During our survey, we asked respondents if they had had any energy disruptions in the three months before the COVID-19 pandemic, and during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the spring survey, we listed disruptions with specific examples: electricity was down, heater broke, ran out of oil, slow internet, air conditioning not working, gas suspended, and water not available. In the winter survey, we simply listed the utilities: electricity, heat, oil, internet, air conditioning, gas, and water. We then asked a follow up question where winter respondents had a chance to explain the nature of the disruption. Before COVID-19, 42 out of 85 respondents in the spring survey (49.4%) reported not facing any service disruptions compared to 48 out of 81 winter respondents (59.3%). The actual number of respondents who answered no is similar, however, the spring respondents were surveyed at the beginning of the pandemic (from May-June 2020) meaning they were more likely to be able to recall disruptions in the three months before the pandemic.
This likely contributes to the higher amount of electricity disruptions faced by the spring respondent group pre-pandemic. Before COVID-19, 20 out of 85 respondents (23.5%) reported an electricity disruption in the spring group compared to 13 out of 81 winter respondents (16.1%). All other pre-pandemic disruptions are similar enough between both groups to not be noteworthy. During the pandemic, 44 out of 81 (54%) spring respondents reported no disruptions compared to 44 out of 82 (53.7%) -- an identical number of respondents. This is despite the fact that the winter respondent pool had over double the amount of time living in the pandemic than the spring respondent pool. The source of this is the amount of spring respondents reporting slow internet. 0 out of 81 spring respondents (37%) reported slow internet compared to 24 out of 82 winter respondents (29.8%). This is most likely due to the spring respondents being younger, and more likely to be a student. 37 out of 86 spring respondents (42.5%) were 18-24 compared to 2 out of 83 winter respondents (2.4%). Because of this, the spring respondents are more likely to notice disruptions in the internet due to needing it more frequently and are also more likely to do more internet intensive activities such as zoom calls or online gaming.
37 out of 53 spring respondents (69.8%) reported using more electric powered devices to work or study from home compared to 29 out of 55 winter respondents (52.7%). 22 out of 53 spring respondents (41.5%) reported more video game playing compared to 16 out of 5 winter respondents (29.1%). More winter respondents reported disruptions with their heating and cooling than spring respondents. 2 out of 81 spring respondents (2.5%) faced disruptions with their heating compared to 9 out of 82 winter respondents (11.1%). The reasoning for this is likely due to the spring participants not dealing with the pandemic for as long and not dealing with it during the winter. 9 out of 53 spring respondents (17%) reported keeping the heat on for longer periods of time compared to 31 out of 55 winter respondents (56.4%). The same disparity is present in cooling disruptions with 2 out of 81 spring respondents (2.5%) reporting disruptions in their air conditioning compared to 5 out of 85 winter respondents (6.1%). This disparity can be explained in the same way as the disparity in heating disruptions -- the spring group were interviewed before the summer. 10 out of 53 spring respondents (18.9%) reported using air conditioning for longer periods of time compared to 27 out of 55 respondents (49.1%).
With discussions of the actual disruptions respondents faced completed, we can now examine how respondents dealt with the disruptions. For the pre-pandemic disruptions, 22 out of 44 spring respondents (50%) waited the disruption out compared to 7 out of 30 winter respondents (23.3%). The reason for this could be due to the fact that respondents in the winter group being older meant that they were more likely to be the ones responsible for handling disruptions in their household. It is also possible that the nature of the disruptions in the winter group meant that they could not have been solved by waiting. 10 out of 31 winter respondents (32.3%) reported their disruption being caused by broken or outdated appliances/systems and 3 out of 31 winter respondents (9.7%) reported the disruption being caused by a missed bill payment. Unfortunately, this data is unavailable for the spring respondent pool. All other ways of dealing with the disruptions were similar between both groups.
During COVID-19, a similar amount from both groups waited out their respective disruptions: 16 out of 37 spring respondents (43.2%) and 12 out of 29 winter respondents (41.4%).
This increase from the winter respondent pool could likely be caused by the stay at home order. Adaptive measures were taken by 20 out of 37 spring respondents (54.1%) compared to only 5 out of 29 winter respondents (17.2%). Of the 37 spring respondents who reported facing a disruption, 30 reported an internet disruption (81%) and 24 out of 38 winter respondents reported an internet disruption (63.2%). As such, adaptive measures likely meant using a mobile hotspot or a mobile phone for the spring respondents. 11 out of 29 winter respondents (27.9%) compared to 4 out of 37 spring respondents (10.8%) contacted their utility company. Due to the nature of the disruptions faced by the winter respondents, it makes sense that more from that respondent pool would contact a utility company. 15 out of 37 winter respondents (40.5%) reported their disruptions being due to a service outage, something you would call a utility company to find out more about. Conclusions from this dataset are nothing groundbreaking, though the biggest takeaway is that the spring respondent pool was far more likely to wait out a disruption than the winter respondent pool. The few disparities between the two groups can primarily be explained by the timing difference between each group being surveyed.
“Suddenly during the pandemic there were a lot of electricity outages, we were out of it twice and PECO would call and tell you why and give you a timeframe for when it comes back on. We'd go to the park. Couldn't run the AC during this time. Same with internet” 35-44 African American cisgender female, some graduate school, average annual income $60,000, 19138, Client manager
“Technically, right before that my heater was broken and repaired. That was just over three months from the start of COVID-19. Water wasn't available during certain maintenance times, but it was never for extended periods.“ Full time student, cisgender female, 18-24, completed college, 9k a year, 80303, white (Q20 comment box)
This question asked respondents if they had any service disruptions in the three months before COVID-19. The winter group had 10% more respondents who did not have a disruption issue in the three months before COVID-19. One reason for this is that the spring group was surveyed at the beginning of the pandemic, meaning they are more likely to remember the three months before the pandemic than the winter group. The spring group reported higher levels of electricity disruption. The winter group reported slightly higher levels of heater disruptions. One person in the spring group ran out of oil compared to zero in the winter group. The groups had similar levels of slow internet.
A slightly higher number of respondents reported AC not working in the spring survey than the winter survey. More respondents in the winter survey reported more gas disruptions, which is interesting because gas suspensions usually come as a result of missing your bills. A similar amount of respondents reported water disruptions between two groups.
More than double the amount of respondents from the spring survey waited out the disruption compared to the winter group. I believe this to be due to the lower energy literacy in the spring group, as well as the spring group being younger and likely less able to take certain adaptive measures. 10% more respondents in the winter group took adaptive measures than in the spring group. More respondents in the winter group contacted their utility company. More respondents in the spring survey contacted a technician. One respondent in the spring group reported they contacted an elected official. Two respondents in the winter group contacted a landlord compared to zero in the spring group.
The following question asked respondents if they had any energy service disruptions during COVID. The most common answer for both groups was no. This is interesting because the winter group had an extra three months of the pandemic as well as some extreme weather conditions. More respondents in the winter group had electricity disruptions than in the spring group. More respondents in the spring group reported slow internet. Slightly more respondents in the winter group reported AC issues. The same amount of respondents reported water disruptions.
Anonymous, "Investigating Disruptions By Andrew Rosenthal", contributed by , The Energy Rights Project, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 30 March 2022, accessed 26 April 2024. https://energyrights.info/content/investigating-disruptions-andrew-rosenthal
Critical Commentary
This article appeared on TERP's Summer 2021 Newsletter.