Low-income energy affordability in an era of U.S. energy abundance

Marilyn A. Brown, Amol Soni, Melissa V. Lapsa, Katie Southworth, Matt Cox

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

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 their 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 effciency, rooftop solar, electric vehicles, and home energy storage are largely inaccessible to low-income households. This review describes the ecosystem of stakeholders and programs, and identifes promising opportunities to address low-income energy affordability, such as behavioral economics, data analytics, and leveraging health care benefts. Scalable approaches require linking programs and policies to tackle the complex web of causes and impacts that fnancially constrained households face.

Original languageEnglish
Article number012002
JournalProgress in Energy
Volume1
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2019

Keywords

  • Energy bill assistance
  • Energy burden
  • Energy equity
  • Rate design
  • Weatherization

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