Fleeting energy protections: State and utility level policy responses to energy poverty in the United States during COVID-19

Abstract

Millions of American households suffer from energy poverty, threatening their continued access to electricity. The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has unveiled the entrenched environmental and energy injustices that threaten public health at the household level and has inspired energy protection responses to address pandemic-caused economic hardship. While policies supporting energy protections have been in place for years, they vary spatially. Moreover, the scholarly research that explores energy protection responses during the pandemic is limited. This paper explores energy protection responses to the pandemic implemented in 25 major metropolitan areas in the United States. We employ a content analysis of policy language to examine the response time, authorization level, and type of energy protections deployed during the initial months of the pandemic. We demarcate authorization level as either mandatory or voluntary measures and characterize 'energy resiliency responses' as a suite of residential energy protections required to reduce vulnerability to energy poverty and build resilience during the pandemic. We examine the total number and type of responses relative to household energy burden. We find differences in residential consumer energy protections among low-income and highly energy burdened households and conclude that protections are unevenly deployed across the country. Our findings motivate contemporary national, state, and local energy poverty recognition and responses that center personal and economic wellbeing during and after crises.

Keywords: COVID-19; Energy assistance; Energy disconnections; Energy insecurity; Energy policy; Energy protections.

Fig. 1

Response time and authorization level of 25 metropolitan area's energy protection response to COVID-19. Voluntary authority shown in red (Top 8 metro areas) and mandatory authority shown in green (Bottom 17 metro areas).

Fig. 2

Total Metropolitan COVID-19 Energy Protections and Low-income Energy Burden.

Fig. 3

Treemap of 25 US Metropolitan area's Energy Protection Response to COVID-19 Pandemic by Proportion of Households with High Energy Burdens (>6 %). Larger- size rectangle indicates higher proportion of energy-burdened households. Data: Population data via U.S. Census American Community Survey 5-year estimates; Energy Burden Data: (Drehobl et al., 2020 via U.S. Census Bureau, 2017 American Housing Survey).