Energy Vulnerability

A Pandemic and Surging Summer Heat Leave Thousands Struggling to Pay Utility Bills

This article is particularly relevant to investigations on energy vulnerability, but also particularly relevant to predictions of compounded vulnerabilities made by the research group before the first round of interviews. For example, one of the people interviewed said she was forced to shut her...Read more

Philadelphia Launches New, Income-Based, Tiered Assistance Program

On June 20th, 2017, the city of Philadelphia announced the Tiered Assistance Program (TAP) which provides customers with significant savings on their water bill by offering a consistent bill based on their income. Program highlights include:

•    Customers do not have to be...Read more

PECO has millions available to help with energy bills, but says few eligible customers are applying for assistance

PECO received $270 million in federal and state funding through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, money that can be used to help people who can't pay their bills due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Only a limited number of customers have enrolled, and to date only $500,000 of that money...Read more

Lazenby - Fuel Poverty Deaths Rising - 2020

As can be grasped by the title of the article, the focus is placed on energy vulnerable populations and how their fuel poverty can and will intersect with the COVID-19 pandemic, possibly yielding negative outcomes for those individuals unable to sustain healthy home environments.Read more

Energy Burdens in Philadelphia

This artifact is apart of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy's 2020 report on residential energy burdens in 25 metro areas. According to ACEE, "a high energy burden is considered to be above 6%, and a severe energy burden above 10%". 

A quarter of low-income households...Read more

Senate Bill Includes $500M Additional For LIHEAP, Creates Water Pilots

On August 10th, 2021 the U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill which adds $500 Million for LIHEAP Over 5 Year, provides $3.5B for WAP, and creates Water Assistance Needs Study & 40 Pilot Projects. The WAP increase is a ten-fold increase in the...Read more

New Geoelectric Hazard Map Shows Potential Vulnerability to High-Voltage Power Grid for Two-Thirds of the US

How do we secure our power grid in the event of nationwide blackout? The point of this article is to explore the vulnerabilities that could be faced by many parts of the nation in the event of a geomagnetic superstorm. A map was created with power grids across the country and shows their...Read more

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