• Skip to Content
  • Skip to Main Navigation
  • Skip to Search

Indiana University Indiana University IU

Open Search
  • Who We Are
    • Leadership
      • Past Leadership
    • Advisory Boards
    • Researchers
      • Affiliates
    • Staff
    • Vision & Mission
    • Careers
  • Who We Work With
    • Businesses and Nonprofits
    • Educators
    • Faculty
      • EPIC Request for Applications
      • Research development
    • Local Governments
      • ERI Toolkit
      • Hoosier Resilience Index
      • Webinars
      • Beat the Heat
    • Residents
      • Hoosier Resilience Heroes
    • Students
  • Research
    • Wildlife Migration
    • Pests and Invasive Species
    • Climate and Water Systems
    • Forests and Green Infrastructure
    • Human Impacts and Attitudes
    • Communication, Education, and Outreach
  • Tools & Resources
  • News & Events
    • News
    • Events
    • Newsletters
  • Support Our Work
    • Individuals and Families
    • Corporations
    • Foundations
    • Ways to Give
    • Contact
  • Contact
  • Donate

Environmental Resilience Institute
Part of the Prepared for Environmental Change Grand Challenge

  • Home
  • Who We Are
    • Leadership
    • Advisory Boards
    • Researchers
    • Staff
    • Vision & Mission
    • Careers
  • Who We Work With
    • Businesses and Nonprofits
    • Educators
    • Faculty
    • Local Governments
    • Residents
    • Students
  • Research
    • Wildlife Migration
    • Pests and Invasive Species
    • Climate and Water Systems
    • Forests and Green Infrastructure
    • Human Impacts and Attitudes
    • Communication, Education, and Outreach
  • Tools & Resources
  • News & Events
    • News
    • Events
    • Newsletters
  • Support Our Work
    • Individuals and Families
    • Corporations
    • Foundations
    • Ways to Give
    • Contact
  • Search
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Home
  • News & Events
  • News
  • Archive
  • 2020
  • State utility shutoffs signal pandemic misery

Op-ed: State utility shutoffs signal pandemic misery. New research shines a painful light.

By: Sanya Carley and David Konisky

Decorative - a headshot of Sanya Carley
Sanya Carley

Hoosiers are facing a tough winter. The COVID-19 pandemic is raging, with the state hovering near recent highs for cases and hospitalizations. The economic fallout from the pandemic also persists.

Small businesses are struggling to stay open and unemployment rates remain high. The long-awaited relief from Congress will help, but people throughout the state are having a tough time making ends meet.

For many Hoosiers, material hardship makes it impossible to afford critical energy services, such as electricity to keep their lights on and natural gas to keep their homes warm.

David Konisky

People unable to pay their utility bills face the possibility of utility service disconnection. With the weather turning colder, and many long months of winter ahead, this could not come at a worse time. To protect Indiana residents, Gov. Eric Holcomb should immediately reinstate the emergency moratorium on utility disconnections, which expired Aug. 14.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been documenting the prevalence of energy insecurity—defined as the inability to afford needed energy—across the United States and in Indiana.

Through a series of surveys of low-income households (specifically, about 2,000 people with household incomes within 200 percent of the federal poverty line), our work shows that energy insecurity is both widespread, and getting worse as the pandemic drags on.

Read the article

Environmental Resilience Institute Part of the Prepared for Environmental Change Grand Challenge resources

  • Environmental Resilience Institute Toolkit (ERIT)
  • Hoosier Resilience Index
  • Webinars

Additional links and resources

  • ERI INTRANET
  • GRAND CHALLENGES
Donation button to Give Now to Environmental Resilience Institute
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn

Indiana University

Accessibility | Privacy Notice | Copyright © 2022 The Trustees of Indiana University

  • Who We Are
    • Leadership
      • Past Leadership
    • Advisory Boards
    • Researchers
      • Affiliates
    • Staff
    • Vision & Mission
    • Careers
  • Who We Work With
    • Businesses and Nonprofits
    • Educators
    • Faculty
      • EPIC Request for Applications
      • Research development
    • Local Governments
      • ERI Toolkit
      • Hoosier Resilience Index
      • Webinars
      • Beat the Heat
    • Residents
      • Hoosier Resilience Heroes
    • Students
  • Research
    • Wildlife Migration
    • Pests and Invasive Species
    • Climate and Water Systems
    • Forests and Green Infrastructure
    • Human Impacts and Attitudes
    • Communication, Education, and Outreach
  • Tools & Resources
  • News & Events
    • News
    • Events
    • Newsletters
  • Support Our Work
    • Individuals and Families
    • Corporations
    • Foundations
    • Ways to Give
    • Contact
  • Contact
  • Donate