If yes to Q20, what did you do to address these disruptions? (Q20A/B, Cumulative)

This chart shows results from Question #20A from the Spring 2020 survey and Question #20B Winter 2020 surveys, which asked “If yes to Q20, what did you do to address these disruptions?” This was an open-ended question, and there were 74 cumulative responses. Responses to this question were thematically coded, with all responses fitting into one or more of the following themes: 

• Contacted utility company

• Took adaptive measures

• Called technician/maintenance 

• Waited it out

• Contacted Landlord

• Contacted elected officials

• Paid off debt 

• Other

The most common theme was “waited it out”, with 29 responses falling into this category, followed by “took adaptive measures”, with 27 responses falling into this category. Twenty-six responses were categorized as “contacted utility company”, 8 responses were categorized as “called technician/maintenance”, two responses were categorized as “contacted landlord”, two responses were categorized as “paid off debt”, and one response was categorized as “contacted elected officials. Three responses were categorized as “other”, with responses discussing being connected to the internet through the Internet Essentials Package from Comcast at the start of the pandemic, posting to a neighborhood social media page for energy disruptions, and being notified before an energy outage so that individuals were able to plan accordingly. It’s important to note that some responses contained multiple themes. 

 The data was produced by the Shifting Energy Demands in COVID-19 Survey, which has been administered to 169 people over two time periods. The Spring 2020 survey was administered to 86 people between May and June, and the Winter 2020 survey was administered to 83 people between December 2020 and March 2021. Visit the Shifting Energy Demands in COVID-19 - Spring + Winter 2020 Survey Results page to view more data from our survey. The project is approved by Drexel’s IRB.