High energy burden and low-income energy affordability: conclusions from a literature review

Abstract

In an era of U.S. energy abundance, the persistently high energy bills paid by low-income households is troubling. After decades of weatherization and bill-payment programs, low-income households still spend a higher percent of their income on electricity and gas bills than any other income group. Their energy burden is not declining, and it remains persistently high in particular geographies such as the South, rural America, and minority communities. As public agencies and utilities attempt to transition to a sustainable energy future, many of the programs that promote energy efficiency, rooftop solar, electric vehicles, and home batteries are largely inaccessible to low-income households due to affordability barriers. This review describes the ecosystem of stakeholders and programs, and identifies promising opportunities to address low-income energy affordability, such as behavioral economics, data analytics, and leveraging health care benefits. Scalable approaches require linking programs and policies to tackle the complex web of causes and impacts faced by financially constrained households. Prog. Energy 2 (2020) 042003 M A Brown et alNumerous clean energy programs fail tests of distributive justice, including many energy-efficiency programs, special rates for electric vehicles, and net metering of rooftop solar installations. Such programs are typically paid for in part by low-income ratepayers who do not receive commensurate benefits Huessy 2018, Carley et al 2018). Intergenerational equityIntergenerational equity adds a time dimension to the equity discussion by considering community obligations to future generations. Actions that serve to increase rather than limit the development options of future generations can be said to improve intergenerational equity (Norton 2005). In the field of clean energy, intergenerational equity frequently involves deliberating which aspects of the present should be maintained or changed for future generations (Williams-Rajee 2015). Most clean energy programs do work to reduce CO 2 emissions and as a result, contribute positively to intergenerational equity in some ways. How these programs may impact the social and economic contours of communities across generations has received much less emphasis. The context: multiple stakeholders in the low-income housing marketNumerous decision-makers and stakeholders influence the energy integrity of low-income housing. This highly fragmented affordable housing market challenges efforts to improve low-income energy affordability. Government agencies have administrative and regulatory roles that influence each of these stakeholders to varying degrees. In terms of word counts, energy utilities are mentioned most often in the abstracts of the 183 publications examined in this review. Local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community-based groups are also key stakeholders based on this tally. At the other extreme, the terms 'building manager' and 'property manager' do not appear in the 183 abstracts, and 'landlord' and 'property ow...

Localized energy burden, concentrated disadvantage, and the feminization of energy poverty

“…Thus, it is not enough to examine a county solely within itself, as the characteristics of nearby counties form a larger region that also has an effect on the energy burden it faces. This relationship also affirms other scholars' findings of the need for attention to how social processes are spatialized (Mashhoodi et al, 2019;Robinson et al, 2019) as well as more refined geographic data on utility providers, which often stretch across multiple counties, as regions needing greater consideration (Brown et al, 2020;Graff et al, 2021).…”

A framework for localizing global climate solutions and their carbon reduction potential

“…However, a majority of energy-efficiency programs require upfront customer investments to leverage rebates and associated savings, which makes them unaffordable to low-income households ( 46 ). When access to energy becomes difficult, the burden is felt in every facet of life—housing, mobility, health, work, education, and much more ( 47 ). Thus, policy innovations are needed for this solution to be equitable.…”

Achieving 100% Renewable and Self-Sufficient Electricity in Impoverished, Rural, Northern Climates: Case Studies from Upper Michigan, USA

“…There is a direct proportionality between the cost of energy services delivered and the experience of energy burden inflicted on the consumers of such services. In the presence of cost competitive alternatives, the continuous infliction of such a burden through high-cost energy services is considered to be an injustice [43,44].…”