Energy & Housing

Lights Out in the Sunshine State: Florida’s 2024 Utility Disconnection Numbers Are Staggering

A landmark federal report reveals Florida ranked among the nation’s hardest-hit states for residential electricity shutoffs last year—with more than 2.1 million disconnections and nearly 12 million shutoff warnings.

Florida households received nearly 12 million electricity shutoff warnings in 2024. They saw more than 2.1 million actual residential electricity disconnections—placing the state among the top tier nationally for bill-nonpayment cutoffs, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s first-ever comprehensive disconnections report released this month.

• The 2024 Residential Utility Disconnections Report, published in April 2026 by the EIA, is the result of a three-year effort to collect monthly data on final notices, disconnections, and reconnections from natural gas and electric utilities nationwide. Florida’s numbers stand out in virtually every category.

Final Notices: Nearly 12 Million Warnings Sent

Florida electric utilities sent 12,045,492 final notices to residential customers over the course of 2024—the last written or electronic warning before a shutoff occurs. That’s the second-highest total among all states in the report, trailing only Texas.

Monthly final notice counts stayed persistently high throughout the year, peaking in October at 1,164,584 and reaching their low point in March at 868,693. Florida’s electricity customer base averaged roughly 10.5 million accounts—meaning utilities were sending final notices at a rate equivalent to roughly 10% or more of all customers every single month.

Florida electric utilities sent final notices at a rate of roughly 10% of the state’s residential customer base each month in 2024.

On the natural gas side, Florida’s footprint is far smaller—the state has roughly 924,000 residential gas customers compared to more than 10.5 million electric customers. Gas utilities sent 539,655 final notices in 2024, with April seeing the highest single-month total at 49,717.

Disconnections: 2.17 Million Electricity Cutoffs

The headline number: Florida had 2,177,337 residential electricity disconnections in 2024. Only Texas—with a customer base roughly 20% larger—recorded more. Our state only ranks behind #1 Texas and #2 Oklahoma.

Key monthly figures for electricity disconnections:

• January: 206,722
• February: 185,010
• March: 170,098 (annual low)
• April: 180,841
• May: 168,457
• June: 174,815
• July: 186,202
• August: 163,890
• September: 163,676
• October: 176,499
• November: 200,582
• December: 200,547

Unlike many northern states—where winter disconnection protections suppress shutoff numbers in cold months—Florida showed elevated disconnection volumes in January, November, and December.

Florida showed no meaningful winter dip in disconnections—a pattern the EIA attributes to the absence of cold-weather shutoff moratoriums common in northern states.

The monthly electricity disconnection rate—calculated as disconnections divided by active customer accounts—hovered between 1.54% and 1.98% every month of the year. January’s rate of 1.98% was among the highest recorded nationally. For context, the U.S. average disconnection rate ranged from 0.68% to 1.04% monthly. Florida ran nearly double the national average. 

• The Tampa Bay Times also reviewed this report and found that our state has an average of 20 disconnections per 1,000 households, ranking behind only Texas and Oklahoma.

For natural gas, Florida recorded 30,852 disconnections in 2024, with April leading at 3,070. Monthly gas disconnection rates ranged from 0.16% to 0.35%—modest numbers consistent with Florida’s relatively small gas customer base, but still representing tens of thousands of households losing heating service.

Reconnections: Most Accounts Restored, but Thousands Weren’t

Of the 2.17 million electricity disconnections, Florida utilities completed 2,032,174 electricity reconnections in 2024—meaning more than 145,000 disconnected accounts were not restored during the year. The report notes that this gap is likely explained by customers who paid and were reconnected in a subsequent year, by accounts that were permanently closed, or by service agreements that expired.

Monthly reconnections tracked closely with disconnections:

• Highest reconnection month: January — 192,044
• Lowest reconnection month: August — 152,100
• Annual total: 2,032,174

Natural gas reconnections totaled 21,465 for the year, consistently running below the monthly disconnection counts.

Why Florida Stands Out

Several factors likely contribute to Florida’s high volume of disconnections. The state has one of the largest residential electricity customer bases in the country—approximately 10.5 million accounts—and a climate that makes air conditioning not just a comfort but a survival necessity for much of the year, driving higher bills. Florida also lacks the winter disconnection moratoriums that depress shutoff statistics in cold-weather states.

• The EIA report does not break data below the state level, so county-by-county analysis—including Escambia and Santa Rosa counties—is not available from this dataset. 

Florida’s weighted electricity response rate in the survey was 94.8%, meaning the data covers the vast majority of the state’s residential accounts and is considered statistically reliable.

National Context

Across the United States in 2024:

• Residential electricity utilities sent 94.9 million final notices
• There were 13.4 million electricity disconnections nationally
• There were 11.4 million electricity reconnections
• Florida accounted for roughly 16% of all U.S. residential electricity disconnections

Florida’s share of national disconnections far exceeds its share of residential customers, which stands at roughly 7.4% of the U.S. total. That disproportionate ratio underscores the scale of the affordability and energy-cost pressure facing Florida households.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2024 Residential Utility Disconnections Report (April 2026), Form EIA-112. Data covers the calendar year 2024. Full report available at eia.gov.

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