Assessing demographic vulnerability and weather impacts on utility disconnections in California

Abstract

When a household is disconnected from their electric utility service the consequences can be severe, including accumulation of debt, the inability to maintain comfortable temperatures, and in the most extreme cases, homelessness or mortality. While the survey-based literature on utility disconnections has yielded important findings about which households are most likely to experience a utility shutoff, only a few existing studies have used data from utility companies themselves. In this analysis, we utilize zip-code level data from four of California’s largest utility providers to measure sociodemographic disparities in disconnections, in addition to the impact of adverse weather. We find that zip codes with a higher share of vulnerable households, especially Black and Hispanic households and households with young children, face a higher number and rate of utility disconnections, even after controlling for an extensive set of factors that are commonly thought to explain higher rates of energy insecurity, including income, housing characteristics, and energy costs. Our analysis also suggests that sociodemographic and weather disparities in disconnections differ between utility types. We conclude by discussing the implications of the findings for research and policy, including the impact of regulation, utility provider practices, and more extreme weather driven by climate change.