In an article published by the Associated Press, Harrison explained that many American families are finding it increasingly difficult to pay their energy bills as temperatures drop. He pointed out that some states have been forced to postpone winter assistance programs due to the lack of allocated federal funding.
Recent polls have shown that three out of four Americans are concerned about rising energy costs, and that about a quarter of the population has been unable to pay their electricity bills in full in recent months, forcing them to live in unsafe thermal conditions. Reports indicate that US utilities cut off electricity to more than 3 million households annually due to inability to pay.
Harrison pointed out that US President Donald Trump declared a national energy emergency on the first day of his second term in 2025, considering the high prices to be “devastating Americans, especially those with low incomes.” In contrast, Energy Secretary Christopher Wright pledged to reach “zero electricity cutoffs.”
However, Trump proposed in the 2026 budget to completely eliminate funding for LIHEAP, the only federal program dedicated to helping low-income families pay their heating and cooling bills.
Harrison added that the US administration laid off all LIHEAP office staff on April 1, 2025, weakening the government’s ability to distribute funds even after the government shutdown ended, despite bipartisan support in Congress for the program to continue.
He explained that LIHEAP, founded in 1981, supported approximately 5.9 million households in fiscal year 2023, with a budget of $6.1 billion. However, the program was not sufficient to cover all eligible individuals, as it only helped 16% of eligible households in 2020, while dismantling its administrative structure made distributing any future funding more complicated.
He pointed out that struggling families are now relying on charities, churches, and family members, but these sources do not have the capacity to cover the gap, especially as charitable funding declines and food banks and social services are affected by the shutdown.
He mentioned that “one of the study participants, named Debra, said she went from church to church looking for help to avoid electricity cutoffs,” explaining that the United Way in South Carolina received more than 16,000 requests for assistance in 2023.
Harrison warned that these cuts come at a critical time, as cold waves in early 2024 and 2025 saw deaths from hypothermia, which could have been avoided if assistance had been available in time.
He concluded by saying that expanding federal support programs is no longer an option, but a necessity, calling for increased LIHEAP funding, improved home insulation programs, restrictions on utilities to prevent service cuts, and the adoption of flexible income-based payment systems, warning that the continued crisis threatens a harsh winter with escalating health and life risks.
