As Iowans suffer through another day of high heat and humidity, some are doing so without air conditioning. Alliant and MidAmerican have submitted information to the Iowa Utilities Board about air conditioning in low-income households.
About one-quarter of the low-income Iowans who live in a home powered by MidAmerican or Alliant probably have no air conditioning according to the data. Low income Iowans who live in an apartment are slightly more likely to have air conditioning. The data indicates about 78% of low-income Iowans in apartments powered by Alliant and MidAmerican have either central air or a window air conditioner.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 84% of all single-family homes in the United States have air conditioning an d82 percent of all apartments have air conditioning. MidAmerican and Alliant serve about three-quarters of the electric and gas customers in Iowa.
There is no data on file at the Utilities Board about what percentage of low-income households on municipally-run systems have air conditioning or how many low-income households on Rural Electric Cooperative networks have air conditioning either.