An 82-year-old woman died in her Phoenix-area home on a 99-degree day last year after her power had been disconnected. Some are now calling for broader restrictions to prohibit Arizona utilities from shutting off customers’ power during high heat.
There were 602 heat-related deaths in Maricopa County in 2024, according to Maricopa County Public Health. Of those, 23% occurred indoors. In most indoor heat death cases, air conditioning was present, but not functioning. In 13 cases, there was no electricity.
The circumstances of Katherine Korman’s death were first reported this week by 12 News. Korman died May 19, 2024, at her home in Sun City West. Korman’s electricity had been disconnected earlier that week.
Daily high temperatures in the Phoenix area reached the upper 90s and low 100s throughout that week, according to National Weather Service data. The Maricopa County medical examiner lists Korman’s death as accidental, from chronic alcohol use, with cardiovascular disease and heat stress among the contributing factors.
Korman had not paid her electricity bill since January, according to her utility provider, Arizona Public Service.
“We communicated directly to this customer 10 times through email, phone, a physical door hanger and monthly bills,” APS spokesperson Katie Conner told KJZZ News via email. “We also communicated the day after power was disconnected to again urge the customer to contact us.”
APS cannot disconnect customers’ electricity June 1 through Oct. 15, under heat safety rules from the Arizona Corporation Commission. The commission adopted those rules in 2019, following another heat-related death of an APS customer whose power had been disconnected.
Salt River Project, the other major utility provider for the Phoenix area, is not regulated by the Corporation Commission. SRP does not disconnect customers in July or August, or anytime the National Weather Service issues an extreme heat warning.
Stacey Champion, a longtime advocate on the issue of heat-related deaths, found out about Korman’s death through public records requests. She told KJZZ that Korman's case shows the date-based limits on customer disconnections that APS and SRP follow leave out other times of the year when temperatures often still reach dangerous highs.
“People start dying typically in April, and die through October,” Champion said. “We desperately need data-driven, temperature-based, statewide utility disconnect rules.”
The average high temperature in May in Phoenix is typically about 94.5 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. APS disconnected more than 2,200 customers in May 2024.
Under the Corporation Commission’s rules, utilities do have the option to adopt a temperature-based moratorium, in which they would suspend disconnections anytime throughout the year when the forecast temperature is above 95 degrees.
Conner said APS worked with consumer advocates and the Corporation Commission to determine the best model for its moratorium: “A date-based heat season moratorium, which runs June 1 through October 15, is clearer and more predictable for customers across our diverse service territory. Temperatures can change day to day in certain seasons.”
Champion thinks the temperature-based moratorium should be the rule. She wants to see statewide legislation that would bar all utilities – not just those regulated by the Arizona Corporation Commission – from shutting off power on days that exceed 95 degrees.
“These are lifesaving utilities. They should not be allowed to turn people off when there are dangerous-to-public-health temperatures,” Champion said.
In a statement to KJZZ via email, Arizona Corporation Commission spokesperson Nicole Garcia said, “The Commission’s rules aim to help protect residents from the dangers of extreme heat, and we are open to working with the community to identify more opportunities to prevent heat related losses.”
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