual calorie-related death toll has risen by 1,000%, from 61% to 602.

We believe that Liheap’s courage brings energy affordability to all Americans and the lives of Americans. Unless more affordable energy sources such as solar and wind can be expanded, federal aid programs need to be expanded rather than shrinking.

Increasing Liheap's coverage and funding is an option. Making family ethos plan more effective is another way.

The government may also ask utilities to forgive past bills and end utilities' closures in the hottest and coldest months. Currently, about twenty states have regulations to prevent closures during the worst summer heat.

Currently, cuts mean greater pressure on nonprofits, faith-based organizations and informal networks. Looking ahead to another unusually hot summer, we can only hope that the cuts to Liheap staff won’t predict the growing but preventable death toll.

Law professor Etienne Toussaint of the University of South Carolina and law professor Ann Eisenberg of West Virginia University contributed to this article.