Economics

Mark Wolfe, an energy economist and executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association (Neada), which helps states with energy assistance programmes, says concerns about the long-term impacts of heat across the country are relatively new.

"A couple years ago, you'd have a heatwave that lasted maybe a day or two," he says. "You can be in an overheated apartment for a day. You can't be in it for a week. If you're in it for a week, you can die." (Research shows heatwaves have already become longer and more intense around the world).

In 2020, nearly 25 million households reported reducing or going without food or medicine to pay for energy that year. Some 12 million households – one in every ten – received a disconnection notice.