2024 Residential Utility Disconnections Report

Release date: April 14, 2026

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) prepared this report in response to the Explanatory Statement accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (P.L. 117-328), which included language expressing interest in issues related to residential utility disconnections.¹

In April 2023, EIA initiated a new collection of data on monthly final notices, disconnections, and reconnections due to bill nonpayment from natural gas and electricity delivery companies serving U.S. residential customers. This process included both a pilot survey and two cognitive studies, culminating in Form EIA-112, Residential Utility Disconnections Survey, approved by the Office of Management and Budget in October 2024. The collection was launched in February 2025 and completed in December 2025; data processing was completed in February 2026.

The data in this report represent the total number of final notices, disconnections, and reconnections issued in each month of calendar year 2024. An individual customer account may receive more than one final notice, disconnection, and/or reconnection per calendar year.

• Final notices. Approximately 27.1 million final notices were sent to residential natural gas utility customers in 2024. April had the highest amount, with 2.9 million final notices, and November had the lowest amount, with 1.6 million final notices. Approximately 94.9 million final notices were sent to residential electricity customers in 2024. October had the highest amount, with 9.0 million final notices, and June had the lowest amount, with 7.2 million.
• Disconnections. There were 1.7 million residential natural gas disconnections in 2024. April had the most disconnections (214,726), and December had the fewest (52,783). There were 13.4 million residential electricity disconnections in 2024. October had the most disconnections (1.5 million), and July had the fewest (967,012 thousand).
• Reconnections. Approximately 1.2 million residential natural gas customer accounts were reconnected in 2024. October had the most reconnections, with 131,472; January had the fewest, with 63,758. In 2024, 11.4 million residential electricity customer accounts were reconnected. October had the most with 1.3 million reconnections; July had the fewest reconnections, with 794,094.

All utilities that report delivering electricity or natural gas to residential customers on Form EIA-861, Annual Electric Power Industry Report, and Form EIA-176, Annual Report of Natural and Supplemental Gas Supply and Disposition, were required to complete Form EIA-112. There were 74.0 million residential natural gas customers and 143.0 million residential electricity customers in the United States in 2024. The response rate, weighted by number of residential customers, was 96.1% for natural gas and 93.5% for electricity.

 

Footnote

¹“The agreement provides up to $3,000,000 to conduct a monthly survey of electric and heating service providers of final termination notices sent due to bill non-payment, service disconnections due to bill non-payment, and Service reconnections of customers disconnected for bill non-payment, in a form and manner determined by the agency.” See the Committee Print on H.R. 2617 (Public Law 117-328), p. 938.