How Did Utility Shutoff Procedures and Household Shutoff Outcomes Change During the Covid-19 Pandemic? Assessing Sociodemographic and Geographic Variation Across the United States

Abstract

Utility shutoffs due to an inability to pay can have severe consequences for the health and well-being of those who experience them, especially during a public health crisis. Starting in March 2020, many states and utilities across the United States instituted utility shutoff moratoria for the first time in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This new policy approach was often based on the expressly stated logic that these services were essential for public health. Recent research indicates that these moratoria were associated with significant reductions in COVID-19 infections and deaths, though with some local variation. Yet nationally, we still know relatively little about the scale of these protections at the household level, including which households received protection from utility shutoffs during and following the pandemic and how these patterns reflect relatively well-documented sociodemographic disparities in utility debt and shutoffs before the pandemic. To help address these gaps, we used nationally representative, Census Bureau-managed household survey data from 2017 and 2021 to assess sociodemographic and geographic variation in utility shutoff notification and actualization before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that both shutoff notices and realized shutoffs decreased from 2017 to 2021, as did the ratio between those who received a shutoff notice and subsequently experienced a shutoff, suggesting a likely change in utility-level policy. Results from multivariate analysis indicate that household income and monthly utility amounts were significant predictors of experiencing an actual utility shutoff in 2017 but not in 2021. However, the relative risk of experiencing an actual utility shutoff increased for Black (as compared to white) households between 2017 and 2021. Overall, these findings indicate some promising changes in household shutoff prevalence and procedures reflecting follow-on effects of the moratoria but also highlight the persistence of uneven experiences and outcomes, which merit additional policy attention to achieve environmental justice.