Sold 1/4 position some LIFO last in first out shares at $169 thinking we see a breather here and waiting to see what government programs start for those who don’t pay their energy bills.
The National Energy Assistance Directors Association says more than 20 million U.S. families are behind on their utility bills, numbers NEADA executive director Mark Wolfe believes are "historic."
An alarmingly high number of American households are behind on making their utility payments.
The NEADA chief said what is even more alarming is the surge in the collective amount owed, which sat at roughly $8.1 billion at the end of 2019 and has now skyrocketed to around $16 billion. The average delinquent bill climbed from $403 to $792.
A primary driver behind the utility debt is a surge in energy prices. The cost of natural gas – used to power homes so folks can keep cool in the summer and warm in the winter – was up 30.5% year-over-year in July, according to the Labor Department.
While energy is in high demand in the summer, experts say heating bills this winter will bring more pain.
Andrew Lipow, president of energy consulting firm Lipow Oil Associates wrote this week that "the consumer is going to pay more for their heating bills this winter," adding that "whether they use natural gas or home heating oil, most will have sticker shock."
He went on to note that "natural gas futures prices are now more than double what they were a year ago.
Now, an unprecedented number of Americans could face having their power shut off because they cannot pay the overdue home energy bills.
With pandemic-era moratoriums on utility shutoffs expired and the price of natural gas set to continue its upward climb, Wolfe says that "looking ahead – all signs point to continued growth in arrearages."
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Unpaid electricity bills in the UK have tripled over a year to reach 1.3 billion pounds, a record, a sign of the impact of the soaring cost of living on the British, according to the comparator site Uswitch.
This debt is expected to increase further as electricity rates are set to undergo further significant increases in the coming months, Uswitch said in a statement released on Wednesday.
Indeed, the British energy price regulator Ofgem is due to announce on August 26 an increase in the energy price ceiling.
It is expected to rise from 1,971 pounds a year to 3,358 pounds a year for an average household in Britain, Uswitch estimates, due to soaring energy prices.
Analysts from the specialized firm Cornwall Insight expect further increases in this ceiling in October, January and April, which could then increase it to 4,427 pounds.
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More than 300,000 German households can no longer afford electricity, comes as no surprise. That hundreds of thousands of people in Europe’s richest economy are forced to heat their homes using timber scavenged from forests is the new normal.
Power and gas prices continue to skyrocket to a level that hundreds of thousands more will be unable to light and heat their homes.
Local governments have a cunning plan to prevent their constituents from freezing to death.
Germans are being offered the opportunity to bunch up in exhibition halls when temperatures plummet, so they can collectively stay warm in a commonly heated space.
