Lights Out in the Cold: Reforming Utility Shut-Off Policies as if Human Rights Matter

Lights Out in the Cold: Reforming Utility Shut-Off Policies as if Human Rights Matter

What state-level policies and protections are in place for customers facing the termination of their utility services? How can states and advocates end the needless suffering of vulnerable customers and move toward establishing energy services as a human right?

Lights Out in the Cold: Reforming Utility Shut-Off Policies as if Human Rights Matter explores the disproportionate energy burdens experienced by low-income and communities of color, and highlights policies, practices, and programs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia involved in utility disconnections. Several states have policies and practices that can be considered best practices in protecting vulnerable utility customers, however, these protections represent first steps toward the establishment of a right to uninterrupted energy service.

The briefing will review the report’s findings, highlight model state disconnection policies, detail stopgap measures to protect vulnerable customers from service disconnections, and articulate a broader, long-term vision for the American energy sector: energy access as a human right.

Presenters:

Marcus Franklin, Environmental and Climate Justice Program Specialist, NAACP
Caroline Kurtz, Georgetown University Law Center [Invited]
Mike Alksnis, Environmental and Climate Justice Fellow, NAACP
Chiquita Younger, Environmental and Climate Justice Fellow, NAACP

Online Access: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/899734717
Phone Access: [United States] +1 (646) 749-3112
Access Code: 899-734-717