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 WI2020)

The chart here reflects answers collected from Question #16 of the Winter 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 for this question:

• 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:

A total of 75 respondents answered this question. The following was collected:

• 7 respondents call their landlord.

• 2 respondents would call their HVAC company.

• 11 respondents would call their utility company.

• 1 said they would call the city or the heater hotline

• 2 respondents would try to figure it out themselves.

• 5 respondents would ask someone I know works with heaters to fix it.

• 11 respondents said they didn’t know.

• 4 respondents would wait until the order is lifted to act on it.

• 24 respondents would purchase or use space heaters (whether this be electric or gas)

• 11 respondents would ask for help from family or friends

• 3 respondents said they would try to wear as many layers as possible

• 1 respondent would use a backup generator 

The data was produced by the Shifting Energy Demands in COVID-19 Survey - Overview, which was administered to 83 people over a fourteen week period between December 2020 and March 2021. Visit the Winter 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.