Residential Electricity Disconnections
Residential electricity disconnections for nonpayment
Where the Residential Electricity Disconnections stands now
The Residential Electricity Disconnections was 13.4 million in 2024.
What the Residential Electricity Disconnections measures
Electricity and natural gas, kept separate
EIA publishes one count for electricity and another for natural gas, and says not to add them: a customer with both services who is cut off for both is counted once in each. This page's headline number is electricity. Natural gas is shown beside it, never summed into one total.
- This page's series
- Electricity disconnections · 13.4 million · 2024
- Involuntary shut-offs of residential electricity service for unpaid bills, counted as events (EIA Form EIA-112). EIA report
- Separate series · Do not add
- Natural gas disconnections · 1.7 million · 2024
- Involuntary shut-offs of residential natural gas service for unpaid bills, counted as events (EIA Form EIA-112). EIA report
| Period | Count | Change from a year earlier |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1.651M | — |
2024 · U.S. Energy Information Administration Residential Utility Disconnections Report
Residential Electricity Disconnections by year, 2024 to 2024
| Year | Count | Change from a year earlier |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 13.4M | — |
Annual · U.S. Energy Information Administration, Residential Utility Disconnections Report
Counties with the highest default and legal scores
There's no county figure for this measure, so this list uses the default and legal part of our County Distress Index.
| Rank | County | Score (0–100) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coahoma County, MS | 99 |
| 2 | Clayton County, GA | 98.8 |
| 3 | Petersburg city, VA | 98.8 |
| 4 | Russell County, AL | 98.2 |
| 5 | Dougherty County, GA | 98.2 |
| 6 | Dallas County, AL | 98.1 |
| 7 | Bibb County, GA | 97.8 |
| 8 | Lauderdale County, TN | 97.1 |
| 9 | Crittenden County, AR | 96.9 |
| 10 | Montgomery County, AL | 96.9 |
Questions about the Residential Electricity Disconnections
How many utility disconnections were there in 2024?
EIA counted 13,447,935 residential electricity disconnections and 1,650,511 residential natural gas disconnections for nonpayment in 2024. EIA publishes the two totals separately and says not to add them, because a customer cut off for both services is counted in each. This page's headline number is the electricity count.
Is that the number of households that lost power?
No. The report counts disconnection events. An account can be cut off more than once in a year, one meter can serve a whole apartment building, and EIA did not collect how long service stayed off.
Are utility shutoffs going up?
This data cannot say yet. There is no earlier year to compare with: 2024 is the first year EIA collected these counts, and estimates made before it by other groups used different data and methods.
Where does this data come from?
The U.S. Energy Information Administration's Residential Utility Disconnections Report, built from Form EIA-112. Utilities report 12 monthly counts for each year. The 2024 report came out on April 14, 2026, about 15 months after the year ended, and EIA has not posted a date for 2025 data.
Sources and method for the Residential Electricity Disconnections
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, Residential Utility Disconnections Report We use the annual figures as published, from 2024 through 2024, with no adjustment of our own. U.S. Energy Information Administration’s report
We write with assistance from AI tools. Figures come from the data and sources named on this page.