If there was a government-issued shelter-in-place order and non-essential businesses were closed, what would you do if you lost heat? (Q16 SP2020)

The chart shown here reflects responses to Question #16 on the Spring 2020 survey, which asked: “If there was a government-issued shelter-in-place order and non-essential businesses were closed, what would you do if you lost heat?” The structured responses prepared by the research group were as follow:

• Call my landlord.

• Call an HVAC company.

• Call my utility company.

• See if I could figure it out myself.

• Ask someone I know works with heaters to fix it.

• I don’t know.

• Wait until the order is lifted to act on it.

• Other: ______

For the 84 answers collected, the following was observed: 

• 16 respondents would call their landlords if they lost heat; 

• 5 respondents would call their HVAC company; 

• 11 respondents would call their utility company; 

• 11 respondents would try to figure it out themselves; 

• 4 respondents would ask someone they know who works with heaters to fix it; 

• 7 respondents admitted they didn’t know what they would do; 

• 6 respondents would wait for the order to lift.

The respondents who did not fit the preceding categories would address loss of heat in the following way: 

• 10 respondents would deal with it by wearing more layers; 

• 4 respondents would ask family or friends for help; 

• 4 respondents would use a space heater; 

• 4 respondents would use their fireplace; and 

• 2 respondents noted they would do the same as they answered to question #15. 

The data was produced by the Shifting Energy Demands in COVID-19 Survey - Overview, which was administered to 86 people over a six week period in May-June 2020. Visit the Shifting Energy Demands in COVID-19 - Survey Results page to view more data from our survey. The project is approved by Drexel’s IRB.