Texas leads nation in utility shutoffs as electric bills rise, federal report finds
Texas had more residential electricity shutoffs than any other state in 2024, according to a new federal report that offers one of the clearest national pictures yet of how often households are left in the dark because they cannot pay their bills.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration found that utilities disconnected residential electricity service 13.4 million times nationwide in 2024. Texas accounted for more than 3 million of those disconnections, the highest total in the country.
The report also found Texas had 206,372 residential natural gas disconnections, again the largest state total.
Margo Weisz, executive director of the Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute, said the numbers show that Texas is an outlier. She said Texas residents make up about 9% of the nation’s electricity customers but accounted for 22.5% of all electricity disconnections.
Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/05/04/texas-electric-bills-utility-shutoffs-lead-nation/
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