If your utility bills have increased, how are you coping with increased expenses? (Q47)

The chart reflects responses to Question #46 from the Spring 2020 survey, which asked:  “If your utility bills have increased, how are you coping with increased expenses?” This was an open-ended question, and there were 55 responses.  Responses to this question were thematically coded, with all responses fitting into one or more of the following themes:

• Just paying for them

• Utility bills haven’t increased or N/A

• Adapting lifestyle to pay for increased expenses

• Insignificant change in expenses

• Hasn’t received a bill/unknown if they’ve increased

• External support

• Other bills have decreased which has balanced out increased utility expenses. 

The most common theme was “utility bills haven’t increased or N/A”, with 19 responses falling into this category, followed by “just paying for them” with 16 responses falling into this category. Five responses fall into the “external support” category, where respondents articulated that they were able to cope with increased expenses through new income streams, such as stimulus checks, financial support from family members, and student aid grants. Six responses fall into the “adapting lifestyle to pay for increased expenses” category, where individuals reported they were modifying their daily lives in order to pay for increased expenses, such as working more hours, practicing energy conservation, and ordering less food. Five responses fall into the “insignificant change in expenses” category, and 3 responses fall into the “hasn’t received a bill/unknown if they’ve increased” category. Two responses fall into the “other bills have decreased which has balanced out increased utility expenses” category. It’s important to note that many responses contained multiple themes and were categorized accordingly.

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 Spring 2020 Shifting Energy Demands in COVID-19 - Survey Results page to view more data from our survey. The project is approved by Drexel’s IRB.