The United States has been living under the atmosphere of uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic for over 18 months, and pandemic induced modes of living and being will likely persist for the foreseeable future, if not indefinitely. The pandemic has disrupted all sectors of society, and has called into question the stability and resilience of the institutions, systems, and processes that impact our daily life. As researchers studying household energy vulnerability, the pandemic shifted the scope of our work, and we questioned how stay-at-home orders would affect energy use and access for households experiencing financial hardships, and what policies and initiatives would be developed or adapted to address new energy needs. We also questioned how engagement with energy systems would shift among energy users, especially those in vulnerable positions, and what these changes would mean for energy cultures in both Philadelphia and the nation at large.
The implementation of state-wide moratoria on utility shut-offs during the pandemic seemed to indicate acknowledgement from government and utility actors that consistent access to energy was a necessity. However, the moratoria were temporary policies that have now been lifted in most states, including Pennsylvania, though the pandemic persists. The dependence on household energy to stay healthy and connected to society has not gone away because stay-at-home orders have been lifted, and access to consistent and affordable household energy has been a necessity since long before the pandemic began. Our relationship to household energy, as the pandemic has shown, does not appear to be a matter of luxury, but of fundamental rights, though many may not view it this way because of the entrenched placement of energy access in capitalist marketplaces. From May of 2020 to September of 2021, the Energy Rights Project has engaged with over 300 energy users through semi-structured interviews to learn about the impacts of the pandemic on all aspects of their home energy systems, including bill payment, energy usage, energy literacy, conservation & efficiency measures, home maintenance, and energy assistance.
We also sought to inquire about existing and shifting energy cultures from the perspectives of energy users. At the end of each interview, we asked participants "Do you have a right to energy?", and if so, "What do you think your energy rights are?", and if not, "Do you think there are energy services that are needed to succeed in society?" Our team has begun analyzing the responses to these three questions, and so far our findings relate to both political philosophy and different components of energy culture, looking at how respondents talked about the relationship between their rights, energy services, and infrastructure. From this work we have found that our respondent pool has engaged with the idea of the “right to energy” in three major ways:
It’s important to note that our team is in the initial stages of analyzing this data, and that each of the themes listed above contain multiple nuanced sub-themes. As we continue conceptualizing what it means for Philadelphians to have, or not to have, the right to energy, we invite you to reflect on where you stand in relation to these questions.
Anonymous, "Talking to Philadelphians about energy rights By Morgan Sarao", contributed by , The Energy Rights Project, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 30 March 2022, accessed 30 April 2024. https://energyrights.info/content/talking-philadelphians-about-energy-rights-morgan-sarao
Critical Commentary
This article appeared on the TERP Fall 2021 Newsletter.