'Billed to the Breaking Point': Harms from Indiana's High Electricity Costs

In collaboration with Citizens Action Coalition, the Institute investigated the rising costs of electricity and the harms that disproportionately fall on low- and middle-income Hoosiers as a result. The Institute finds that even as CEOs of investor-owned utility companies take home millions in compensation packages, increasing numbers of everyday Hoosiers are unable to afford the rising costs of electricity. This raises concerns in an era of climate change, with potentially-deadly consequences for the hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers who face disconnection each year. 

November 2024 | Report PDF

Lead Author: Zia Saylor, Researcher and Communications Coordinator | Contact Zia

Cover showing report title and image of breaking lightbulb

 

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Letters for LIHEAP: Since 1981, the federally-funded Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) has provided financial assistance for paying rising electricity bills in crucial winter months. In Indiana, 109,750 households are helped each year by this program, with the vast majority of this funding going towards heating assistance. But these households represent only 16 percent of those eligible–a total of 689,734 households. As winters get colder, summers get hotter, and cost of living stretches budgets thinner, it is imperative to not only continue funding LIHEAP in the coming budget year but to increase the amount of funds available to not just keep pace with inflation, but to outpace it so that more families can benefit from the program. Please join the Institute in contacting your representatives to urge them to increase funding.