The 2021 ECA Conference By Andrew Rosenthal

The Energy Coordinating Agency’s 2021 Virtual Conference occurred on Friday, October 1st from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM EST. ECA reached out to The Energy Rights Project to help with their 2021 annual conference and our team was delighted to be on the conference committee for a second year in a row. The 2021 theme was “Recovering Communities After Crisis.” Andrew Rosenthal served in the role of technical director, which involved pre-recording all speaker presentations and playing them during the live Zoom conference. The entire conference has been archived on Youtube: https://youtu.be/gv7IgjQIajc This year’s keynote speaker was Elizabeth Marx, Executive Director at Pennsylvania Utility Law Project (PULP). PULP is a statewide specialty legal services program within the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network. PULP focuses on legal representation, education, policy advocacy, supportive services, and consultation.

Ms. Marx discussed how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated utility unaffordability, with low-income households paying as much as 30% of their income on home energy costs. She argued that much of this is due to outdated housing stock that has been a pressing issue in Philadelphia for decades. This is not only a comfortability issue but also a public health issue as homes that are not airtight and energy efficient allow pollutants to enter more easily. Through retrofitting and weatherization services, ECA can make a big difference both in home comfort and public health. According to a Duke University working paper the utility moratoria reduced infection rates by 4.4% and mortality rates by 7.4% nationwide. Marx ended her presentation by stating that building resilient communities involves increasing accessibility to resources, coordinating community responses, eliminating stigma, promoting health and wellbeing, and advancing prevention initiatives.

Following Ms. Marx’s keynote, the first panel of the day was titled “Utilities: Life after the Moratorium” which was facilitated by Shari Williams of the Pennsylvania Utility Commission. The speakers were Laura Copeland of PWD, Nyisha Chapman of PGW, and Patricia King of PECO. The discussion included information on utility company pandemic responses, community outreach in order to get customers in need of assistance on programs, expanded eligibility for certain programs, and an overview of assistance programs currently being offered.

The next panel was “Housing: First time Home Buyers and Foreclosures” facilitated by Ejhadji Ndiaye of the Division of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). Rashida Johnson of DHCD, Stasia Monteiro of H.A.C.E and Michael Rapp of United Communities were the speakers for this panel. Neighborhood Advisory Committees (NAC), which connect with Philadelphia residents with housing information, were a focal point of this panel.

The final panel was titled “Community Resilience” and was facilitated by Catherine Santos of ECA. The first speaker was Wanda Mitchell of Philadelphia Corporation for the Aging (PCA) and she spoke on the services the PCA offers including but not limited to adult daily living services, assistive technology, home-delivered meals, Telecare, home health services, non-medical transportation, and specialized medical equipment. Walt Yakabosky, representing ECA’s Knight Training Center, provided an overview of the training and certification programs offered and called for greater diversity in trainees. Maurice Sampson spoke next, discussing new COVID safety programs, including their soil sampling program and the outdoor environmental education facilities they plan to open soon. Lastly, Steve Luxton spoke on weatherization and how ECA is the sole weatherization provider in the city of Philadelphia. The heater hotline was stressed during his presentation as 45% of a typical energy bill is due to heating and cooling.