Killer heat and no help: Loss of federal aid for utility bills could prove deadly
Correction: This story has been updated to correct a last name. This story also has been updated with new information.
Agencies that have helped low-income people pay their power bills for decades are stretching what could be their last funds — just as sweltering summer heat takes hold in the California desert.
The Trump administration proposed zero funding for the Low Income Heating and Energy Assistance Program, and it was not included in its wide-reaching domestic policy bill, officially called the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," that was signed into law by the president on July 4. Congress could add monies back for the program during formal appropriations this fall, which advocates say are vital.
Without the funds, the risk of heat stroke and even deaths will be "very high, especially for the elderly" if they cannot afford air conditioning, said Karla Lopez del Rio, executive director of Community Action Partnership of Riverside County. "The concern for us is public health cuts related to how grave and dangerous these extreme heat conditions are."
Her agency, like many across the nation, already can't help everyone who needs the aid. She has been forced to implement a points system to determine who gets funds. The choices aren't easy, and the threats are real in both the Coachella and Imperial valleys.
A Desert Sun review found that 14 people died from heat-related causes across Riverside County between July 15 and July 29, 2023. That included two women in their 70s who died in their homes, one in Desert Hot Springs and the other in Indio, when temperatures hit 119 degrees.
In Imperial County, the state's hottest, 27 people died of heat-exposure-related causes from April through October 2023. Heat-related deaths are notoriously underreported, so the actual numbers are likely much higher. And as climate change takes hold, scorching weather in the California desert is forecast to grow even hotter. UCLA and the Public Health Alliance of Southern California project that portions of the Coachella Valley will have more than 200 days a year above 90 degrees by mid-century.
Thousands of people already can't pay their bills in Riverside County, the fastest-growing in Southern California, Lopez del Rio said.
Tuesday Adams, 56, of Cathedral City arrived June 25 at CAP of Riverside County's Desert Hot Springs branch, clutching overdue utility bills topping $20,000 as temperatures hit 102 degrees.
Southern California Edison has extended her deadline for more than a year, but she's received a disconnection notice. That would mean no lights or air conditioning, and no way for her disabled brother to plug in his breathing machine at night, she said. CAP's records show her owing under $20, but she has returned with both the shutoff notice and her overdue bill for $20,090.40.
Adams worked as a restaurant manager and waitress for years before bad back pain made it impossible for her to lift anything, and her brother is morbidly obese. They live on disability payments of about $2,000 each per month. Monthly rent is $1,637 and their electric bills range between $674 and $3,000, depending on the season.
"If they can just get me some help I would love it," Adams said. "They got me on an installment plan, but the installment plan is $900 a month. I can't pay that, I only get $2,000 something dollars a month."
Adams said she has received LIHEAP help in past years, but tries not to ask too often. Informed about the looming elimination of all federal funds for the program, she didn't mince words.
"They got to do something, they can not stop this program ... there's too many people out here really, really struggling ... a lot of families are gonna be in the dark in this heat," she said. "The White House, the government officials, they don't see it because they have the money in their pocket. Let them come down to our poverty life and ... see if they can live like us, and struggle month to month. We can't help it if we wasn't born with a silver spoon in our mouth."
By the numbers in D.C.
Not everyone gets help even under the current LIHEAP funding, which runs out in September. About one in six Americans who needs the aid receives it, according to research by the Edison Electric Institute, or about 6 million people in the past few years.
The institute, a trade group for publicly owned power companies, and the American Gas Association testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education and Related Agencies on June 12, politely pleading for LIHEAP funds for fiscal year 2026.
"For more than 40 years, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program has helped seniors, families with young children, and individuals with disabilities maintain safe and reliable access to home heating and cooling," they said. "Despite its critical role, the program is chronically underfunded. ... In the past year alone, nearly 27% of Americans reported reducing or forgoing basic needs like food or medicine to cover their energy bills."
Countering claims by Trump and some Republicans that that the program is "unnecessary," they said, "reductions to the program appear to conflict with the goals of the President’s Executive Order 4154, Unleashing American Energy, which emphasizes promoting access to affordable, reliable energy for all Americans. LIHEAP is a cornerstone of that mission."
But Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. , whose agency distributes and oversees LIHEAP funding, sees it differently so far. He acknowledged in a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing in mid-May that Navajo Nation tribal leaders had told him “cuts to LIHEAP will end up killing people.”
“So, I understand the implications of this,” Kennedy said. But he added, “I think the rationale was that President Trump’s energy policy is going to reduce drastically the cost of energy in this country."
Meanwhile, electric bills continue to climb this year across the U.S.
The federal agency program that administers LIHEAP has had issues through the years. A 2010 General Accounting Office report found that of $5 billion in aid given to 8.3 million people in 2009, about 9% of households in a third of states who received $116 million in benefits had submitted applications containing invalid identity information.
"Although some of these cases are likely due to simple errors such as typos or incomplete data, thousands of other cases show strong indications of fraud," the GAO report concluded.
Some speak out against cuts
There has been pushback against the gutting of LIHEAP funds in Congress.
“Millions of Americans could go without cooling during heat waves and lose heat during freezing winter months because of the Trump administration’s plans to eliminate the Low-Income Heating and Energy Assistance Program," U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff of California said in an email to The Desert Sun.
Neither U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla of California nor Rep. Raul Ruiz, a medical doctor and Democrat who represents much of the Coachella and Imperial valleys, responded to requests for comment. Unlike other Trump administration actions, there have been no fiery condemnations from California Gov. Gavin Newsom or lawsuits seeking to restore aid by California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
It's not just places with extreme heat that could suffer. The looming possible end of LIHEAP funds also could harm families in colder states when winter hits.
GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine grilled Kennedy in mid-May, telling him that LIHEAP "is absolutely vital for thousands of older Mainers and low-income families. It helps them avoid the constant worry of having to choose between keeping warm, buying essential foods and medications, and other basic necessities."
Asked by Collins if he would work with the committee to try to restore LIHEAP, he said, "yeah, absolutely."
Use other funds instead?
In an emailed response to questions, Kennedy's press secretary, Vianca Rodriguez Feliciano, noted that all of this year's funds — over $4.1 billion allocated by Congress through September — have now been distributed, including nearly $240 million to California.
"These dollars can be used to support summer cooling assistance across California," Rodriguez Feliciano said. As for next year, she said states could use Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Social Services Block Grant dollars — proposed at roughly $17.3 billion and $1.7 billion for fiscal year 2026, respectively — for energy assistance.
Rodriguez Feliciano also pointed a finger at Congress.
"As a reminder, decisions about whether and how much to fund the LIHEAP program rest with Congress," she said. "HHS remains committed to effectively administering the resources that Congress provides."
It's not clear if the hundreds of agencies that screen applicants and provide LIHEAP funds across the country could pivot to using the other funds suggested by HHS. Lopez del Rio, executive director of CAP Riverside County, said they do not administer funds from either of those programs. Also, although states have latitude on how to spend those grants, they are already typically fully used for emergency food and income assistance, and in the case of the block grant dollars, for public foster and adoption services, adult day care, and protective services.
In California, LIHEAP funds are distributed to a designated agency in each county by the Department of Community Services and Development. A department spokesman said in an email that the separate funds are critical.
"As low-income, vulnerable Californians ... face increasingly extreme heat, it is more important than ever that Congress continue to fund LIHEAP energy bill assistance."
Lopez del Rio says she is "very worried" about what will happen, because Riverside County and the state are also trimming budgets, and she doesn't know if philanthropic organizations will step up.
Swaths of the desert struggle
Meanwhile, the heat is rising on the streets of Desert Hot Springs, El Centro and elsewhere.
Toni Carrillo is program director for Brawley-based Campesino Unidos, a nonprofit that has distributed LIHEAP funds to Imperial County people in need since 1971, and manages the finances carefully to ensure there are available funds year-round. But come September, all their funds will be gone and temperatures will still be high.
"Our weather hits up to 118, 120 degrees sometimes. And having a household without utilities for a day or two could be hazardous for a family, especially a senior citizen inside a home," she said. Asked about the likely elimination of LIHEAP funds, she said, "It really hurts me. I've been with the agency for over 40 years; for over 40 years we've been helping ... quite a bit of families ... I'd just rather not even watch the news any more."
Imperial County is one of the state's poorest, with a per-capita annual income of $48,000 and a 16% unemployment rate, and pockets in the north end like Niland have a per capita income of just $15,364. Imperial Irrigation District, which provides electricity to all of Imperial County and the eastern half of the Coachella Valley, has slashed power bills this summer by 25%, "to provide immediate financial relief to customers during the hottest months of the year."
But by fall, just as LIHEAP funds expire, IID customers will again see three years worth of rate hikes approved by the board to pay for needed infrastructure upgrades.
To the north, Daniella De La Mora, who processes LIHEAP applications at the Desert Hot Springs office of CAP of Riverside, said she thinks many wrongly assume the Coachella Valley contains only wealthy enclaves.
"There's a lot of poverty here, and it's hard right now, everything is so expensive," De La Mora said. "People might think it's wealthy but that's not the reality."
De La Mora knows first hand what it is like to live without electricity — when she was 13, her mother, a single mother of four children who cleaned houses for a living, couldn't pay the electric bill. Their house in Hemet plunged into darkness and stifling heat. The children made do by splashing in a kiddie pool and applying ice packs as they tried to sleep, "but the ice packs only work for a certain amount of time and then there's no way to get them cold."
She said she has seen people of all ages go weeks without electricity, including young parents with babies and an 86-year-old frail woman who could only afford to run a fan, who are living on $1,000 to $1,200 a month.
'I have heard a lot of people cry'
"I have a lot of people that cry," she said, though many are still embarrassed to ask for help, even if they are at risk.
She was able to get the 86-year-old woman a $655 credit on her electric bill, which felt good. It's not easy getting help — there are thick forms to fill out, strict income limits and more. It is tough to even get through on the phones to make an appointment for help, and the agency struggled with a large backload this spring.
In May, calls to the agency were cut off and information on its website stated there was a four to eight week backlog in processing applications, with no other information about how to apply. That has since been rectified and the backlog has been cleared up. There are walk-in hours at some locations.
But the rate of applicants has slowed, De La Mora said.
"A lot of people are thinking we have no funding," she said. "They're not coming out of their homes to even apply for assistance."
Lopez del Rio, CAP's head, said the agency has about $2 million left in funds through September, and they should be able to help about 2,550 households more though the hot summer.
"I still say come in and apply," De La Mora said. "If you don't try, you won't know, so just come and try."
How to seek help with high electric bills
If you've got electric bills piling up, contact your utility company right away.
Southern California Edison may set up installment plans or reduce debt or payments for qualified customers, said Jeff Monford, SCE's Riverside County spokesman. One-time bill assistance of $200 to $300 is available for qualified customers from the Energy Assistance Fund. Benefits are also available for those requiring electrically powered medical or mobility equipment.
But seeking help before power is shut off is critical. Residential customers whose service has been disconnected are not eligible for payment arrangements. Service may be disconnected as soon as the business day after the due date on a disconnection notice, unless the customer has contacted SCE, Monford said.
Monford said it is also important to avoid scammers. "There is no such thing here as a 'disconnection department.' Anyone claiming to represent such a department is engaging in criminal fraud."
For help, call SCE’s Customer Contact Center at 800-655-4555. More info at SCE.com/billhelp
For IID bills, payment assistance programs include income-based assistance, an average bill payment plan, and support for those using essential medical equipment. For help, call IID at 1-800-303-7756. More info at iid.com/customer-service/payment-assistance
If neither utility can help, contact the following agencies:
- Community Action Partnership of Riverside County: capriverside.org/utility-assistance-program
- Campesinos Unidos, Inc.: campesinosunidos.org/energy-department/
Janet Wilson is senior environment reporter for The Desert Sun and co-authors USA Today Climate Point. She can be reached at jwilson@gannett.com. Work by former Desert Sun environment reporter Erin Rode contributed to this story.