This article reports on the state of disconnections across the United States in March 2020. One of the major points of the article is that, although many states have suspended utility shut-offs during the pandemic (sometimes for an unspecified length of time) there is little data on whether people who had had their power disconnected prior to the suspensions had been able to have their utilities reconnected. Another excellent point brought up in the article is the shear lack of data we have on how many people are impacted by shutoffs. There is a serious lack of data infrastructure to measure these impacts.
David Pomerantz, "Caught in a patchwork of policies and pledges, some utility customers may still be awaiting electricity restoration or racking up fees", contributed by Alison Kenner, The Energy Rights Project, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 19 April 2020, accessed 26 April 2024. https://energyrights.info/content/caught-patchwork-policies-and-pledges-some-utility-customers-may-still-be-awaiting
Critical Commentary
This article reports on the state of disconnections across the United States in March 2020. One of the major points of the article is that, although many states have suspended utility shut-offs during the pandemic (sometimes for an unspecified length of time) there is little data on whether people who had had their power disconnected prior to the suspensions had been able to have their utilities reconnected. Another excellent point brought up in the article is the shear lack of data we have on how many people are impacted by shutoffs. There is a serious lack of data infrastructure to measure these impacts.