In relentless 110-degree heat, some people can’t afford to keep their homes cool or even tolerable all day. It’s been that hot, or hotter, every day this month in Phoenix, CBS News reported. It may be even hotter in some homes as the heat can turn them into “air fryers.”
But it’s not the dangerous heat, alone, making the summer so much worse for those without fat bank accounts. Some are actually cutting back on air conditioning to avoid unaffordable electric bills. The result is that many seniors are keeping their homes at 80 degrees, CBS found. I don’t live in Phoenix but I can personally attest that an 80-degree home is beyond uncomfortably hot.
Camille Rabany, 29, has developed her own system to keep herself and her 10-month-old Saint Bernard Rigley cool during the Arizona heat wave. Through trial and error, Rabany found that 83 F is a temperature she is willing to tolerate to keep her utility bill down.
By tracking the on-peak and off-peak schedule of her utility, Arizona Public Service, with the help of her NEST smart thermostat, Rabany keeps her home that hot from 4 to 7 p.m., the most expensive hours. She keeps fans running and has a cooling bed for Rigley, and they both try to get by until the utility's official peak hours pass.
Even so, Rabany said her utility bill was around $150 last month.
I'm sure there are many more like her across the sizzling U.S. this summer.
While those on limited incomes struggle to pay the electric bills, they may have to cut back on other expenses, such as medicines, or gasoline for their cars, CBS notes.
And all that is assuming the air conditioning doesn’t break down and require further costs.
The right attacks climate change concerns as “woke,” but the reality is it’s making life more expensive and more dangerous for those without the fat wallets of the right-wing donor class. Don’t tell me they don’t know that.
