Louisiana Ranks Worst in America for Residents Unable to Pay Energy Bill

Louisiana has the highest percentage of residents who have been unable to pay the full amount of their energy bill at least once in the last 12 months, according to a new report from HelpAdvisor.com.

The data analyzed came from the U.S. Census Pulse Survey, which was released in November 2023. The study determined where Americans are having difficulty affording their home energy costs.

The data showed that in Louisiana some 22.9% of residents have been unable to pay the full amount of an energy bill at least once in the last 12 months. That is the highest percentage of any state in the U.S.

All total, 3.3M Louisiana residents responded to the survey.

Nationally, only 17.3% of Americans have been unable to pay the full amount of an energy bill at least once in the last 12 months.

The study also looked at the percentage of Americans who reduced or forwent basic expenses such as food and medicines so they could pay their energy bill in the last 12 months.

While nearly 27% of Americans fell into that category, a whopping 34.7% of Louisiana residents forwent these basic expenses to pay an energy bill. That is the second-highest percentage in the U.S. (behind Mississippi at 37.8%).

More than one in 12 respondents (8.6%) in across the country reported making such a sacrifice nearly every month.

While energy bills usually go down for most consumers in the winter, Louisiana residents have been feeling the pain when they open their power bills lately.

In a recent story, we explained the culprit for the higher-than-normal energy bills:

Power providers are having to pay higher bills for the energy they distribute to you. Many of our power providers point to this past summer's drought and lower water levels on the Mississippi River as catalysts for higher fuel prices they have to pay to create the electricity you need.