Americans struggle to pay utilities as energy prices surge: CBS News

NEW YORK, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Millions of Americans are struggling to cope with rising electricity and natural gas prices as sky-high inflation continues to dent their finances, reported CBS News on Monday.

About 20 percent of U.S. households have missed or made a late payment on their utility bill last month, according to a recent Bank of America (BoA) report.

"Not surprisingly, families with an income of 50,000 U.S. dollars or less are struggling the most to absorb higher energy costs," the report noted.

Geographically, residents of Dallas and Houston are seeing some of the highest utility bill hikes this summer, up 23 percent when compared to the same period last year, it said.

Higher energy prices brought on by the Russia-Ukraine conflict are partly to blame for the late or missed payments, and customer utility bills rose about 16 percent in August compared to the same month a year ago, it cited the BoA report.