Inflation cooled a bit last month, thanks in part to falling gasoline prices, but for many families, there's another major strain on their household budget: soaring electricity bills.
"We have six months of summer with over 100-degree heat," says Cooper, who earns $13.50 an hour as a restaurant cashier."If I didn't have roommates, I wouldn't be able to make it on the salary that I have."
While Cooper, who's 59, will likely get a break on utility costs during the mild Phoenix winter, people in colder parts of the country are likely to face significantly higher heating bills.An aircraft takes off from Los Angeles International Airport , with electric power lines visible at sunset as the California Independent System Operator announced a statewide electricity Flex Alert urging conservation to avoid blackouts in El Segundo, Calif., on Aug. 31.
"There's no sign these prices are coming down," Wolfe says."All the signs point to more expensive costs of home heating, and they could spike if it's cold."have fallen behind on their utility bills and the average amount they owe has grown to $792 — nearly double what it was before the pandemic. "It's not a question of are families heating and cooling their homes responsibly," Wolfe says."Families do this. They turn the heat down as low as they can. They use air conditioning sparingly. It's just that the cost of home heating and home cooling has gone up so much that low-income families are struggling to pay these bills."Heating and cooling bills come on top of rising costs for other essentials such as shelter and food. Housing costs rose 6.
Gasoline prices are among the most visible in the country, and they often carry an outsize psychological impact. As pump prices have declined, Americans' worries about inflation have also eased a bit.