Energy Insecurity is on the Rise in U.S.

Home energy insecurity is increasing across the U.S., recently released Energy Information Administration data shows.

The 2024 Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS), which the EIA has conducted periodically since 1978, involves a national survey of a representative sample of housing units, as well as a survey of utility billing records. Interviewers collected energy characteristics on 132.5 million housing units, usage patterns, and household demographics during 2024 and 2025. Data includes energy costs and usage for heating, cooling, and appliances and affordability.

Home energy insecurity is defined as a household’s “inability to meet basic energy needs, such as heating, cooling, or powering appliances, due to financial, structural, or behavioral factors.” Among the indicators used in the survey are foregoing necessities to pay for home energy, maintaining unhealthy indoor temperatures, receiving disconnection notices, and inability to use heating or cooling equipment because of disconnection or malfunction

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The 2024 survey shows that one-third of all U.S. households are struggling with energy insecurity, an increase from 27% of U.S. households in the 2020 survey. While energy insecurity was reported across all income levels and regions of the U.S., it disproportionally impacts low-income and minority groups.

The National Consumer Law Center is a nonprofit group that specializes in consumer law and energy policy to work for consumer justice and economic security for low-income and other disadvantaged people in the U.S. Its analysis of the preliminary data found that nearly 25% of households reported reducing food or medicine to pay their energy bills. It also found that energy insecurity was highest among Native American and black households, and among low-income brackets. The Southern region of the U.S. had the highest level of energy insecurity.

“This substantial increase in energy insecurity predates the recent, sharp increase in energy and utility prices that will clearly exacerbate previous levels of home energy insecurity,” an NCLC release stated, noting that the data was collected before a spike in electric prices due to rising demand from data centers and the recent war in Iran, both of which are exacerbating the problem.

The NCLC advocates for policy initiatives to address energy insecurity, including bill payment assistance, limits on disconnections, and home energy efficiency retrofits.

The Pennsylvania Utility Law Project also advocates for policies to protect low-income households from rising energy costs. “In 2024, 352,533 Pennsylvania households experienced an involuntary termination of gas or electric services to their home, a 15% increase over 2023,” said Executive Director Elizabeth Marx in 2025 testimony before a state Senate Committee.

“There are no signs of relief from rising energy and utility prices in Pennsylvania. To the contrary, we are bracing for energy and utility insecurity to get much, much worse,” she added, noting that prices are utility prices are continuing to rise because of rapidly increasing demand, the build out of energy-hungry data centers, and regulatory issues in the PJM regional electric grid regulations.