This report is published as a collective work product of BCS and the Law Bureau from the Consumer Services Information System (CSIS) Project at Penn State University. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission initiated the study on May 5, 2017, at Docket No. M-2017-2587711. The goal of the study was to examine home energy burdens for low-income Pennsylvanians. “A household’s energy burden is the percentage of household income dedicated to paying jurisdictional energy costs” (4).
The report is the first comprehensive energy burden and affordability study of Pennsylvania households using customer income, billing, and payment information. The report attempts to evaluate residential energy burdens for electric and gas service in Pennsylvania. The report identifies difficulties of the imagined utility of its creation due to “inconsistencies in utility reporting and limitations in the utility data constrain the development of a specific statement of what constitutes energy “affordability” for low-income” (pg. 4). Nonetheless, it attempts to establish a starting point or process for identifying an affordable energy burden level for PA’s low-income population.
Using industry data the energy affordability study requested specific information from the eight major Natural Gas Distribution Companies (NGDCs) and seven major Electric Distribution Companies (EDCs) for the years 2012-2016 it analyzes and evaluates energy burden levels for service companies and the impact of LIHEAP grants on these burden levels. It also presents the utilization of consumer assistance programs (CAP) by presenting tables and graphs that organize the following details: percentages of bills paid in full; default exit and termination rates in CAP programs; and low-income customer debt. The report makes comparisons to relevant studies and other state programs while sharing costs and forecasts of CAPs.
The report addresses matters of energy vulnerabilities by using industry and CAP data to present ‘default exit’ and ‘termination’ numbers and rates by EDCs and NGDCs. This provides the opportunity for quantitative evaluations of energy access (or inaccessibility) for low-income customers through the context of each industry provider.
Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, "Home Energy Affordability for Low-Income Customers in Pennsylvania", contributed by James Gall, The Energy Rights Project, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 15 April 2020, accessed 30 April 2024. https://energyrights.info/content/home-energy-affordability-low-income-customers-pennsylvania
Critical Commentary
This report is published as a collective work product of BCS and the Law Bureau from the Consumer Services Information System (CSIS) Project at Penn State University. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission initiated the study on May 5, 2017, at Docket No. M-2017-2587711. The goal of the study was to examine home energy burdens for low-income Pennsylvanians. “A household’s energy burden is the percentage of household income dedicated to paying jurisdictional energy costs” (4).
The report is the first comprehensive energy burden and affordability study of Pennsylvania households using customer income, billing, and payment information. The report attempts to evaluate residential energy burdens for electric and gas service in Pennsylvania. The report identifies difficulties of the imagined utility of its creation due to “inconsistencies in utility reporting and limitations in the utility data constrain the development of a specific statement of what constitutes energy “affordability” for low-income” (pg. 4). Nonetheless, it attempts to establish a starting point or process for identifying an affordable energy burden level for PA’s low-income population.
Using industry data the energy affordability study requested specific information from the eight major Natural Gas Distribution Companies (NGDCs) and seven major Electric Distribution Companies (EDCs) for the years 2012-2016 it analyzes and evaluates energy burden levels for service companies and the impact of LIHEAP grants on these burden levels. It also presents the utilization of consumer assistance programs (CAP) by presenting tables and graphs that organize the following details: percentages of bills paid in full; default exit and termination rates in CAP programs; and low-income customer debt. The report makes comparisons to relevant studies and other state programs while sharing costs and forecasts of CAPs.
The report addresses matters of energy vulnerabilities by using industry and CAP data to present ‘default exit’ and ‘termination’ numbers and rates by EDCs and NGDCs. This provides the opportunity for quantitative evaluations of energy access (or inaccessibility) for low-income customers through the context of each industry provider.