poverty

Energy Drain: Low Income Households Typically Pay a Higher Percentage for Utilities

Fragility of income and a high energy burden have as much to do with quality of housing stock as they do with ability to pay bills. In rural and core urban areas, lower income people tend to occupy older homes that have structural deficits and more equipment or system breakdowns and are unable...Read more

The Uneven Gains of Energy Efficiency

This article touches on just about every construct that constitutes energy burden. Using the City of New Orleans as an example of a high energy burden city, it illustrates how a high energy burden contributes to the affordability crisis in American cities. Stein explores how wealth disparity and...Read more

Utilities can soon cut off nonpaying customers, Pa. says, but the poorest customers are protected

The Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission (PUC) voted 3-1 to terminate the shutoffs but put safeguards in place to protect the most vulnerable. According to the article, “The PUC’s order will still prohibit utilities from shutting off “protected customers” whose income is no more than...Read more

Poverty Simulator - NEUAC

This pdf is part of a packet sent over by NEUAC following the June 8 and 9 conference of this year, 2021. Through this 'poverty simulator' conference attendees are asked to place themselves in a situation with limited budgeting, having to choose between accessing diverse services and where to...Read more

Correlational analysis of energy burden and eviction rate

This research paper is a Master's Thesis by Paichen Li for Duke University's School Environment. The  author sought to identify a link between evictions and utility spending in light of a nationwide eviction and housing affordablity crisis. The study territory was Southern California (Edison)....Read more

ENERGY SAFETY NETS: USING SOCIAL ASSISTANCE MECHANISMS TO CLOSE AFFORDABILITY GAPS FOR THE POOR

This report was published by an international NGO called Sustainable Energy For All. This NGO  was established in response to the Sustainable Development Goal 7 laid out by the Paris Agreement for universal access to sustainable energy by 2030. This report addressed matters of energy...Read more

Eviction and the Reproduction of Urban Poverty

This study by Matthew Desmond out of Harvard is a "mixed-methods endeavor that combines a quantitative analysis of eviction records and survey data with a qualitative analysis of ethnographic data gleaned from fieldwork among evicted families and their landlords, this study is among the...Read more

Energy Burden and the Need for Integrated Low-Income Housing and Energy Policy

This article was published for DHHS by two authors from Columbia University and Clarkson University. The authors suggest that in terms of policy making, a more coherent approach would be to integrate home energy and housing policy and that integrating programs in each area would be a better way...Read more

Unpaid Pa. utility bills soar 68% in the pandemic, and thousands face shutoffs next month

This article documents the end of the utility shutoffs suspension in Pennsylvania, which will take place on November 9, 2020.  

Utilities have said that the moratorium, which was enacted in March, has not led to an increase in payment plan applications, but has instead led to an...Read more

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