The cost of keeping cool: energy affordability and extreme heat

This report outlines the geography and scale of household energy burden across the country, with particular attention to the impacts of extreme heat and cooling costs. Using county-level estimates of household energy costs and energy poverty, this report details where energy burden is most severe and how it varies across regions and seasons. 

The study also examines how rising temperatures and increasing electricity costs are placing additional pressure on households that already struggle with energy affordability by presenting modeled data on how cooling costs have changed from 2018 to 2024. Finally, this report explains the ways that high temperatures intensify the consequences of energy insecurity by forcing some households to adjust their spending or energy use in ways that can threaten their health or quality of life. The analysis concludes with the ways that federal and state support for energy affordability fail to recognize the importance of cooling access. Overall, this report illustrates that efforts to reduce household energy burden must incorporate the compounding role of extreme heat.