The article discusses an ongoing and pressing issue faced by many in the United States: utility inaffordability. While the article doesn't cite a national total of overdue bills, of which last estimates in October amount to billions, it discusses the negative repercussions many households with surmounting unpaid utility bills face: choosing between having their services disconnected or paying for food, rent, or medicine.
Additionally, the article acknowledges that many states adopted temporary actions that, when expired, will only thrust many households into precarious conditions much faster and violently than they were able to provide protections. Two associations to note, as mentioned in the article, National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC); these two entities are responsible for the recent creation of a consumer bill of rights that advocates for better protections than a moratorium and that calls for energy affordability, one where low-to-middle income households are not led into bankruptcy or have their health endangered due to past-due utility bills.
Deron Lovaas, Larry Levine and Karen Lusson, "A New Customer Bill of Rights: Affordable Utility Services", contributed by Briana Leone, The Energy Rights Project, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 13 May 2021, accessed 18 May 2024. https://energyrights.info/content/new-customer-bill-rights-affordable-utility-services
Critical Commentary
The article discusses an ongoing and pressing issue faced by many in the United States: utility inaffordability. While the article doesn't cite a national total of overdue bills, of which last estimates in October amount to billions, it discusses the negative repercussions many households with surmounting unpaid utility bills face: choosing between having their services disconnected or paying for food, rent, or medicine.
Additionally, the article acknowledges that many states adopted temporary actions that, when expired, will only thrust many households into precarious conditions much faster and violently than they were able to provide protections. Two associations to note, as mentioned in the article, National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC); these two entities are responsible for the recent creation of a consumer bill of rights that advocates for better protections than a moratorium and that calls for energy affordability, one where low-to-middle income households are not led into bankruptcy or have their health endangered due to past-due utility bills.